Alexandra Jones: Grant more power and better leadership will follow
Whatever the woe, blame a failure of leadership. But in the UK, one of the ironies of the focus on "city leadership" is that few people really can claim to run cities: leaders tend to have considerably less in the way of autonomy, funding and powers than their US or mainland European counterparts.
Yet pick a successful city — from Barcelona to Boston, Manchester to Munich — and invariably some form of steady and dynamic leadership helps explain its success. Manchester is an interesting example, where a stable working relationship over many years between politicians and managers — in this case the local "Sirs", Richard Leese and Howard Bernstein — has served as the background to an impressive reinvigoration of the city. Pick a city that is struggling to find its way and there is likely to be instability, complacency and downright chaos at the top of its institutions.
City leadership is a difficult beast to pin down. If it starts with politicians, it also moves out beyond them to the leaders of other important local "anchor" institutions and networks. Museums, galleries and cultural institutions, universities, hospitals and businesses are organisations that make profound differences to cities. Leadership within them can be contagious. Once one begins to raise its game, it can encourage others to do so, lifting the mood and momentum of a place. Unfortunately, the tide can turn the other way, too.
Our research suggests four skills are paramount: the ability to operate at different levels, grassroots to international; sustained leadership over time — an enduring approach that overcomes personal fortunes and short-term setbacks; the ability to make honest assessments of a place's strengths and weaknesses; and collaborative leadership — the ability to involve and partner with a wide range of stakeholders.
But how, argues central government, can it risk delegating powers to leaders who seem to lack the capacity to address the challenges and opportunities that cities face? But without giving local leaders the powers, autonomy and funding to really make a difference, it is difficult to attract highly skilled individuals who can make things happen. Risky it may be, but granting more power and funds — in exchange for greater accountability — is likely to mean better leadership will follow.
Politicians in the UK are starting to think spatially much more when it comes to innovation, skills, worklessness and transport. National problems play out in local places. And local places often have the most innovative contributions to make to national problems.
Alexandra Jones is associate director of the Work Foundation and lead author of the recent report How can Cities Thrive in the Changing Economy?