Tom Ruscha

Successful devolution is all down to leaders. They need the time and space to focus on what they have to do and they need the skills to enable those around them to do great work. We recently carried out research into the leadership ingredients of successful devolution agreements. Public and private collaborations need leaders who have vision and great networks. Leaders have to focus on long-term, place-based plans that address economic and societal challenges in a sustained way. This is a complex task. Leaders need the headspace to think strategically and conceptually, develop meaningful collaborations and manage change in critical services. Chief executives must be supported by their senior managers in both the public and private sectors. They in turn need to be able to plan and integrate services for the long term while engaging diverse stakeholders, from partners to politicians, staff to citizens. Some of the people we spoke to were concerned about whether senior managers could deli