Thursday 6 June 2013

I am back this week after a week off – only four days but it felt like much longer which is always good. And the sun was out every day but one which was a bonus. I bought myself a guitar as one of my regrets in life is not being able to play an instrument. So that’s about to change. A week into the adventure I can now play six chords. Some way to go but I have some lessons planned...


I was reflecting on leadership while I was away, as I tend to do (I know I should get out more) and thought I would share my summary of the key aspects with you. Leadership is going to play a vital role over the next four years in the public sector in general but particularly in Wiltshire. It’s worth remembering that leadership comes at every level in the organisation. The most successful organisations have leaders everywhere. So for me it’s about the following:

Key issues of performance and leadership in the individual:

1. the skills you bring to the role
2. your behaviour as you do the job

The Leadership continuum and key roles:

1. Leaders - "what should we be doing?"
2. Managers - "how should we do it?"
3. Administrators - "why we can't do it?" I’m only joking. Good admin is vital for success

Key influences of behaviour of people in the organisation:

1. What leaders do when things go wrong
2. What leaders pay attention to
3. What behaviour they role model

The role of the great leader:

1. Challenge the status quo
2. Create freedom for people to innovate and experiment
3. Recognise good performance and reward it
4. create a fraternity
5. Give meaningful purpose to work

Finally, to be a leader you need to have some followers. It’s always worth checking out who is following you and why. If you have no followers you’re not a leader. And leadership is not a popularity contest; if you want to lead you will be unpopular to some, but not to most. You have to be comfortable in yourself to live with this.

For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.

Thanks for reading and talk again in a few days.

Carlton

Friday 24 May 2013

It’s been a great week this. A day in every hub – two days in Chippenham and I’ve been able to meet and speak with a lot of staff, elected members and partners (mainly the Police and Police and Crime Commissioner). It is always good to see and hear what is going on and to take the opportunity to learn what we need to improve.


This morning a number of my team presented the transformation programme to members as part of the induction programme. I know that I’m involved in this, but it is easy to forget just how innovative, ambitious, brave and risky this is. It was very well received with some members commenting that it is truly ground breaking. As if to cement that comment, I’ve just finished a ‘phone call with Peter Hetherington from the Guardian who is writing an article about the programme and how it is driving economic growth in our county. It’s good to get national recognition for all the hard work by the team and all of our staff.

I am taking a few days furlough next week – going to the seaside in Somerset. So now you know that we’re in for rain and wind for a week. I can’t wait. I need to buy a guitar too... I want to learn to play. Better late than never!

For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.

Thanks for reading and talk again in a few days.

Carlton

Friday 10 May 2013

I can’t believe it’s a week since the election. The member induction programme is well underway; almost all of the 98 members have been sworn in and we have completed sessions with them on law and governance, and today in Monkton Park we are holding the first of two safeguarding days – extremely important as members become corporate parents to our looked after children. It’s been a good week because I’ve been able to visit all of the hubs and speak with lots of staff.


Tuesday next week sees the first full council for new members. This is where the leader, cabinet members and chairs & members of all the committees are announced or allocated. Keep a sharp eye out to find out who you will be working with. Carolyn, Maggie and I will be addressing full council at the start of their session to outline the challenges ahead for the organisation and the elected members. I’m looking forward to this.

My weight loss is progressing well – now nearer 4 stone off than 3 which is great. I’m missing cheese the most...

For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.

Thanks for reading and talk again in a few days.

Carlton

Tuesday 7 May 2013

Last week was election week in Wiltshire and we now have our 98 new members for the second unitary council. There are 27 new members amongst the intake which is good to see. I had the privilege of returning nearly 30 members as Returning Officer in Trowbridge on Friday. It was good to meet them and briefly hear their views and ambitions for the future.

I’d like to thank the hundreds of staff involved in ensuring the election process was well planned and delivered. It was great to see so many staff, ex-staff and members of our communities getting involved to make this a success. They worked incredibly hard, for long hours and by the time we finished around 7pm on Friday night, they were all pretty tired. A great job by the whole team.


This week the new member induction programme starts with a full day in the Civic Centre Trowbridge to swear in some new members. This session will also be repeated in Salisbury and Chippenham. We also have sessions on safeguarding, corporate parenting, governance and training for full council which is being held next week. A packed and exciting week ahead!


For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.


Thanks for reading and we’ll talk again in a week or so.

Carlton

Friday 19 April 2013

Welcome back everybody after the Easter Break.


It’s straight back into action on the run in to the local government elections on May 2nd. Elections will be held in 27 counties, 6 unitaries and one or two other places and for election junkies like me it will be a fascinating process and exciting to see the results. In Wiltshire, we have just over 300 candidates fighting elections in 92 divisions across the county. Six divisions are uncontested and the single candidates standing have been appointed already. This is not particularly democratic, and as Returning Officer I will be exploring with the new members ways in which we can encourage better democratic participation in some areas.

On Wednesday I joined the Development Services team for their event in Devizes. The whole team gets together three or four times per year to review their service transformation progress, look at their staff survey results and share information about the changes going on in the service. It is always a lively event with about 120 people attending. The presentations were excellent and the question and answer sessions were lively and enlightening. I encourage other services to take part in these types of event – you can never over communicate, and everybody needs to know what is happening and have the chance to ask their questions.

Next week I am attending the Associate of County Chief Executives spring conference. We will be exploring economic growth, and how county councils can drive forward the growth agenda across the country, completing some work on troubled families and looking at transport infrastructure and how we ensure we and the Local Enterprise Partnerships can deliver what our communities need. It is always good to catch up with colleagues and share experiences and learning from the common challenges we face.

For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.

Thanks for reading and we’ll talk again in a couple of weeks.

Carlton