The meaning of life (in local government)

I have spent the week pondering my existence, particularly in the light of the approaching black hole aka public sector finances. 

Times have been good. But no more. 

We will have to get used to a new way of thinking. If the big drivers for organisational leaders are about "making a difference" (in some sort of tangible, non-inspection-driven way) and creating a legacy, this may be the time to ponder a career change. 

There will be opportunities to make a difference but maybe there will be less to shout about. It's one thing to build - quite another to dismantle. And if the best we can say that we dismantled in a sensitive way (not a bad outcome in real terms) it may make the time when we receive the gold watch/clock/shoes a little light on amusing anecdotes and proud nods. 

As for legacy, if all we can do is look behind at the scorched earth that was once a thriving organisation that approached each day with a spring in the step but no more, then maybe we all ought to take up sculpture or some such physical endeavour. If you build it, at least when they come they'll have something to look at for five minutes. 

Looking ahead, I think I'll need to see things differently. 

I will have to be adept at making silk purses out of sows ears (and the rest of the rotting remains). 

I will have to spend as much time managing down expectations as I used to spend managing people. 

I will have to accept that the market may be the only way to get things done since nobody else will have the money and the voluntary sector will long since have burned out. 

I will have to accept that consultation will be about the when rather than the what,  a like it or lump it approach to public services. 

I will not have to go quietly amongst the noise and haste since there will be fewer of the noisy and no haste other than getting on with it. 

I will know that the unthinkable ideas we used to smirk about (knowing they would never happen) will now be the unstoppable forces that will shape our destiny. 

I will know that the tough times were really the good times and that history is, in this case, not so likely to repeat itself. 

And I will have to get back to work and stop fiddling with the inevitable. 

The dust is settling

Changes at the top. One prepared but one is never really prepared. People see you differently when they are in opposition. "I never really trusted you" the new man said when I met him on Monday. "But now I can see that you have potential - you're someone I think (his italics) we can work with."

Isn't such everywhere. 

Colleagues have been on the phone all week. One called to say that he'd been summoned upstairs for a chat. Turned out to be something different altogether. "I know we're not meant to work this way but I feel that it's time for a parting of the ways. Clearly, we need to talk money. I will, of course, say that you have made a massive contribution to our organisation, that you've taken it to places we never dreamed possible and I'll leave plenty of blanks so that you can blah-blah to your hearts content. Bottom line: your cardboard box is over there."

But it isn't like that here - thankfully. I still have a mortgage "and so much I want to do". 

So we've met on and off all week. Tell me Leader what you want me to do, just tell me...