Tell a coherent story
from the ground up
Reconnect our decisions with the real world we all share
A different way to govern
Starting with the lived reality of people and place
See the problem
Funding-Focused Governance
As the role of local government has become more complex and financial pressures have grown, it’s understandable that we’ve ended up focusing on the financial problem.
But money is a means, not an end.
Too often, the conversation starts with HOW MUCH money council needs and the community’s capacity to pay it. In NSW, this logic is reflected in the Special Rate Variation process.
But there’s a problem: revenue ultimately depends on trust — and IPART’s 2023 survey found that almost two-thirds of ratepayers did not trust their council to keep rate increases reasonable.
Change the question
Purpose-Focused Governance
Purpose-Focused Governance starts somewhere different. Before asking HOW MUCH money council needs, it asks WHAT we’re trying to achieve together and WHY it’s worth investing in.
Starting with the outcomes that matter to people and place, we can understand the contribution council can make and then connect the services, resources and revenue needed to deliver it.
Trust is the foundation for revenue. When people can see why something matters, what council’s role is and how resources connect to results, we create a stronger foundation for trust — and ultimately for the community’s willingness to pay.
See the real world we share
Place-Based Planning
Councils look at their communities through many different planning frameworks — community, land use, services, assets, finances and risk.
Each provides an important analytical lens on the same underlying reality. But too often those different views remain fragmented. We end up dealing in abstractions, and the map no longer fits the territory.
Place gives us a way to reconnect them.
Starting with the lived reality of people and place, we can build a more coherent picture of WHAT is there and WHAT we want the future to look like.
Maps can make that shared reality visible — connecting the community, infrastructure, services, environment, risks and opportunities that together shape the place we share.
Lead together
Connected Leadership
A shared picture helps us understand WHAT we are trying to achieve. Leadership turns that picture into decisions about HOW we can achieve it — and HOW SURE we are that our choices will get us there with the resources available.
Elected leaders make decisions on behalf of their community about priorities, activities and the allocation of resources. Executive leaders support them with robust and timely advice about the choices, costs, risks, opportunities and likely outcomes involved.
And not every role, activity or resource belongs to council. State and Commonwealth governments, businesses, community organisations, institutions and citizens all have different roles in turning shared plans into reality.
Connected Leadership builds the individual and collective capability to exercise these roles well — making informed decisions, working collaboratively across boundaries and connecting activities and resources around a shared purpose.
The purpose is shared. Our roles are different. Leadership connects them.
Explore the thinking...
The short version and the detailed discussion paper.
What makes us different...
Local government's problems are complex. We need to tackle this from different perspectives
Ben Lawson and David Gourlay couldn't be more different... A systemic scientist and a people person. A local government engineer from regional NSW and an organisational psychologist from Scotland. No wonder it took them a decade to work out WHAT the #@*% the other one was talking about! The fact that they stuck at it reflects their shared conviction that neither of them had (or has) all the answers. That's not what we're offering you, either: we're offering to help you to ask better questions...
Start a conversation...
If these ideas resonate with the challenges you're facing, we'd love to hear from you