Boston's failure to agree to merge back office services is due to a failure to communicate, says a senior member of the Better Boston Group.
Councillor Brian Rush slams "childish selective sharing of information ... " and
"The Leader`s desire for personal glory hunting and self promotion"
Dear Boston Eye,
The refusal to join the proposal for merged services has a lot to do with whether we are ready for it or not.
One would be forgiven for thinking that we as a council have been sitting around on our spongy bits, doing nothing to progress this project - and to a degree one would be right.
I'll return to this later..
It is a fact that both South Holland and East Lindsey District Councils appear to have confidence in the merged services vision.
No doubt both their groups of councillors have been able to evaluate the impact of the potential savings that can be made, and only a fool would be unable to see that there must be value in pursuing such aspiration.
Although I am hesitant to believe that one can cut staff, relocate administration, resulting in an upgrade of service level, and enhance quality of front line services, all at the same time, if it works then it really is a great trick.
A trick that is influenced by a couple of factors - one being, if existing services are over expensive and unsatisfactory, it could of course be the quality of staff that delivers the service.
So in order to rectify such a situation, a cleansing process must be carried out (this will be at a cost!) It was also logical that the first tranche of services selected by the three partners were administrative in flavour - Information Technology, Revenues and Benefits, Human Resources, Finance, and Customer Services - simply because they are the most transferable.
But bins, grass cutting, and crematoria etc ...?
All a bit physical, or constructional, so they don`t transfer too easily.
Or it could be that executive roles in management are not good enough. Maybe even perimeters and expectation are either too high or too low, or flawed in purpose and design. Maybe the best savings would be found here.
I'll vote for that.
In any case, whatever the problems, with effort, thought and proper evaluation, they can be overcome.
And I guess, or hope, that South Holland and East Lindsey, have the expertise and desire to make merged services a raging success. I am somewhat disappointed, but not surprised, that we as an authority could not be part of a project that has the potential to deliver improvements of municipal services to our 'Boroughfolk' -but the decision was the right one, and now I will tell you why.
It must be understood that if you really want to be a progressive, dynamic organisation, then it is vital that all those involved are committed, and all those committed are involved.
If a particular product or vision is to stand any hope of success then a team must be built that are capable of pursuing a clear and calculated result. That team must be based on trust.
In order to turn the vision to reality there must be a complete absence of 'private personal agendas.'
They have to want to deliver, know why they are delivering, then, how they will deliver, and embrace and utilise every skill and resource that is available to them to do so. It is a fact that discussions between the three authorities began many months ago, and regular meetings took place thereafter, options investigated, plans evaluated, course set.
So what went wrong?
The 'C' word -- communication.
The usual childish selective sharing of information was adopted.
The Leader's desire for personal glory hunting and self promotion would, as always, cloud important issues that concerned Boston in the proposal.
Star Chamber members of his ruling group would as usual, unquestioningly stand united; less important members would be fed pure rhetoric, thereby keeping all on board.
Opposition Members, huh! They would be to a large degree isolated.
And Boston would lose.
The original path of direction had been set by the former Chief Executive and Councillor Austin, and despite the warning bells ringing loud and clear, he would, as always, stay loyal to Mr Gallagher, as he did till the eleventh hour.
Then the divorce took place!
Lack of readily available finances, low performance levels, flawed decision making, and doubtful managerial skills. Lack of leadership and direction etc, etc. Audit Commission, Government Office for the East Midlands ....
Suddenly a change of Chief Executive personality and mind set, and the course of direction was re-examined.
The now misdirected Leader, became instilled by a furiosity to realign and catch up; now he wanted to communicate, but the opposing team were playing away, even some of his own Bypassers.
Now I wonder if he will be dropping in for a coffee at South Holland or East Lindsey any time soon, and will he be welcomed.
Doubt it!
Councillor Brian Rush
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