Mark Rogers
Local Government Reform for the purpose for devolution is upon us. Experience of working in and with mayoral combined and mayoral combined county authorities is providing much useful learning. Here are just some reflections for those now in the throes.
An MSA is not just for Christmas
Play the long game from the off – what do you want this to be for now, yes, but crucially also for the long term. Build in the expectation of continuous reimagining from the very beginning because it makes evolution an expectation – which, in turn, makes future change easier. The new generation of MSAs are in a better position than the MCAs that have gone before because government is moving on from the old school deal-making to a more mature progression model based on demonstration of competence and not how many compelling trips you make to Horse Guards Road.
A compound, not a mixture
Think of this an entirely new entity – not an amalgam of existing parts that you know and love. It has its own rationale, remit, functions and distinctive form of leadership. Work on the basis that it is a completely new form of ‘we’ where individual sovereignties are set aside to introduce a new one that all are responsible for making work – and no one more so than the mayor. MSA working provides the opportunity to lift yourselves out of a local authority mindset. Having a mayor is not like any other form of political environment you – members or officers – will have worked in before (unless you’ve been an MCA mayor or officer).
Making and remaking the consensus
‘Strategic authorities’ live and die on their ability to nurture authentic partnerships around big political outcomes – and holding them together is not something that has an end, it is a practice. It is only that that gives you the space to build an organisation that can work in the right way. Work at every level – at the top with Leaders and Chief Executives, with backbench councillors, officers of the constituent authorities, but also into the wider system that you want to convene. Try to anticipate what you would like to be in 10 years and build the partnerships now. E.g. one day, a Deputy Mayor for Health might be ICB Chair. So, get those relationships together now.
What’s so funny about peace, love and understanding?
One of the keys to early and, consequently, sustained success arises from focusing on the significant number of areas where there is broad agreement, so that you can make progress and accordingly build relationships, trust and action. A genuine commitment to a collaborative approach, recognising that there will be political and ‘political’ behaviour (within and between parties; and among officers) has certainly felt the right way to proceed so far.
Come Together
Think of this as a planning application for a new development on the greenbelt. The process is too often dominated by the technical: preparing the application; quelling the opposition; seeking consent; designing and building; furnishing and moving in; saying hello to the neighbours; and inviting them round for a drink. Start at the other end – get drunk together now, bond and then do business. Success lies in a profound commitment to relationships and the embracing of system/adaptive leadership – and, through that, always having enough social capital to get things wrong occasionally.
It’s the day job
Re-write your job description now. And think about re-writing everybody else’s.
And on the seventh day …
Don’t rest. Go fast. Pace is essential to success. Do everything sooner that you think you need to. For example, the governance architecture can be fully tested in the shadow authority phase. Similarly, do all the preparation for permanent recruitment so that the Mayorjust needs to pick it up and run with it.
Mark Rogers is Chief Executive of the Leadership Centre for Local Government and the interim Head of Paid Service for the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority. This article was first published in The MJ.