Expanding the pool of candidates on the active labor market for director positions

Jes Ladva, Odgers Berndtson Group – Odgers Interim and Odgers Connect Managing Partner and Director of the Local and Central Government Practice, examines the challenges of finding the right candidate amid a flurry of local authority chief executive appointments.

The labor market for local government directors is in an active phase. We have seen a wave of significant nominations in recent months, with more to come. It was a busy time for us.

There has been a flurry of county council appointments, with new chief executives being installed in Surrey, West Sussex, Wiltshire and Hertfordshire. The situation was reflected in city councils, particularly in the major cities, where many talented chief executives moved into new roles from senior positions in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham – Joanne Roney, who has a CBE for services to local government, actually moved from Manchester to Birmingham – Nottingham and Bristol.

The latter has enjoyed contributing to the provision of an extremely high quality service, which led to the interim appointment of Paul Martin following Stephen Peacock’s decision to take over as Chief Executive of the West of England Mayoral Joint Authority.

Another interesting appointment in which we played a role was the transition of Mel Barrett from Nottingham City Council to become the new Chief Executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, founded in the 1950s to provide homes for the Windrush generation. His move is an example of a topic I have been writing about for some time, namely porosity – by which in this context I mean the inflow and outflow of top talent into local government from other sectors.

This trend should be encouraged because too narrow a search can prevent you from finding the best candidates for a job, and relevant expertise may lie in places that some organizations may not consider. Therefore, as part of my responsibilities at Odgers, I serve on the Practice Director’s Board with colleagues from across the spectrum of our business (financial services, consumer services and retail, manufacturing, utilities, energy, healthcare, sports and entertainment…).

We are, of course, talking about economic conditions and market trends. But we also talk about interesting, prestigious tasks that we deal with. They are not dependent on a single sector, but rather on leadership capabilities. In other words, it is a mechanism to encourage and facilitate porosity, allowing us to discover the best solutions to our clients’ briefs. Wherever you can find them. A sector agnostic if you will.

That said, most important local government appointments will continue to come from this sector. However, I have noticed an interesting trend in shortlists that is worth investigating. About 18 months ago, shortlists typically consisted of 75% of first-time CEO aspirants and 25% of experienced candidates; whereas today the balance has shifted slightly to around 80% aspiring and 20% experienced.

As you might expect, experienced CEOs often have an advantage. However, I want to emphasize that this is a limited talent pool and it is impossible to maintain confidence in an endless carousel of CEOs moving from one Board to another.

The alternatives are porosity, as already mentioned, or investing in the future by hiring talent in senior management positions. But how do we make sure that this kind of talent is not only willing but ready to take that step forward? At Odgers we pride ourselves on our market-leading talent assessment skills, which are complemented by practical leadership development tools such as our mock interview program (please contact us for more information) for aspiring CEOs.

Making the right choice is extremely important, given that the role of local government chief executive is more difficult than ever. A recent report by the County Councils Network and PwC Workforce of the Future noted that: “Leadership roles in the industry are becoming increasingly difficult to fill. Now more than ever, local governments need their leadership teams to play a vital role in shaping the transformation to meet strategic and budgetary goals. To achieve this, they need to ensure that they are operating effectively, with clear purpose, capabilities and responsibilities to successfully deliver the changes required for transformation.”

Furthermore, the report highlighted the need for stronger employer branding in light of the widespread belief that “local government is currently not proactive enough in showing the positive impact of the work and initiatives it drives, and is not currently driving the narrative around work in industry.”

Local government directors have a lot on their plate, and yet they perform miracles – sometimes in very demanding circumstances. If you are planning for succession or you are a candidate who wants to develop your skills and/or relocate, please contact us.