SOLACE

Lessons on leadership and governance

Paul Dossett and Professor Catherine Staite consider what can be learned from the varied and complex reasons why councils fail, including groupthink, lack of skills, and inability to strike a healthy balance between political and managerial power.

By Paul Dossett, Professor Catherine Staite | 18 April 2023

Understanding why councils fail is critical to avoiding future failure.

It is tempting to characterise some recent failures of leadership and governance as politicians behaving badly or statutory officers letting them get away with it, but closer study shows the causes of failure are much more varied and complex. It also shows that opportunities for disaster to be averted are often missed.

Popular articles by Professor Catherine Staite

  1. Local government reorganisation – panacea or mirage?
  2. Beyond the local audit backstop
  3. How can further local authority failures be prevented?
  4. What can be learnt from the recent Public Interest Reports?

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Popular articles by Professor Catherine Staite

  1. Local government reorganisation – panacea or mirage?
  2. Beyond the local audit backstop
  3. How can further local authority failures be prevented?
  4. What can be learnt from the recent Public Interest Reports?
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