The Leadership Imperative
Reforming children's services from the ground up
The Leadership Imperative explores the role of leadership in the emerging reforms of local children's services. It suggests that for the integration of services to work, leaders must focus upon changing the prevailing cultures of organisations, rather than altering the structure of services and hoping that working practices will naturally follow.
The legislation is also remarkable for the support that it has generated among professionals themselves, many of whom support the move towards greater integration between services. But the danger for Every Child Matters lies in the day-to-day difficulties of making it work on the ground.
In this situation, there arises a leadership imperative: to change the culture of organisations. This must go beyond simply adjusting structures of authority, accountability and control.
It falls to leaders to find strategies that deal with risk aversion, that understand that resistance to change can be a reflection of professionalism, and that recognise that disagreement between professionals can actually serve children’s interests under the right circumstances.
Further, leaders must be prepared to give power away on some occasions, taking opportunities to involve young people in local governance, and to bring professionals together to plan the design and delivery of local services.
Finally, national policy can also play its part in helping this change in culture take place, by creating more flexible and bespoke systems of accountability and support for leaders at a local level
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