The UK Experience by Malcolm Morley *
Councils are full of highly trained professionals. This training is regulated by professional bodies and seeks to ensure that when an individual qualifies they have the knowledge necessary to competently carry out their professional duties. Professional bodies also seek, through Continuing Professional Development, to ensure that their members keep abreast of developments in professional practice and knowledge.
The professional skills base in Councils is an asset and there is no doubt that professional knowledge will continue to be important.
Having professionally competent staff alone, however, is not enough for Councils to be successful. The ever increasing complexity of the political, economic, social and technological environment in which Councils operate creates demands not covered by professional training.
Councils require professionals to understand the complexity of the environment in which they operate and have the ability to contribute across traditional professional boundaries. They need to be able to contribute to improving the strategic capability of the Council, to identify and manage risks, to be open to different forms of procurement for service provision, and to be able to put their service provision and professionalism within the context of the communities the Council serves.
A current initiative in England is ‘livability’, the concept of the evaluation and improvement of what it is like to live in a Council’s area.
Councils need well qualified Environmental Health Officers, Planners, Lawyers, Engineers and so forth to deliver different parts of this agenda. Councils will not, however, be able to fulfil their potential in terms of improving ‘livability’ if their approach is fragmented, based upon professional compartments.
Councils need professionals with broader skill and knowledge sets. Professionals must be able to contribute to providing solutions to the needs of the communities served. They need an external focus based upon their skills and knowledge in the context of community needs.
The customers of Councils do not have problems that fit neatly into the professional compartments that often typify the organisation structure charts of Councils. Their needs span both professional disciplines and organisations. The professionals that Councils employ must have the ability to recognise this reality and to develop the skills and experience necessary to respond effectively. The Council’s leaders must provide the systems and opportunities for this to happen.
Councils in England have learned that they must invest in the ongoing training and development of all their staff.
Professional barriers to working together are being removed and the sometimes narrow, professionally focused perspectives of individuals are being challenged to enable them to both fulfil their potential and to add more value.
The Improvement and Development Agency (www.idea.gov.uk) and the Employers Organisation (www.lg-employers.gov.uk) are providing vital support to Councils in this respect. Training programs have been developed for staff and Councillors to enable Councils to respond to their broader strategic, operational and leadership challenges.
Council professionals, and their professional bodies, must respond positively to ensure that their skills and experience develop to complement their professional knowledge. Only in this way will Councils be able to evolve to meet their communities’ needs.
* Malcolm Morley is a Strategic Director of South Oxfordshire District Council. This is one of a series of articles he is writing covering trends in the United Kingdom. He may be contacted by email at Malcolm.Morley @southoxon.gov.uk
The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of his employer.
