Today marks the launch of a year long investigation into what a local authority might look like in the year 2020.
The full report can now be accessed here.
The report presents a collection of challenging ideas and contemporary developments across UK Local Government. Ideas are sourced from within a range of local government projects and from elsewhere too. There is a long list of people who have either directly or indirectly provided inspiration for some of the pieces in this report. These people include Ian Kendrick, Professor Tudor Rickards, David Howard, Tim Hedger and Jack O’Herlihy.
The report first asks how we might think about the future in a meaningful and constructive way, whilst painting a picture of what a local authority may actually look like in the year 2020. Thereafter the report is made up of four sections that pose a number of difficult questions, discussed with creative thinking and bold propositions, and supported from empirical evidence within the TALK community.
The four sections include:
- Leadership: Community and Leadership. What makes a good leader? Contemporary and historical examples. The soft skills of leadership. The hard skills of leadership. The Emergent leader: The Collective. Evidence from Leeds City Council Digital Pen and Paper, The Connected Cumbria Partnership, and In Control: Oldham.
- Information Technology: Looking back to see forward. The Diminishing Firm. Control and Command. The multi-staged development process. Open Source. Evidence from The Connected Cumbria Partnership, Leeds City Council Digital Pen and Paper, and The Eden Customer Contact Centre.
- Local Engagement: Two scenarios are put forward – The Alienation Scenario, and The ‘Moved onto other Things’ scenario. The red herrings of Big Brother and X-Factor. Knowledge, Control, and Community. Evidence from E-Consultation – Acknowledge, Place 2 Be (Brighton), Bristol City Council, West Lancashire.
- Team Working: Thinking about 21st Century work. Social Computing. The Wisdom of Crowds. New technologies and new thinking with respect to the Internet. The Very Ordinary Case of Anna Eagin. Evidence from Leeds City Council.
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