This article is written by Christodoulos Koutsoulianos, author of several books about local self-government. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own, from a career spanning 30 years in local government.
One of the most significant structural problems Greece has is undoubtedly the poor quality of its public municipal administration. This is a product of the economic crisis, which has been going through the last decade, and which has since become endemic.
Today, there is a total of 332 municipalities in Greece, headed by Mayors and Municipal Councils. The poor quality of the local administrative system could be attributed to the irrationality in the functioning of municipal services, the inappropriateness of municipal employees, the formalism and legalism, the centralism in decision-making, the lack of strategic action, the waste of managerial resources and the insufficient municipal resources. I’d argue, however, that it’s less to do with any one of these factors, as it is a product of the lack of leadership.
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Before proceeding, we must define leadership. Leadership is the process of influencing the thinking, emotions, attitudes and behaviours of a small or large, formal or informal group of people by one person — the leader. This influence is exerted in a way so other people voluntarily and willingly cooperate to implement the goals of their team in the best way possible.
One form of leadership is political leadership. But, interestingly, there is no commonly agreed upon definition for political leadership. We could, of course, mention some of the characteristics of political leadership that may include mobilising collective action, competing with others for influence and framework with supporters. In relation to the human resources, the behaviour of the leaders in public sector organisations contribute to creating clarity and unity of purpose as well as an environment in which the organisation itself excels. It is obvious, of course, that being a political leader requires different leadership attributes one would need in other areas, for example, business administration, the Army or other population groups (Xlepas,N, (2005), The Mayor, Papazisi).
The qualities of leadership
The main factors that influence the political leadership in local government organisations are personal characteristics, institutional frameworks, general socio-economic conditions, political competition, and the leader’s relationships with their supporters.
In the era of globalisation, with the landscape of local government already changing dramatically, a leader-mayor should have self-awareness, self-confidence and social awareness, as well as large amounts of emotional intelligence skills, so that he or she is able to perform their duty. I have already briefly mentioned some of these, such as being able to bring results, achieve a vision and act as a conduit for creativity and entrepreneurship. In addition we might add the ability to create a fruitful climate of organisation with happy and productive employees, and generally lead their organisation to multifaceted success.
Municipalities without any coherence and without any measurable indicators of productivity cannot perform as expected and will have to change radically and fundamentally in order to be able to function effectively
It is important to note that if cities want to have a more influential role in the development of societies, they must have a strong local leadership in a new decentralised context. One city where the quality of local government innovation has made a difference is Barcelona.
This city has opened to the sea and has become a construction site. The industrial buildings that are close to its coastal section were demolished and they are creating a modern marina and a 3 km+ beach. The Olympic Village and the Olympic Port began to build in the once declining, post-industrial Pomp Nou. 30 new hotels were built, the old ones were renovated. Historic buildings in the Gothic Quarter and Montjuic have been restored. The architect and Mayor Acebillo (1992) said, “A Leader-Mayor is the hardest job in the world. We need a whole new generation of talented, competed, dedicated mayors across Europe, not mediators of the central government or the faction”.
The Greek Public Administration continues to suffer from problems related to its incomplete external differentiation from politics. This is linked to growing tendencies to politicise the leading levels of the administrative pyramid and to its insufficient internal development, both in terms of organisation and processes, as well as at the level of its human resources.
Furthermore, the structure and operation of the municipalities are in direct conflict with the modern practices of business administration. The irrationality of the political administration of human resources has a restraining effect in the terms of the meritocracy, equality and justice; and promotion of employees within the municipalities. The above combinations have created a framework that is not favourable for the development of the sought-after leadership behaviour, resulting in a negative image of the functioning of municipalities. Of course, there are cases in the municipalities where Mayors operate extremely well, within the suffocating legal framework they are bound by. This is appreciated by the citizens who re-elect them year after year.
Leaders wanted
Municipalities based on their current form cannot give what is expected from them to their citizens. The existence of leaders in the municipalities is almost a luxury for local governments. Municipalities without any coherence and without any measurable indicators of productivity cannot perform as expected and will have to change radically and fundamentally in order to be able to function effectively.
The characteristics of a modern public administration, which are the achievement of efficiency, effectiveness and quality, depend on a large extent on a number of structural changes. But first and foremost, it depends on the people, the knowledge, the skills, the ideas, the discipline and the commitment they feel.
In conclusion, leadership as it emerges from the modern approaches, could have a catalytic effect on the implementation of the desired changes. It is therefore imperative that leaders be found to push the country’s municipal life to radical and innovative changes. — Christodoulos Koutsoulianos
