Posted on: 17/06/2025

Thought Leadership

Coaching can be a critical force for resilience, connection and clarity across every level of local government. This piece explores the emotional impact of system-wide pressure, and shows how coaching is helping people not just survive change, but lead through it with purpose, adaptability and support.

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

In my previous article, I talked about how, when the winds of change blow, the boldest leaders don’t build walls, they build windmills. Coaching, I argued, is our modern-day windmill: something steady and human that helps us harness the storm rather than fight it.

If that was about getting the structure in place, this is about keeping it turning - even as the winds pick up speed. And they have, haven’t they?

Right now, local government life feels stretched tighter than ever. Budgets shrinking, expectations rising, services under strain. If you’re in it, you know. But what we sometimes don’t see is that while the organisation feels the pressure, just what that feels like for the people further out from the centre.

Let me introduce you to Clare, not a real person, but someone you’ll recognise straight away. Clare’s been with the council for 12 years. Not sat at the leadership table. Not in on the big decisions. Clare sees the impact though - bigger caseloads, less resource, citizens needing more and more.

Clare feels the weight but hears little. Change feels like something that happens to them, not with them. They care deeply about their work - but it chips away at you, doesn’t it, day by day? That feeling that maybe what you do isn’t making a difference anymore.

Now, some would say, isn’t it the manager’s job to bridge that gap? And yes, it is.

So here’s Jordan, Sam’s manager. Jordan sees it from both sides - stuck in the middle. They’re trying to protect their team while delivering on targets, translating policy, and keeping the wheels moving. They want to support Clare properly, they really do but time, energy, headspace? Stretched thin. Good intentions running into hard limits. They’re carrying their own weight, too.

And then there’s Ellie the senior leader. She’s closer to the centre, making impossible decisions: where to cut, what to save, who to tell first. She knows there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of Clare’s out there. She wishes she could reach them all, explain everything, ease the load but how can she, really? She’s dealing with her own uncertainty, carrying responsibility she can’t always share.

What’s going to break that cycle — coaching is.

It gives Clare space to feel heard and supported, to rebuild their belief that they matter.

It gives Jordan the resilience and thinking time to be the leader their team needs without burning out.

It gives Ellie a place to pause, reflect, and lead with more clarity, even when the answers aren’t easy.

Coaching connects where structures can’t. It rehumanises the organisation when the system itself feels overwhelming.

And let’s be honest, you can’t do it without those people. It’s relentless out there. We are all leading in a BANI world: brittle, anxious, non-linear, incomprehensible and that was before GenAI crashed the party!

We can’t process-map our way out of this. We can’t restructure ourselves into resilience.

We can create cultures built on curiosity, adaptability, and human connection. Coaching does that. It gives people like Clare, Jordan, and Ellie the support they need - not just to survive the storm but to find a way through it.

Yes, AI will help with the data and the systems. But people need help with the emotional load, the values, the relationships and that’s where coaching is going to be critical.

A coaching-led organisation is one where leaders at every level empower others to think, to grow, to act. It’s a place where people trust each other to figure things out and have the tools to do it.

And if you’re wondering how you can get started, well, that’s where the Public Sector Coaching and Mentoring Pool comes in. Coaching at scale, by design. Built for the sector, by the sector, with a flat-rate model that delivers the ROI we all need right now.

The winds are only getting stronger. As I often say, you can’t spreadsheet your way out of a BANI world. But you can coach your way through it.

So, will you build a stronger windmill