Who calls the shots?
Some Chief Executives (CE) have less say than others but you knew that before you accepted the post.You don’t get to choose your team . You don't get to determine the priorities or set the vision. You don’t draw up the strategy, you implement it. You don’t decide what the budget will be or how it is spent.
Your job is to make the most effective use of the resources provided and get the best out of the people who work for the organisation. You have to maintain strategic partnerships and oversee a consistent high performance. You must never vent your frustration to the media. You are a public face of the organisation and you are expected to make yourself available to answer questions , defend decisions and explain any dips in performance. The good news is if you do well you will have tempting offers from other employers. The bad news is the board /cabinet is notoriously impatient. So the structure is clear as is the CE position in it. Just because performances have improved and CE has presided over some notable successes does not mean the leader and the cabinet are going to be willing to loosen their firm grip on control. On the contrary they regard the improved performance and recent successes as evidence that their approach is right as it frees up the CE to concentrate on the day to day smooth running of the organisation. As long as the CE feels they can influence the leader and the cabinet listens to requests favourably then the arrangement works. But sooner or latter the CE will be frustrated at the limits to their power. Rafael Benitez expressed this frustration when he explained to a journalist in an off the record interview about the inner workings of the organisation. It’s like this he said I make the case for buying a sofa and they end up giving me a lamp stand!
Of course it wasn’t always this way and in some Local Authorities it isn’t but increasingly it is.
