Leading Through Lockdown – the 3 C’s

In March I attended Solace’s Leadership Forum, which was focused on resilience, recovery and hope. It was an inspiring session and I wanted to share three C’s that resonated with me most.

Collaboration: It was good to hear the focus that all speakers placed on their people. There was a shared view that staff wellbeing, while historically may have been less of an explicit priority, now needs to be front and centre. Staff need to be empowered and trusted to make decisions, with reduced expectations around going to the office just for the sake of it. Reimagining office space to support staff to collaborate, rather than work in isolation, provides an exciting opportunity for people to connect and work differently going forward.

Communication: all too often transformation programmes can hit blockers due to an insufficient level of focus on communications – both internally and externally. Communications that are well thought out and regular are critical to building and sustaining the trust of communities and staff, particularly as we continue to work in this disjointed way. Regular briefings targeted at different levels within the organisation, and events for partners and communities were identified as key success factors – with an emphasis on being authentic. Providing good, clear advice and information has been reassuring for so many in these uncertain times and is an effective way to maintain relationships as we move forward.

Community: The pandemic has highlighted that people really do want to help each other. This has clearly been evidenced by the level of community support which has sprung up across the country in the last 12 months in response to the crisis. This is of course in addition to so much amazing activity that was already happening. There is a big question around how to harness that support and keep the momentum going – and local authorities have a huge role to play in this. The prospect of communities continuing to work closely together to support the most vulnerable in society has certainly left me feeling hopeful for the future.

Lockdown restrictions are easing but there is a long way to go yet. As long as local authority leaders continue to harness community support, communicate effectively and provide collaborative ways of working – they will have a strong foundation to support their recovery.