“One of the things I think I can bring to the Presidency is make Government and public service cool again” Barrack Obama. I wish I had said this when asked at interview what I could bring to the post and organisation. If Local Authorities are to effectively tackle their recruitment and retention challenge then chief executives need to make their organisations cool again.
When I trained to be a social worker it was a cool profession particularly working with children and young people .It was a bit radical ,a bit edgy, where innovative and exciting things were happening. We felt we were social warriors against the system fighting for vulnerable and disadvantaged kids. Ok not every one thought that way and it seems naive now but I was happy to tell people I was a social worker and working for the LA. Times have changed but surely the aim must be to make local government and public service cool again.
When Virgin airline started out it was defiantly a cool organisation to work for. A rebel airline that dared to be different, innovative, challenging the status quo and the perception of what an airline should look like. British airways were the stuffy men in suits the Goliath to Virgins David. Virgin came over as a fun place to work, where you were an individual not a number.
Probably one of the coolest ever places to work was NASA during the years leading up to the Moon landing. Radical thinkers were pulled together to innovate in the race to be the first to put a man on the moon and return them safely. The daring ambition, the excitement, the sense of purpose and the pride in being part of something extraordinary.
But an organisation does not have to be big, high profile, or of national importance, to be “cool”. It doesn’t need to have a media savvy, charismatic leader or a distinctive brand. It doesn’t matter whether it is in the private sector, the not for profit sector or the public sector. But to be a ,” cool” organisation it must be seen as an exciting, innovative , fun place to work. A place where employees are well treated, valued and respected. The organisation must stand for something , it must have a strong sense of social responsibility and be concerned with more than simply making money or offering value for money. This sounds exactly like the public sector ethos I experienced in my early career when working for a Local Authority was cool.
Blair Mcpherson former Local Authority Director, author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
