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Guest post by: Merydith Willoughby Become an Author

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If you are a newly elected councilor you'll have spent many hours learning what is required and actively participating in the campaign. No doubt you're very excited and can't wait to be part of it. Being new to any role and for those of you who aren't used to the lime-light or have been in a leadership position before it can be scary to be thrust into a position of power where there are so many new areas you'll need know about regardless of how excited and passionate you feel about the role. It will take you some time before you feel confident as an elected member and there will be much to learn throughout your term. While local councils were once responsible for rates, rubbish and roads councils are now key players in the local region and if you haven't had prior experience it may be a confronting and intimidating until you get used to the ‘way they do things around here' and until your confidence increases.

Working with so many issues and areas is not easy and elected members new to the role can easily get lost in the politics of it all. Councils are under pressure to perform, there always seems to be a review going on and they have to manage within their budget with key performance indicators to meet. Most rate payers haven't got a clue what councils really do. The media love to air the complaints from people who whinge because their council is always putting up the rates. Everyone wants to live in a fantastic environment, have every service their heart desires but don't want to put their hand in their pocket to pay for it.

Development

You thought about it for a long time before you nominated for council and then campaigned - you've now had a successful outcome with the election and are an elected member. Congratulations. You're now part of a team of councillors who have a huge impact on the local region. There are policies and procedures you have to learn about and your areas of expertise will become wide. As time progresses you will learn that you are taking on the whole responsibility for the council and if you were encouraged to nominate for council by a particular group that you now actually have a responsibility to everyone in the region - not just to your area of interest. You will need to work together as a team and learn how to prioritise with all elected members whether you agree with their position or not. You only knew 10% before you were elected as to what you will be accountable for and what the council manages in its daily operation.

Confidence

It will take time before you feel confident in your role. This is normal and you just need to keep learning about what your council does and bit-by-bit your confidence and ability will increase. In the early stages after the election, you don't have to go it alone, be afraid to speak up or fear speaking up and sounding like a fool because of a lack of knowledge because prior to the campaign no doubt you took the opportunities open to you to educate yourself about what you would be doing, once elected. Generally councils and the Local Government Association offer many opportunities to candidates to learn about what is involved and while there isn't any replacement for experience at least you know what to expect and are able to participate in decision making immediately rather than waiting for months to feel comfortable. This is a relatively new thing (around five years) but a very important and positive initiative. It was introduced because it had been identified that by providing this type of development it made a big difference to new councillors, both in the short term and long term.



Square peg

You're now feeling a lot more confident because you've had time in the role, you're finding your way through the maze, learning how to be effective and you may have learnt that not everyone has your generosity of spirit - that in fact one (maybe more) are there only for their agenda and are not frightened to let you know about it. What do you do if you are on the council and have some people who do not fit in? What if some of these people are there only to push their ‘own barrow' and who really don't care about the rest of you? As far as they are concerned they are right - everyone else is wrong and they don't care who they upset as long as they get their policies passed. You've noticed that these people won't listen to reason, their ego is way out of kilter and they know everyone else is just wasting their time.

You might be lucky not to have this experience but in general any group of people will be privy to someone who behaves like this and as a councillor you'll no doubt experience it at such stage (whether actually on council or with groups in your electorate). How to manage someone like this is not easy for the Mayor and Chief Executive but must be done because elected members have been elected for everyone - not just specific groups or points of view.

Moving them on

While local government is expected to behave more and more like a corporation there are still many things they don't have the freedom to do that their corporate counterparts take for granted - one of them being to dismiss elected members unless of course the councillor goes completely over board and then gives the council no other alternative but to dismiss them and to call a bi-election. This is something that is avoided because of the financial costs to the rate payers and because the backlash councils get from the media and rate payers when this situation has to occur.

The private sector can help an employee to move on should they believe they are a square peg after following the required legal format. The elected member who is hard to get on with, who does not go over and beyond what will cause them to be axed can end up being responsible for a lot of time being wasted in meetings that could be spent more constructively. And the worst thing is you're stuck with them until the next election. Sure the Mayor can discipline them, can get guidance from lawyers and work with the rest of the members to manage the situation but it's still not great and it'll feel like you're walking on egg shells each time you're in their presence.



What you can do

• Firstly, realize that you are not responsible for their behaviour and don't try to fix it.

• Think about what's driving them and what their agenda is. Are they passionate about their beliefs, are they on council to serve their own needs or are they dysfunctional and used to behaving like this and think that their behaviour is normal?

• You can distance yourself and don't get involved with them. You can be polite but that's all because you know that you've been elected by the rate payers to do a job - not to be embroiled in-house fighting.

• You can educate yourself about your council's policies and procedures as to how best to handle this type of situation.

• You may like to speak to your mayor privately and find out how they intend to manage the situation and she/he will no doubt discuss the issue with everyone before embarking on a solution to resolve the situation.

• You may be able to speak to other members who have been on council for longer than you and who have experienced the same situation and find out how they managed to continue to be powerful in their role while the councilor was acting out. They may have some great information for you.



Next steps

While you can't totally ignore interruptions at a meeting, you can minimise the impact the square peg has at your council meetings by being pleasant but by ignoring their behaviour and by following what your leader, the Mayor does to manage the situation. They're really like little kids at school who think they're powerful because they've probably got away with this behaviour for a long time because no one has confronted them about it. What I've found with people who act out like this and who try to dominate the show and who behave like bullies is that they're really weak and have low self esteem and when someone stands up to them they generally back down and become wimps. Learning how to respond as opposed to reacting is the rule of thumb here. Responding teaches you to deal with it and manage it and you learn a lot about yourself in the process whereas reacting embroils you in the situation and has a negative impact on you and your emotional well being.

No doubt the above topic is something you hope that won't happen and it's not something anyone wants to think about because nominating for council is exciting and the possibility of being part of the change process is a fantastic opportunity. However, just being aware that this may happen and thinking about your response to the situation could save you a lot of angst when (if) you're confronted by difficult people - as being forewarned is forearmed.



Close but not too close

Like any committee there are often tricky bits you have to manage and being an elected member of local government is no different. On the one hand you have to work together; you will spend quite a bit of time with your council and probably align yourself with people who think like you do. On the other hand, however while it is absolutely essential you fit in with the group and actively participate in decision making you don't want to get too close to everyone because you need to be able to stand back, be the observer and vote according to what's the best for the particular motion, not vote because your friend (on the council or out of the council) has told you it's the right thing to do. You must never compromise yourself or sell your soul to the devil as the saying goes. Don't lose site of the reason you nominated for council. It's a job just like anything else and you are expected to perform and to make good policy for the whole community.

Summary

Being an elected member gives you the opportunity to make a real difference to your local community. It will give you many experiences you would otherwise not have and it will no doubt change you as a person for the better. If you are willing to put the time in right at the beginning to learn how you can be a real asset to your council and to those you represent then your time in council will be one of success, excitement and one where you feel great satisfaction. You will learn far more than you ever imagined and meet hundreds of people you'd never meet otherwise. It is a fantastic opportunity to see your local region thrive and to actually be part of it.

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