Posted on: 22/07/2025

Thought Leadership

Discover why people, not just plans or policies, are the true infrastructure of local government. This article explores how coaching and strategic workforce planning can help councils thrive through uncertainty by supporting the individuals behind every service.

Michelle O'Neill Principal Consultant OD, Leadership and Learning at West Midlands Employers

If you’ve been with me so far, you’ll know we’ve talked about building windmills to weather the storm and how coaching keeps the system turning when the winds only get fiercer. But today, let’s zoom in even further.

Let’s talk about the blades. Because a windmill without its blades turning isn’t a windmill — it’s just a monument.

And councils without thriving, capable people? Same thing.

No matter how smart our strategies are, no matter how carefully we draw up structures, budgets, or delivery plans - none of it happens without people. Even the numbers we rely on?

People behind them. I think sometimes we forget that, in the middle of decision-making. Or maybe we don’t really forget but in the noise and pressure of today’s reality, it’s easy to shift focus onto the things that feel more controllable: the spreadsheets, the structures, the policies, the plans. Supporting and sustaining people? That feels messier. Slower. Harder to quantify. And yet, those spreadsheets and structures don’t deliver services. People do.

Every single service our citizens rely on - from social care to waste collection to safeguarding vulnerable families - depends on the skills, the knowledge, the heart, and the adaptability of real people.

Our citizens need them.

Our council is obsolete without them.

And yet, every day, we’re asking them to do more, with less, faster, and with higher stakes.

In an ideal world, we’d have more of them, not fewer. But we don’t have that luxury. And here’s the truth — we can’t always give them more pay, more capacity, more hands on deck. What we can give them is space. Space to reflect. Space to learn. Space to find their best version, even in the middle of the chaos.

Because if every blade in our organisation was operating at its best, if every person was empowered, supported, and energised, imagine how powerful our windmill would be.

It’s on us to make sure that in the middle of all the change, uncertainty, and ambiguity, our people don’t get lost in the system. It’s on us to create conditions where they can stay creative, stay human, and still deliver the services councils are built on.

Coaching helps us do that. Not just as a one-off intervention but baked into how we support, develop, and lead people. It helps our workforce adapt, find new ways, and stay resilient when it would be easier to burn out or check out.

It reminds us that people aren’t soft infrastructure. They are the infrastructure. And if we don’t create the conditions for them to thrive, we’re not just risking performance - we’re risking the very heart of local government.

That’s why workforce planning matters but not the traditional, number-crunching kind. Real strategic workforce planning is about how we maximise capacity, performance, and potential. How we protect the human system that keeps everything else turning.

The CMP exists to give you the infrastructure you need — to build coaching into the everyday reality of your people strategy, not bolt it on at the edges. It’s built for the sector, by the sector, at a flat rate that makes it scalable and sustainable, especially when you can’t afford not to get this right.

Every windmill needs its blades. Every council needs its people.

And as I like to say (often with a wry smile): It’s not the size of the storm that decides your future. It’s how well your blades can catch the wind.

Are yours ready?