If you fall out with the chief executive then it is all the more important that you have a good relationship with your cabinet member. So I am trying hard to give him good news but in the current harsh financial climate it is proving difficult. The other problem is that since the last senior management restructuring I have inherited a range of very diverse services not all of which are covered by the same member of cabinet. I now find myself dividing my time between three cabinet members one of whom has the library service in their portfolio of responsibilities. The library closures have stirred up a lot of media interest requiring regular political briefings and so far, one judicial review, two consultation exercises and to date three revisions of the plan.One of my new cabinet members is very hands on she holds a very formal committee briefing session where each report to go to committee is presented to her by the author of the report. We have a line of chairs outside her office on alternate Wednesdays occupied by managers waiting to come in to present their reports .It wouldn’t be so bad if she had read the reports and just asked questions for clarification buy she clearly hasn’t. The thing is these reports haven’t just arrived out of the blue each report concerns a service development or budget proposal in keeping with a strategy all ready agreed and which individual managers have already briefed her on. The real problem is that she is struggling with an unfamiliar range of services and just can’t keep up with the pace of change. The reality is that having come to power after years in opposition the controlling party don’t have many experienced members. As one of my colleagues put it when the cabinet was announce “they were fishing from a small pool”.Blair McPherson author of Equipping managers for an uncertain future published by http://www.russellhouse.co.uk/
