News / Josie promises strong decision making
SHETLAND Islands Council leader Josie Simpson has promised a new culture of strong decision making at the authority that is facing huge cuts in staff and services.
His comments came after an exercise to plan for a better Shetland over the next two decades revealed that the greatest concern islanders had was the quality of decision making.
The council has hired Strathclyde Business School’s professor of management, Peter McKiernan, to lead a “scenario planning” exercise to help prepare for the future.
Professor McKiernan has a lengthy pedigree in such work, having helped multinational companies, countries, local authorities and even individuals look at what lies ahead.
In Shetland he led a major consultation that involved more than 700 people, including 450 who took part in an electronic survey.
“They (the consultees) profiled decision making as one of the most important drivers for the future of Shetland, making good decisions that are future proofed,” Prof McKiernan said.
“There is a growing acceptance that the decision making process they have at present could be improved.”
He said one person had compared present day Shetland to the 1970s “when there were some very sharp councillors who made some great deals for Shetland”. That person had hoped the scenario planning exercise could be “a catalyst for change”.
Perhaps the best outcome of the exercise would be “a vastly improved decision making process”, the professor said. This should involve a number of steps including clarity about the issue, consulting well, good debate and sticking to the decision once it was made.
Mr Simpson said that he believed the changes in the council’s governance introduced under chief executive Alistair Buchan would make a difference.
“The council will be able to make decisions fast and the most important thing is that we stick to our decisions because too much in the past you make a decision one week and reverse it the week after. It’s something we have to address and we are addressing it,” he said.
However when pressed about what examples he could give of the benefits of change at the council, he said they had to a better job of communicating the positive side of the authority.
“I don’t accept that we have not made good decisions. I think our problem is that we have not held fast to the decisions we have made. I think once you step back you weaken your case and I think we are guilty of that.
“I was in the fishing industry and I had to make tough decisions, and sometimes I only had seconds to make them. I think there’s a lot of people in Shetland who are very capable of making tough decisions.
“I can’t live with failure. If you were a failure you went out of business and this is not in my book.”
The council has set up a steering group to drive the scenario planning exercise forward, with representatives from the public and private sector.
Last month the group spent one week drawing up four scenarios that were dramatised by local drama teacher Izzy Swanson with a 10 strong cast from four separate local theatre groups during a session before 83 invited guests at Shetland Hotel.
The scenarios represented the consequences after 20 years of strong and weak decision making in the face of healthy and poor economic circumstances.
One showed a strong economy, but bad decisions, had left the islands controlled by private companies from outside Shetland, with people having to make a 50 mile round trip for a pint of milk, and a definite underclass developing.
In scenario two four students communicated on the Shetlink forum from a university campus on Unst using dialect recognition software. There was a growing population and community funds and a very healthy renewables, fishing and aquaculture sector worth £1 billion.
Poor decisions in a weak economic climate were illustrated by a group of students returning home to work in a restaurant, cynical about a council that shied away from big challenges over renewables – “they put all there eggs in one basket and then dropped the basket”.
However strong decisions made in tough times reflected a lively social scene – with Fiddlers Bid making a comeback concert – as an example of people making the best of times, looking after each other.
All four scenarios stressed Shetland’s community spirit, which shone through every element of the consultation, Professor McKiernan said. It was also apparent the importance placed on renewables for salvaging the economy.
One group of migrant workers had said: “This is the safest and friendliest place we have ever lived. People cross the street to come and talk to you here, but where’s the Starbucks?”
The council is now refining the scenarios even further and will be delivering a more public version in the next few weeks.
Professor McKiernan said scenario planning was very effective and could be polished up over time to reflect changing circumstances.
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