Apart from a sad few, most local authority chief executives pursue a hobby – and for many, it's football. For Irene Lucas, who heads up South Tyneside MBC, it is, by all accounts, more of an obsession. It started when she was aged six, and ‘sent to Woolworths to get the orange juice and broken biscuits for half-time' for her local club. ‘And I've been passionate about football ever since,' she says. By all rights, Irene should have been a Newcastle United supporter, but for the fact that her first boyfriend followed the fortunes of Sunderland AFC. As a result, she has been a life-long Sunderland fan. Her husband – who runs his own successful travel agency – is now a major shareholder in the club, and vice chairman. She is reluctant to talk about it. Perhaps she is concerned she might be envied – there is certainly a lot to be envious of. First, there are her skills as a chief executive, which are increasingly being recognised in Whitehall. She has turned South Tyneside around. When she arrived, it faced disastrous Ofsted and social service results, as well as the threat of a corporate governance review. She says: ‘I like difficult, complicated and messy.' Now it is four-star authority, and improving strongly, although she seems genuinely surprised when I suggest it was her doing and insists it was a team effort. Then there is the new CBE, which she was made in the New Year's Honours list – so new, she still seems slightly uncomfortable with it. And there is the family business and the football. But there doesn't seem to be any jealousy – just a string of people singing her praises. It is easy to see why when we meet. She is full of excitement and enthusiasm when she talks about the staff and community in South Tyneside. Irene has been in local government for 34 years. ‘I started when I was one,' she quips. ‘My first taste of management was at South Bedfordshire BC.' The role was as a management trainee. Mecca Leisure ran the leisure facilities in the area at the time. But a North East girl through and through, Irene returned home to work as assistant director, then director of leisure services at Sunderland CC in 1977. She became assistant chief executive before moving on to South Tyneside. Irene also has a long list of appointments on sporting bodies – including Sport England, the FA and DCMS, – and countless other achievements. The authority lists numerous innovations which she reels off. Perhaps the most striking thing about them is that they are all reasonably simple – sometimes even downright obvious. There are regular bacon butties with binmen to chat about how things are going. There are woolly hats, gloves and port-a-loos for the street sweepers to make their life easier. And there is a ‘gold sock' award – a sock-shaped badge for staff who have given customer services which would ‘knock your socks off'. Customer service is one of Irene's passions. She talks about the ‘ethos of customer services' and listening to what people want. She recites her favourite – and rather obscure – quote from the call centre, from a satisfied member of the public, who said: ‘Thank you for coming back and finding my budgie when my gable roof fell off.' Proof, indeed, that her staff are willing to go that extra mile. And she demands it from all employees. ‘The executive team members are measured on how good a team player they are,' she says. ‘They have to show they care for others.' The organisation values innovation – and so, inevitably, needs to avoid a ‘blame culture' when things go wrong. South Tyneside has looked in some unusual places to find inspiration. From local car manufacturer Nissan to US universities. For customer services it looks to furniture retailer IKEA – which puts value for money first – to cosmetic giant L'Oreal – because you're worth it! And something seems to be going right, because the satisfaction ratings of South Tyneside are up 19%, when most other authorities are facing a fall. What the council does best, Irene says, is ‘harnessing talent at all levels'. Problems are tackled not just by a single department, but by groups from all levels of the organisation and its partners. Irene talks about ‘harnessing the power of the organisations'. To tackle one problem, everyone should get involved to see what they can do to help find a solution – or just to make life slightly better. She cites an example of the head of IT finding laptops for looked-after children as part of a council-wide drive to help children's social services. ‘The trick is, not to pigeon-hole people but to give them the opportunity to show their humanity. ‘Did you know, I'm profoundly hard of hearing?' Irene throws it in as an afterthought. So, is it something that has made life more difficult for her? She thinks carefully for a minute. ‘I don't think so. Not any more than being a woman, really.' If she has been hindered by either, it doesn't show. Finally, the real question of the moment – what does she think about Kevin Keegan's appointment as manager of Newcastle. She tells me, but is coy about her football punditry appearing in print. Football fans will just have to wait an see.
