Leadership and Management

No substitute for good leadership and management

Previous councillors have been persuaded that a business model is the best way to get performance and efficiency out of Council. The persuaders of this policy omitted the fact that Council is in a non-competitive marketplace.
The primary driver of performance and efficiency in business is a competitive market environment, but this alone in no way guarantees success. It takes good management and great leadership to extract the best from any situation.
Auckland Council and its associated Council Controlled Organisations having the ability to charge fees to a captive market, has not and never will, drive efficiency. It drives inflation.
History shows when someone or some organisation is the only provider of services or products, they often become self-serving and arrogant. After going through a consenting process, many people complain of contradiction and duplication by Council, creating extra charges at every turn. Council is actually rewarded for being inefficient through the income generated from multiple charges.
Breaking Council’s monopoly by giving the private sector contractor’s licenses to compete against Council to deliver services does not guarantee that Council will adopt good management. Look at New Zealand Rail, taxpayers were told that its inefficiency and poor performance would be fixed by selling it to the private sector. We all know that hasn’t worked.
Counsellors need to step up to their leadership role, giving clear direction and support to top management so they can build a top performing team that brings with it morale and job satisfaction to every employee throughout Council. The old ethos of ‘public servant’ needs to be councils new mission statement.
It will take a prolonged effort to galvanise all Council departments into the singular vision of helping Auckland workers and their families to share in the benefits of a thriving city.
It is a challenge I am prepared to take on