Being asked to share views, opinions and thoughts with thousands of like-minded people through the pages of The MJ has been one of the many privileges of being president of SOLACE.

Having handed over the presidential baton to my chief executive colleague, Mark Rogers, now is an ideal time to take stock of where leadership of the sector is at.

My two-word summary is ‘tippingpoint'.  Strong management of organisational change in our local authorities – irrespective of size, shape or history – continues to focus the minds of chief executives and senior managers and so it should.

It is also clear to me that there are senior managers who are passionate about what they do and who relish the opportunity to discuss ways to deliver more effectively for our places and our communities.

We may be getting tough challenges from the media, from government, from all quarters, but despite – or because of that – the majority of senior managers I've talked to over the past year are looking forward to the challenges ahead, not backwards to a largely mythical golden age of local government.

As they do this, they are also focusing on the skills and support they need as leaders to meet these challenges.  What are the skills we really need to be great leaders – and how do we develop them?

Some of the answers are to be found in the SOLACE, LGA and Skills for Local Government Skills for Leadership report published a few weeks back.  It's an important piece of work that looks at the need for senior managers in local government to have highly developed transformational and contextual skills.

These include the ability to lead through change and ambiguity.  We need to inspire trust and, equally, a sense of place; to encourage our organisations to become more entrepreneurial while we also articulate a vision for the future that our staff, partners and politicians can own.

It is a complex issue and sadly the report doesn't include a cut-out-and-keep guide on how to be a great leader.  But, by working together and continuing to discuss and research the nature of management and leadership of future public services, we will be able to support each other, encourage the brightest of our young leaders at the start of their careers and learn from the best.

Martin Reeves is chief executive of Coventry City Council and immediate past president of SOLACE