He has been the leader of the council for 15 years. During that
time the council’s has acquired a national profile and come to
dominate the region. The first to embrace out sourcing. The first to
agree a major contract to outsource all back office services. The
leader has a reputation as a canny negotiator and a ruthless political
manipulator. Which has not always endeared him to...
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Your blogs - Blair McPherson
Blair
McPherson
Entrées avec l'étiquette local government .
a écrit un nouveau billet de blog
13 déc. 2021 - 14:07
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24 févr. 2022 - 16:59
Hundreds of years into the future humans have colonised the solar
system. Earth and the Moon are in a state of cold war with the much
bigger and far more prosperous Mars. Further out lie the numerous
clusters of small colonies on the asteroid belt off Jupiter and the
Moons of Saturn. These outer planets are totally dependent on Earth
and Mars, surviving on the export of the...
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07 juil. 2021 - 10:41
Writing in defence of hypocrisy would be like expressing sympathy
for the devil, you’re not going to convince anyone that it’s anything
other than despicable. And yet hypocrisy exists in every organisation
for a very good reason. It occurs whenever decisions and actions are
inconsistent or conflict with previously stated ideals, values or
performance measures. This...
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a écrit un nouveau billet de blog
14 janv. 2020 - 18:36
In 2011 the Harvard Business Review published the findings of 10
years research into management effectiveness. The headlines
read, USA managers are the best , and as is so often the case
the reaction was to the headline rather than the detail of the
research. To some commentators and management consultants this was
further support for their view that management skills in the U.K.
...
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08 déc. 2019 - 15:05
There is an old Mexican saying that if you drink the water then you
will stay. Meaning if you stop for even a short period you will be
captivated by the place. But in view of the state of the water supply
it might be more appropriate to say that you need a strong stomachache
to live here. When I think of how local government use to be and how
it is now I think of old Mexico and the...
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a écrit un nouveau billet de blog
07 déc. 2019 - 13:07
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He has been the leader of the council for 15 years. During that
time the council’s has acquired a national profile and come to
dominate the region. The first to embrace out sourcing. The first to
agree a major contract to outsource all back office services. The
leader has a reputation as a canny negotiator and a ruthless political
manipulator. Which has not always...
Voir plus
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a écrit un nouveau billet de blog
24 oct. 2019 - 22:17
The average number of days lost to absenteeism in the public
sector is ten days. But this figure is closer to five days for office
based staff and higher for staff who have direct contact with the
public. Much energy and research has gone into how LAs could reduce
costly absenteeism. How do you tackle frequent short term absences,
which are often very disruptive to the service and...
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a écrit un nouveau billet de blog
07 oct. 2019 - 14:18
In my experience when politicians and senior managers talk they
chose their words so carefully they can end up saying nothing of
interesting, unless it's about themselves.
As an Assistant Director I would write the speeches for the chair of
social services. I would ask him to open a conference or workshop
or address a group of staff about planed changes. He would ask what I
...
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06 août 2019 - 13:46
null Boss Quits Abruptly
The leader has a reputation for moving quickly and plain
speaking. In the surprise ousting of the chief executive who has only
been in the job 18 months , he has lived up to the speed part. But
what happened to the famed blunt speaking when it came to why the
chief executive had to go . There was, claimed the leader, no
personality clash or disagreement on strategy. By way of...
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a écrit un nouveau billet de blog
13 sept. 2019 - 06:58
I have always (nearly always) been loyal but sometimes my dissent
was taken as disloyalty. I have always been ambitious but didn’t
realise just how ambitious till I repeatedly put myself and my family
through the torture that is the recruitment process for a directors
post. Sometimes you have to make your committee reports graphic if you
want your capital bid for new premises to...
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a écrit un nouveau billet de blog
30 avr. 2019 - 06:23
A new era of honesty and self awareness has been ushered in by the
revised Carlsberg advertising slogan. Where the private sector leads
will the public sector follow?
Most people know the slogan whether or not they drink larger. The
companies self confident claim to be the best in the world is given a
jokey twist by inserting the word “probably”. Now the cleaver people
at...
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23 oct. 2018 - 17:55
You pull a lever and nothing happens. Tony Blair said this about his period in office but I think he was quoting President Bill Clinton. The point being that despite occupying very powerful positions both were frustrated by the long time delay between making a decision and seeing some action and on occasions pulling the levers of government and seeing no action. Cabinet members and Senior...
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11 oct. 2018 - 10:43
Who is really calling the shots in your local council? Is it the leader of the council, the chief executive, the majority party, the cabinet, the officers ,the councillors, the trade unions ( no not these days) or non of these? Central government has always sort to control local government even whilst promoting devolution, localisation and elected mayors. It has always been a source of...
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14 août 2018 - 13:12
Being a director of children’s or adults social services in local government is like playing Russian Roulette with the addition that every so often the government puts another bullet in the chamber. If you hold your nerve the odds are you will survive but with every spin of the chamber comes the fear that this time your luck may run out. The average tenure of a local authority chief...
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13 mars 2018 - 11:58
It’s all about the context in which you deliver your professional skills. Social work is all about how you treat people. The professional values that underpin social work , independence, choice, dignity, respect, are about how social workers go about providing practical assistance and emotional support to vulnerable people. Social workers don’t threaten their clients....
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03 janv. 2018 - 23:30
How to decide what to delegate and what to do yourself.
How to make your team members feel valued.
How to allocate work .
How to prioritise.
How to retain your professional values whilst owning senior
management decisions.
How to keep your team members motivated.
How to develop team members .
How to manage an underperforming member of the team .
How to make the best use...
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16 déc. 2017 - 08:33
As an experienced recruiter and frequent chair of recruitment panels I am surprised there are not a lot more formal recruitment complaints from both internal and external candidates. From my experience panels are often inadequately prepared, don't allow sufficient time, think HR procedures are overly bureaucratic and so don't bother to make or...
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30 nov. 2017 - 22:53
null Too nice to succeed
The claim that nice mangers can't deliver in a period of prolonged austerity is an insidious one in local government. There are no shortage of examples to contradict this but the debate is pointless because managers can't help but be the way they are. If yours is not a relentlessly aggressive style them trying to make it so will be at the cost of the finesse which is so admired by...
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a écrit un nouveau billet de blog
16 nov. 2017 - 15:21
Back when social work Rocked
Don't laughter but when I became a social worker it was seen as a Rock and Roll profession. Righting wrongs, fighting injustice, challenging the system, speaking up for people. We took on the housing department, the benefits agency and the juvenile court. Whether in court or in the head teacher's office we argued for a second ( or third) chance. When the...
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13 nov. 2017 - 14:35
null A clash of cultures
In recent times it has become increasingly common for new leaders of LA's to have a business background. This is seen by many and by the leaders themselves as just what local councils need in a period of prolonged austerity, people who know how to keep costs down and maximise efficiency. But running a LA like a business can bring a leader...
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