It is clear that years of austerity, combined with rising demand, are challenging the traditional structures and practices of local government. But even without these pressures the changing nature of service user and citizen expectations means that the status quo is not an option. As such, there is an increasingly widespread view within the sector that radical reinvention is required if councils are to meet the many complex challenges they face over coming years. There is also a growing consensus that this needs to happen whether central government actively supports such change or not. As a result, the most innovative parts of the sector are already pioneering new approaches, but the systemic initiative has for too long rested at Westminster or Whitehall – it now needs to be fully grasped by local government itself.
Our contention in this essay is that the reinvention required is not the redesign of rigid structures or the institutional remodelling of organisations. Instead, it must be a change which considers function over form and focuses on raising social impact above all else. This, we argue, involves nothing less than a major cultural shift towards three core values: creativity, collaboration and self-determination. This is a ‘changemaking’ vision which local government must actively embody within their own organisations. Maybe even more importantly, local government must also find ways to embed the core values of that vision within the communities and places they lead.