This can happen on a daily basis and I find myself chuckling as I write this thinking back to the countless times I was faced with unexpected surprises with my businesses.
This is a handy skill to have in my role as mayor, and it is not something that I expected to see a lot of in local government due to bureaucratic stereotypes. I have been pleasantly surprised a number of times with a growing change in the culture at the council whereby instead of starting a conversation with "the problem is" the staff are instead taking a "how can we?" approach.
It is amazing when we empower our brain to think in a certain way. We can uncover new ideas, creative solutions and sometimes just a better way to do something. As the council works on a continual path of improvement, this approach accelerates this concept and it has the important outcome of a win-win.
At our regular management report that forms part of our council meetings, staff from the various teams present us with the "state of play" in their area, and we are seeing more and more really great outcomes due to a commitment to continually aim to do better.
Councils at the best of times are too complicated to be run like a business, but there is nothing wrong with applying a businesslike approach.
— Southland District Mayor Rob Scott
