Role Models - driving transformation
Colin Taylor • August 22, 2019
What happens when a local authority doesn't have all the people it needs to deliver its commercial agenda?
Over the last few months, a number of our local authority clients have been talking to me about how delivering commercial development joins up with their wider transformation agenda. They have been reflecting on the idea that the two things are part of the same journey. And they are, in most cases, saying that both transformation and commercial development work requires people in similar roles to maintain innovation and momentum.
- Catalysts. I've probably heard the word 'disruptive' once too often, but there clearly is a role for someone to shake things up, take a different view and ask some challenging questions. However, this has to be done in a strategic context, not just for the sake of doing it. I am frequently asked by Chief Execs to take a step back and look at a service from a more holistic, whole-Council perspective. The key is to do this with some idea of where you want to get too. After all, if all you do is knock away the foundations, things fall over.
- Marshals. I think back to when my son was a teenager and was competing in cycling road races every weekend. The marshals who were positioned around the course (sometimes several miles long) were critical to making sure all the riders were safe and went the right way, as well as stopping motorists crossing the route at the wrong time. Developing a commercial initiative in a local authority is not much different and requires a degree of objectivity to make sure that everyone follows the agreed route.
- Referees. Getting everyone to play nicely and focussed on the corporate objectives can be one of the biggest challenges. Even if the marshals are in place, disagreements can break out over all sorts of things - budgets, resources, office space etc, etc. An independent voice that can help weigh up competing (and sometimes conflicting) perspectives can be a valuable tool.
- Deliverers. Doing the hard yards that take a commercial initiative from business case to trading in the market is almost always more challenging than anticipated. It usually takes longer, is more complex and requires more work than anybody expects. Sometimes my role is focussed on maintaining clarity and adherence to the agreed roadmap. Sometimes it is more fundamentally about adding another pair of hands to get specific things done (eg: drafting and agreeing the Shareholder Agreement or setting up a simple, but effective, way of tracking prospects and conversion rates.
Many years of experience in successful commercial businesses has shown me that, even when these roles are not reflected in people's job titles, it is essential that someone is performing the functions. And with many local authority staff fully occupied with the 'day job' these roles are too important (critical) to be what gets done if there's some spare time (which there hardly really is!).
Although official (ONS) statistics show that around 90% of SMEs survive their first year in business, this survival rate falls to less than 50% after four years. H ow you increase the chances of survival is no different for local authority owned trading companies.