The Real Problem Behind the Kirklees Council Clip Isn’t Politics

You might have seen the news clip of new Kirklees Council Reform UK councillors admitting that they “don't understand” how the council works. The clip highlights something I see regularly in local government training.

If you haven’t, the clip is here https://youtube.com/shorts/Z0drqprSYjc?si=hc8lTCT57Ktn-KrT

Although this is the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, not a Town or Parish Council, I wanted to address the clip using a case study from my own council culture training sessions for councillors. 

Firstly, let’s face it. When town and parish councils go to elections, we often see electorates making promises that fit the larger authority rather than the smaller authority they are standing for.  This can be anything from 20-mile-per-hour roads to potholes, and potholes are often a vote-winner. Councillors not knowing what they are doing when they come into office isn’t new. That’s why we have the Local Government Association (LGA) and the National Association of Local Councils (NALC). 

It’s frustrating for councillors when they come to office to find the limitations of the council. It’s even more frustrating to watch public trust lapse. 

I could go off on one here about the importance of internal communications, community engagement, values-led strategy and rebuilding trust. You probably know by now that these are my favourite subjects.

However, I’m going to take a risk and stay in my unhappy place…. skirting around politics.

Back to my case study. A while ago, I spent a week in the north of England giving Civility and Respect training to several councils that were roughly 50% newly elected Reform Councillors. In one case, the training was requested by a reform councillor. 

The councillor training sessions were either one hour, two hours, or half a day.

At one council, the split was down each side of a long table. I had scenes from ‘West Side Story’ running in my head. Musicals are a great way to calm your nervous system, even if my internal humour might have been a bit questionable. 

One of the frameworks I use in training is the Drama Triangle from Transactional Analysis. Because when there is a drama, we are likely to be playing one of the roles on the drama triangle. Rescuer, victium, and persecutor. 

Most people join councils because they want to rescue something. The community. The high street. The youth provision. The village identity. Or yes, the potholes.

The rescuer role feels noble and purposeful. And yet, the triangle also contains the roles of victim and persecutor. The difficulty is that we do not get to decide which role others experience us as.

Someone who sees themselves as rescuing accountability can easily be perceived as attacking. Someone feeling unheard can become combative. Someone trying to fix things can become controlling.

We can actually see elements of this dynamic playing out in the Kirklees clip itself.

The triangle also shifts behaviourally. A person feeling powerless can become childlike or reactive. A persecutor can become a critical parent or teacher. Rescuer becomes heroic saviour.

Once you understand this, council conflict starts to make a lot more sense.

I quickly realised that I needed to pivot the Council Culture, Civility and Respect training I was about to give. This training wasn’t about ‘Code of Conduct’, it needed to be about what it is to be human. 

Because councils are not just political systems. They are human systems.

I started by talking about acts of kindness I had received and witnessed in the room. One councillor has saved a seat and made a coffee for a councillor she knew was arriving late. I had been provided with gluten-free biscuits. 

And two councillors had brought their own biscuits to share. Not just leaving them in the middle of the table, but walking around the table and handing them out. 

I accidentally (Ish) made reference to him having the ‘Ginger nuts’, well that was it, everyone started laughing, which only made it more raucous by the other councillor, who felt his HobNobs were being rejected. The innuendo biscuit game was in full swing. 

A council that can laugh together can lead to together. 

Once the nervous system settles, people can finally think. Then we can have the real conversations. What is working? What is not? What does the community actually need? How do we disagree without destroying relationships?

Councils are not just political systems; they are also human systems. When we dehumanise anyone, we are part of the problem. 

The training in the north led to my favourite five-star review on Google -

“Thank you very much for your training. I will admit a certain part of me thought this might be a box ticking exercise but my fears were allayed a few moments in. It was not. I have come away I believe a slightly better person and most certainly a better councillor because so many of the things you covered made sense both practically and morally.”
– Trevor Austin Reform Duel-hatted Councillor, Google Review

Local councils are changing rapidly. Through devolution and government reform, town and parish councils are likely to gain more responsibility, influence and visibility in the coming years.

That means councillor development matters more than ever.

Not just local governance training.

Human training.

Training that helps people regulate pressure, communicate clearly, repair conflict and build trust with both colleagues and communities.

Because standing orders matter.

But so does understanding people.

For more information about Civility and Respect training, council culture workshops and behavioural communication support for councils, visit https://councilculture.uk/