I’m currently reading The Art of Logic by Eugenia Cheng (and thoroughly enjoying by the way). In a chapter titled ‘How to be Right’ she deals with the topic of sweeping statements. She points to the fact that, while statements like ‘you never do the washing up‘, are not meant literally most of the time, …
While public board and committee meetings have the potential to be both constructive and productive, often this is not the case. Sometimes independent board and committee members feel that nothing ever really changes as a result of meetings. At other times friction and bad tempers create more heat than light. Knowing that a meeting is …
This is a follow up to my previous post From Q&As to constructive conversations. If we want governance conversations to be more constructive then it’s helpful to look at what the professional conversation experts, in other words the facilitators, coaches, mediators, therapists, supervisors and counsellors, are doing. Of course, the exchanges you’re having in your …
Now that local councils are getting the hang of virtual meetings, it’s time think more about viewer experience to take advantage of the increased numbers tuning in. As councils are already demonstrating, there has never been a better time to experiment. During lockdown local councils have been conducting their meetings virtually and, while this has been …
The question and answer session, or Q&A, can be productive and helpful for ‘finding things out’ and for getting things ‘on the record’. However, if boards and committees want to move to the next level, then what’s needed is constructive conversations. The normal mode of engagement between independent (non-executive) members and the executive in the …
The scrutiny planning canvas is something that I invite people to work on in groups during courses. I think it could also be useful for scrutineers more generally as part of their practice. I’ve had good feedback from those who have used it, so I thought I would share in case you might find it …
Like many other aspects of scrutiny, there is no one size fits all when it comes to identifying topics. Every council will have a different approach and there may even be differences between committees at the same council. Not that this is a bad thing of course. For me what matters is that any process …
What makes for a wonderful scrutiny work plan? It’s that time of year when scrutiny committees are forming their work plans. While everyone has their own way of doing this I thought it would be helpful to share what I think are the seven characteristics of the most effective ones. Seven characteristics of a good scrutiny work …
Assurance is one of the seven scrutiny superpowers. By acting as a watchdog and by ensuring that services are delivered as they should be, scrutiny can give the public confidence that the local council operates with integrity and performs effectively. Ultimately scrutineers can see themselves as ‘safeguarding services’ – spotting the warning signs of poor …
The power of challenge is one of the seven scrutiny super powers. Scrutiny acts as an important and constructive check on the decision making process, helping to ensure that final decisions are better. Here are some ideas to improve the scrutiny power of challenge that others have found helpful. Already do them all? Have an …