Irolled my eyes, sighed and felt deflated as an uninformed acquaintance said to me: 'But what do they do, really? Apart from empty the bins and not fix potholes?' I managed to refrain from shaking some sense into them and calmly explained the wide range of public services that a local authority is responsible for delivering. This exchange got me thinking back to a conversation I recently had with a group of senior managers from a number of different councils about their view that local government is in dire need of an image overhaul; especially when it comes to recruitment and retention. On chatting to them, they were keen to point out that first and foremost, they are public servants. They chose their careers because they want to make a difference to peoples' day to day lives and 'delivering first class public services' is what motivates them to get up and go to work each day. However, they often feel like the unsung heroes for their efforts with little, or sometimes negative, acknowledgement from the public they serve.
展开▼
