Practical guidance for other authorities undertaking reorganisation

A Local government reform perspective: creating a cohesive culture

Drawing on her experience, Anna sets out practical lessons for leaders undertaking reorganisation, focusing on common pitfalls and the actions needed to build a cohesive, unified culture. She highlights the importance of early prioritisation, sustained communication, and creating something genuinely new rather than replicating legacy systems. Her insights emphasise that successful reorganisation depends as much on how people think, behave, and engage as it does on formal structures and processes.

What are the three mistakes you would urge leaders entering reorganisation to avoid?

1. Underestimating the scale of the cultural challenge. Leaders often focus heavily on structures and governance, without fully recognising the time and effort required to shift behaviours, mindsets, and relationships.
2. Relying solely on theoretical toolkits, webinars, or guidance without practical engagement. While frameworks can provide direction, meaningful change requires visible leadership, real conversations, and hands-on involvement across the organisation.
3. Neglecting staff communication and involvement. Without consistent and authentic engagement, uncertainty can grow, leading to disengagement, resistance, and loss of momentum.

What should leaders prioritise in the first 100 days?

• Ensuring workforce stability and operational functionality, including essential services such as payroll. Maintaining business continuity is critical to building confidence and avoiding disruption during a period of significant change.
• Engaging members to align objectives and cascade these priorities throughout the organisation. Clear alignment at the top ensures that messaging is consistent and that staff understand how their roles contribute to wider organisational goals.

What does success look like by the end of year one?

• Staff should feel a sense of belonging, with no lingering attachment to the legacy organisation. A shared identity should be evident, with people identifying with the new organisation rather than previous structures.
• Service improvements should be evident, with no dip in quality. Transformation should enhance, not compromise, delivery, demonstrating that cultural change and performance improvement go hand in hand.

Now that you are working with other authorities, what patterns are you seeing emerge?

• Many councils struggle to create something genuinely new rather than merely combining legacy systems.
• Practical approaches, including engaging frontline staff and using technology such as AI tools, help sustain cultural change. 

Where are organisations underestimating the scale of the cultural challenge?

• Leaders often approach reorganisation as “adding together” previous structures, without recognising the need to create a truly new culture. This can lead to fragmented organisations where old behaviours persist under a new structure.
• Effective communication, engagement, and leadership modelling are critical to bridging this gap. Without these, cultural change remains superficial and fails to embed in day-to-day practice.

Key leadership lessons

• Never hesitate to communicate what you do not know.
• Backfill senior roles to ensure continuity and ownership.
• Actively engage staff at all levels to sustain momentum and convert sceptics into advocates.