Donna Hall says the main role of the council chief executive is ‘always triangulation, every single time' – making sure what is being agreed ‘is the right stuff and actually happens on the ground in integrated frontline teams'

What do council chief executives actually do? Seriously, what do they do on a day to day basis? They have no direct services to deliver to local people. Usually they have no direct budget to spend. So what actually do they do? Having spent more than 20 years as either a chief executive or deputy chief I've looked deep into myself and pondered this question long and hard over many years.