Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is often discussed in structural terms; which councils merge, what the new boundaries look like, how services will be configured. But behind every reorganisation decision is a group of leaders facing the far more personal challenge of guiding their people through deep uncertainty, while managing their own.

In this blog our principal consultant Alex Stoddart, explores why, for leaders navigating LGR, showing up consistently and communicating honestly often matters more than having all the answers.

LGR places extraordinary demands on leaders, and how they show up will shape everything that follows.

As a senior leader in local government, the demands being place on you and your colleagues during LGR are huge. You are expected to provide clarity when the answers are still forming, maintain trust when their own position may be uncertain, and keep services running while simultaneously building something new. The pressure is high, the timeline is fixed, and your workforce is watching closely.

This is not just a management challenge. It is a leadership test, and the way you respond to it will set the tone for the new authority long before vesting day arrives.

The weight leaders carry

When an LGR decision is announced, the first question most staff ask is not about governance structures or service delivery models. It is simpler and more human than that: What does this mean for me?

Leaders cannot always answer that question fully or immediately. But the way they respond, whether they engage openly, acknowledge uncertainty honestly, and remain present and visible, matters enormously. Staff do not need leaders to have all the answers. They need leaders who they trust to tell them the truth, communicate regularly, act with integrity, and not disappear when things get difficult.

This dynamic was brought into sharp focus at a recent UKREiiF conference session ‘Tackling your key questions in LGR’ we co-hosted with Cratus Group.

When considering messaging for staff, one Chief Executive put it plainly: “the biggest risk right now is not structures, it’s people – uncertainty during the transition will test our ability to retain talent and keep teams stable through the shadow period”.

The view in the room was consistent: communication is critical and the instinct to over-reassure, or to stay silent until certainty arrives, often backfires. Authenticity and regularity of communication matters more than polish.

Leading while navigating uncertainty yourself

One of the particular challenges of LGR is that leaders must manage their own uncertainty at the same time as managing others’. Chief Executives, S151s and Monitoring Officers face real questions about their own futures, and yet they are expected to be the visible anchor their organisations need.

This is not straightforward, and failing to acknowledge the complexity of this approach does a disservice to the people in those roles. Sustained leadership resilience through a process like this requires deliberate support, not as a luxury, but as an operational necessity. Leaders who are stretched too thin, or who have nowhere to process the pressures they carry, are less likely to be the calm, decisive, human presence their workforces need.

What good leadership through LGR looks like

There is no single blueprint, but the leaders who navigate this period most effectively tend to share a few common characteristics.

They communicate frequently and honestly, resisting the urge to wait for certainty before engaging their people. They hold difficult conversations early, rather than allowing ambiguity to fester. They remain visible, not just at formal events, but in the everyday moments that tell people whether their leaders are present and accountable. And they invest in their own resilience and that of their immediate team, recognising that leading change at this scale is not sustainable without support.

They also keep one eye on the future, because the decisions made now, and the culture that forms around them, will shape the new authority for years to come. The vision for the new unitary, and the values it will embody, cannot wait until after vesting day to take root. They begin with how leaders behave today.

The insights we have gained from our work on culture change in complex public sector contexts are particularly relevant here. Organisations move at the speed of trust, and trust is built through consistent, visible leadership over time. It cannot be stockpiled in advance and drawn down when needed; it has to be earned and maintained throughout the process. That means leaders being honest about what they know and don’t know, making accountable decisions even when those decisions are difficult, and balancing the pace of delivery with genuine care for their people.

How can 31ten help…

Recently, in Lancashire, we worked directly with Chief Executives and Senior Officers from all 15 councils as they developed their unitary proposals, providing the structure, clarity and momentum needed to keep complex, multi-council work progressing effectively.

As Chris Sinnott, Chief Executive of Chorley Council and South Ribble Borough Council, reflected: “31ten created the space for open, sometimes difficult, but always constructive conversations, prompting us to reflect deeply on what truly matters for Lancashire’s future.”

Supporting leaders through complex change is something that 31ten regularly provides across all our large change and transformation programmes. Through our People, Culture & Change practice, we offer targeted executive coaching and team development designed specifically for senior leaders navigating the pressures of transition, helping them stay grounded, decisive and human at the moments their organisations need it most.

This includes executive team coaching, peer learning and action learning groups, targeted 1:1 coaching for Chief Executives, S151s and Monitoring Officers, and support for operational leaders managing transformation alongside business as usual.

We work in blended teams alongside your people, so development is practical, relevant and locally owned.

Get in touch

If you would like to explore what support might look like for your leadership team, please get in touch with, Jenny McArdle, one of our Directors who leads on strategic planning, leadership, and organisational development at jenny.mcardle@31tenconsulting.co.uk.