Modelos de Manejo de la Política Cambiaria

This theme examines CEOs’ own assessment of their success and attempts to identify what CEOs consider to be the important markers of success. Four subcategories of description are identified.

• Managing outcomes and culture.

• Authentic leadership.

• Providing impartial and frank advice - the Westminster model.

• Caring for Councillors.

Table 5.5: CEOs Determining their Own Success

Subcategory What is the experience? How is it understood? Gender Managing outcomes and culture • Responsible financial management • Managing communication with Councillors

• Organisation culture – trust and respect

• Delivering outcomes to the community

• Team development

• Managing the bottom line

• Ensuring Council feels well-briefed with no surprises

• Staff retention and morale

• Positive customer/community survey results • Strong teamwork consistency of message to Council F & M Authentic leadership

• ‘Making a difference’ to the organisation and the

community

• Creating a strong direction

• Shared responsibility by organisation in delivering Council’s agenda

• Feedback mechanisms

• Clear expectations

• Delegation and devolution of responsibilities

Chapter 5 – The Results

Subcategory What is the experience? How is it understood? Gender Providing

impartial and frank advice

• Providing frank and fearless advice

• Straight down the line

• Act as an advisor to Council

• Setting boundaries around how communication occurs

• Delineation of roles – Council establishes policy and the administration is responsible for the implementation

F & M

Caring for Councillors

• Councillors have the power – imbalance in relationship

• Nurture and care for the relationship with Council and individual Councillors

• The will of the Council is of utmost importance

• Time investment

• Ongoing priority

F & M

5.3.5.1 Managing outcomes and culture

This subcategory identifies the considerations of the CEOs in successfully managing the organisation.

Female - I see success as working through a budget process and getting the Councillors focused on the big issues and agreeing. I see the successes around a really difficult issue and working that through and managing the communication with the Councillors and keeping staff on board and making sure we can live with a particular result.

Male 1 - My point is the most important work I do the Council actually doesn’t understand at all because the most important work I do is select the key people and create a culture that ensures that they and everybody else have the opportunity to do their very best work. That’s the single most important thing that I do and I don’t think, there’d be one Councillor with some sort of organisational, … who work in large organisational environments we don’t actually have any. So when I talk to them about organisational leadership and that sort of stuff their eyes glaze over.

Discussion

There is strong consensus amongst CEOs of the areas that determine success. The above comments highlight the focus on organisational outcomes, budget, team development and culture. Whilst the previous theme identified CEOs’ conceptions of being lonely at the

Chapter 5 – The Results top, a number of CEOs still emphasise team development, particularly at the senior level, and the nurturing of trust amongst staff. There is no differentiation on the basis of gender.

5.3.5.2 Authentic leadership

This subcategory identifies the considerations of a number of the CEOs in citing their capacity to lead and direct as a determinant of success.

Female - I want to stay in local government and I love, absolutely adore the role of CEO because for me it’s about being in that one position that you really can, and I know it’s a lot of jargon and all of that, but that you can really feel that you have got that leadership, you can make change, you can make a difference, you can make a real impact.

Male - I think they would say has he or she actively generated a desired culture? Does the organisation feel empowered and supported? Do they as individual Councillors feel supported and treated fairly? Is leadership demonstrated daily and I mean authentic leadership demonstrated daily to themselves and to the organisation? Are the interpersonal skills facilitating open and strong relationships?

Discussion

Whilst the discussion about leadership is limited to the above comments, they highlight some of the positive aspects about the role and clearly identify the CEOs’ reflections on their capacity to lead and how this becomes visible to the organisation. One female CEO highlights the opportunity in local government to manage outcomes. One male CEO’s commentary suggests that leadership skills are pertinent to relationships not only with staff but also with individual Councillors. Again, there is no evidence of differentiation on the basis of gender.

5.3.5.3 Providing impartial and frank advice - Westminster model

This subcategory portrays the strong view of both male and female CEOs that the provision of impartial advice to Councillors is a key determinant of success. Conceptions of male and female CEOs identify similar considerations.

Chapter 5 – The Results

Female - I guess I’ve always had an attitude that, a bit Westminsterish, that if you’re in a role and you don’t provide the frank and fearless advice, then in a public sector role, in a government role then you may as well get out of the game than to try and second guess and see.

Male - I will never back away from telling them stuff even if they’re not going to like it. In fact it happened this week at Council where we were finalising the budget and one of the newies was really just off on a big tangent and everyone knew it but no one had the guts to say it and I said no one wants to be the bad guy and I don’t either but it’s my job so the bad news is I’ve got to tell you some stuff, here’s the reality of life. Now a lot of CEO’s don’t do that.

Discussion

The provision of impartial advice is regarded by all of the CEOs as of major significance. This is the area most forcibly emphasised by all of the CEOs involved. Both male and female CEOs suggest that this is clearly an expectation they have of themselves and that they see it as the key to managing Councillor relationships. Inherent in these conceptions is the view that unless the CEO clearly maintains this impartiality, he or she is at risk of losing the relationship with Council as a whole. CEOs are clear in their considerations on how corporate governance works within local government. A number of the comments suggest that deviation from this principle, by aligning to either a Councillor or a political position, is the step that will lead to a CEO’s downfall.

5.3.5.4 Caring for Councillors - this is what counts

This theme identifies the importance CEOs place on caring for Councillors. CEO comments also identify their considerations of the power base and the nature of their relationship with Council.

Female - I think the ones (CEOs) that have struggled with it have really; they’ve struggled with the relationships with Councillors. It’s not unique to the women CEOs, I think a number of the men do, and they get into a power battle with the Councillors. Well you know at the end of the day the Councillors have got the power. You might be

Chapter 5 – The Results able to wield it in a whole range of different ways if that’s your agenda on an issue. But ultimately they can pull the pin and I think people just don’t get that.

Male - Essentially the biggest challenge, as I’ve already inferred, for a CEO in local government is to find out what the hell the Council wants, but you can be naive about that and you can be a bit cute about it … and you’ve got ten different people, ten different backgrounds, ten different personalities, knowledge and so on, who don’t have the detailed understanding of the organisation as a whole. So it’s got to be an iterative function.

Discussion

Both male and female CEOs suggest that developing effective relationships with Council is a key success factor. This was a notion, like the previous one, which all CEOs commented on. The commentary of CEOs suggests that managing the relationship with Councillors requires careful nurturing that goes beyond developing shared mission, goals and achievements. CEOs also suggest that there needs to be careful management of individual Councillor expectations, ensuring alignment with the Council as a whole. CEOs also appear to set up mechanisms to minimise political interference within the administration. All CEOs identify specific strategies and effort directed to the satisfaction of Councillor needs. There is also a suggestion that Council goals are not necessarily always aligned with those of the organisation.

5.3.5.5 Summary

Both male and female CEOs consistently identify managing the organisation, its culture and its performance as the key success factors. They also suggest that establishing and maintaining an environment in which they can provide Council with fierce and frank advice is also a key success factor. CEOs recognise that the challenge is to recognise and cater for individual Councillor needs when at times this is perceived to be difficult due to the range of political interests of Council. Their strategy is to build impartiality in the way in which they work with individual Councillors and to recognise the differentiation of roles between Council as the policy maker, and the administration as the body responsible for the implementation of that policy.

Chapter 5 – The Results

Both male and female CEOs place considerable importance on building a trusting organisational culture that is evidenced by close team work within the senior executive. CEOs appear to see this as an essential tactic to minimise political interference within the bureaucracy. Both male and female CEOs identify similar indicators of success.