Only collaborative leadership can make our communities truly successful
Strong political leadership and good managerial leadership do not have to be mutually exclusive aims.
Successful communities need a number of things: strong political leadership, a relentless focus on results, a commitment to transparent and ethical government, a strategy for representing and engaging the whole community and good administrative leadership. Only a collaborative approach can get near to delivering all these things.
But as political scientist and public executive Harlan Cleveland puts it: "How do you get everyone in on the act and still get action?"
Political leadership needs a clear vision. But vision without execution is meaningless, and it is the role of the city manager to translate vision into results. Whereas strong political leadership can create an inspiring blueprint for a community's future, successful public sector organisations recognize that employees, customers and managers all need to buy into that vision for it for it to really work in practice.
Both sides of the equation are essential to success – a productive conversation is about how those with different roles can work together to achieve common goals.
The mayor, or other elected official, is the face of the municipality, but the city manager gives the substance to the strategy. A city manager must appreciate political expediency, and a mayor must appreciate issues of resources and logistics.
A key ingredient, though, is trust. Trust creates room for thinking about and testing new solutions, and local governments need to understand what builds trust at a community level. At the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), we think of trust as a consequence of good transparency, engagement, performance and accountability.
The trust relationship between elected officials and administration is all about open dialogue and ensuring that there are no surprises. A city manager can help provide an independent point of view, and this sort of advice should be an essential ingredient in the decision making processes of councils.
While some see a powerful mayor as their ticket to faster decision making, the quick fix of empowering a mayor may not be the road to progress. A mayor should never be empowered at the expense of other elected officials or citizens – this may reduce accountability and transparency and compromise the ability of elected officials to work for their constitutents.
When it comes to governance, it is helpful to borrow a lesson from the corporate world. We have seen how too much power concentrated in too few individuals, poor incentive structures, and weak oversight can be disastrous. There are a number of improvements that can be made to improve corporate governance, such as a separation of the board and management functions.
It is interesting that many of these same principles – independent directors, a chair who is not the chief executive, a strong commitment to the oversight role of the board, transparency of action, and a strong commitment to ethics – are at the core of a structure combining effective public management with a system of representative democracy.
This combination of political and managerial leadership can enable communities to safeguard their futures and achieve a high quality of life for everyone.
Simon Farbrother, city manager in Edmonton, Alberta, is president of ICMA.Robert J. O'Neill is executive director of ICMA.
Want your say? Email us at public.leaders@theguardian.com
Join the Public Leaders Network for more comment, analysis and job opportunities, direct to your inbox. Follow us on twitter via @Guardianpublic.