Six essential political skills for local councillors

It may come as a surprise to find out that there is no official job description for a local councillor. However, you do occupy a position of civic office which has specific statutory obligations. The specifics will differ in each jurisdiction. This is as close to a job description as you will find and it is critical that you have an in-depth understanding of these statutory roles and responsibilities. 

When we are carrying out induction training for councillors in New South Wales, as a starting point, we point to the roles and responsibilities of a councillor in the Local Government Act 1993. This includes the role as an individual councillor and as part of the governing body. as well as the separate responsibilities of the Mayor. Next, we highlight the principles of local government in the legislation and remind councillors of the oath or affirmation of civic office they took after their election. This is the broad statutory framework in which councillors need to govern with the NSW Office of Local Government Councillor Handbook providing further guidance on this framework.

For other jurisdictions, there will be similar statutory frameworks and if you are elected, it is essential you understand the legal framework in which you are governing on behalf of your community. 

The statutory framework provides the bones, but what are the actual skills and knowledge that are needed to succeed in civic office? The list of skills and attributes in the Office of Local Government Induction and Professional Development Guidelines is a useful resource. It outlines five areas and provides a list of detailed skills and personal attributes that are needed for the role of a councillor and also the Mayor in NSW. 

When creating personalised learning plans for councillors as part of our professional training services, we use these Guidelines as the basis of an initial skills audit. We think the Guidelines are a bit light on a couple of areas, so we have added two extra areas about specific knowledge of the relevant legislation as well as self-care in political leadership.

Another useful resource is the Local Government Association of the UK toolkit on Political Skills Framework. This framework identifies six core skills for a councillor. Whilst the legislative framework is different in the UK to Australia, the Framework is helpful for understanding the specific skills required to be a successful councillor.

The Framework acknowledges that councillors by their very nature have strong leadership instincts and there is a need to continuously develop these skills to meet the changing environment. It also recognises that there is ‘no one best way’ to be a councillor. This reflects the reality that each councillor will bring a unique set of knowledge, lived experience, skills and qualifications to the role. Each councillor will also perform their role differently based on their values and way of seeing the world and their community. Importantly, it also recognises that there are universal characteristics of a good and bad councillor.

For each core skill, the Framework then identifies specific desirable and undesirable behaviours of councillors. These behaviours reflect current community attitudes and expectations about what makes a good councillor and have been compiled after an extensive survey. It would be unrealistic to think that every councillor can excel in every area. But, on balance, excellent councillors should demonstrate far more positive characteristics than negative.