The Leadership Deficit: Why Local Governments Are Struggling

A great leader is at the heart of any successful organization, and local government is no exception. The best leaders inspire their teams with clear visions and a strategy that everyone can get behind.

That’s why a lack of leadership is always easy to spot in any team. We’ve been closely examining the leadership crisis currently affecting local government across the U.S.

In this article, you’ll learn about some of the challenges faced in local government and how this hinders the leadership growth crucial to these departments’ success.

The Growing Leadership Crisis in Local Government

There is a leadership crisis bubbling under the surface in local government. Teams across the U.S. struggle to fill positions with suitable candidates, leaving a concerning talent gap in some departments.

A leadership vacuum can have many consequences for any team, including:

• Inefficient processes
• Outdated or rigid operational practices that hinder innovation
• A struggle to meet essential government objectives such as supporting local communities

Over time, this can become a compounding problem. A poorly-led team makes it even more complex in the future to recruit talent that’s needed at the local government level.

The Four Leadership Styles

To delve deeper into the leadership issues in municipalities, we used our 2023 State of Leadership Pipeline Study to split leadership styles into distinct groups.

There are four styles in total:

• Change Seekers
• Achievers
• Culturists
• Guardians

Each group has unique ways of supporting a government organization. For example, you need either Change Seekers or Achievers to see improvements, enhancements, and innovation in your team.

They push for progress and a departure from the status quo. Guardians and Culturists, in contrast, help provide stability to an organization. Recognizing different leadership talents can help you get more insight into where you have existing gaps.

Local Government Challenges With Leadership

Our research helped narrow the challenges facing local government and the lack of leadership.

We discovered multiple factors, and any attempt to address the problem needs to be considered from multiple angles. In the following section, we’ll look more closely at these challenges.

Time-Poor Departments

Our research indicates several challenges that have led to this dearth of leadership talent in local government.

The first on that list is the lack of available time. Nurturing leadership talent takes training and development, and according to 39% of respondents in our study, there is a notable lack of free time in current government organizations.

Instead, many teams face the day-to-day pressures of running the local government, such as managing budgets, prioritizing community initiatives, and doing administrative work. When teams are in that fire-fighting mode, training in soft skills can fall off the radar.

Emerging Talent in Entry-Level Roles

Talented leaders in any organization tend to rise up the ranks, starting in an entry-level role in their 20s.

Our study reveals that potential future leaders aren’t joining local government teams.

The young view these jobs as lacking exciting career prospects. There appears to be a disconnect between what local government does and younger people’s perceptions of these departments as overly bureaucratic.

Overall, local government needs a rebrand to make it more attractive to today’s graduates.

Identifying Leadership Talent

Nurturing talent in any organization only happens if you can spot that talent in the first place, and that was another issue that came up in our study.

Only 28% of Achievers surveyed said they felt their organization was successful in spotting future leaders, a worrying statistic for any government group that needs to shore up its leadership team with newer talent in the pipeline.

It points to a lack of systems, like mentoring and training, that could help turn that around.

Perception Issues

One interesting insight shared by guardians is the perception of local government and how that’s impacting the recruitment of those with leadership qualities.

26% of Guardians, when surveyed, said that they believed younger generations lack interest in the role of local government. They don’t see it as an attractive career path.

There is a real need to engage with these newer generations and help them discover a passion for the positive change local government can make in people’s lives so that people want to be a part of that.

That needs to happen immediately before older generations begin to retire and leave local government without the leadership it needs to thrive.

Too Much Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy is a common issue in government, and our findings confirm that it’s a potential barrier to recruiting and retaining leadership talent.

24% of our Change Seekers, when responding to our survey, said that they often felt they faced frustration in their government roles due to bureaucratic rules and processes.

When organizations are too bureaucratic, it is hard to push through changes that can lead to more innovative ways of working and general improvements throughout the organization. Government departments need to do a better job embracing change to attract the leadership talent they need.

Organisational Culture

Organizational culture shapes the direction of any team, including a local government group. A culture that embraces change and growth can help nurture excellent leaders. However, there are some challenges here, which we identified in our 2023 study.

In our research, 22% of Culturalists expressed the view that leadership training for top managers requires supportive environments and a culture that promotes ongoing development.

These cultural barriers can slow down and even halt leadership development, leading to a skills gap.

Local Government: Addressing the Challenges of a Lack of Leadership

Local government is there to serve all, and to do that effectively, it needs a vision. That starts with effective leadership. As our research has shown, there is a gap between what’s required and what’s currently in place, and government teams must address this as a matter of priority.

Government Leadership Solutions is all about addressing this lack of leadership. Our leadership experts specialize in local government, and we know the type of transformation needed and how to make that happen. 

Our local government leadership training can help you start to tackle this problem. Get in touch with us today to launch an initial consultation.