The cooperation in Storkøbing Municipality is cracking. It can and must be improved

Discussion paper by Kenneth Kristensen, Real Development, PhD and former municipal director, and Anne-Mette Scheibel, Partner in Resonance

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Much local politics is about cooperation and common sense, but local politicians are democratically elected to disagree, and local politics is therefore, quite legitimately, also about conflict and diversity. As Danish Municipalities can regularly report, in some municipalities we see that political conflicts affect cooperation between politicians and specific directors or the administration as a whole. We can and must do better, because poor cooperation affects the working environment of politicians and employees alike, the courage for innovative solutions, the service to citizens and the development of local communities.

There is just over a year before the election campaign for the municipal elections in 2025 starts in earnest, and it is a good time to draw on the experience of cooperation between politicians and government over the past two and a half years. In both municipalities with good and less good cooperative relationships, it is valuable to talk openly about what is difficult and needs to be improved and about what is successful and needs to be scaled up.

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Of course, it is important how the evaluation of cooperation between politicians and management is approached. Our experience is that whether the specific cases are about financial management, new school districts or solar cells, evaluation rests better on dialogue than hard law in the form of governing law and delegation plans.

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Moreover, in political settings, there may be a tendency to evaluate in a highly critical perspective, which risks digging the trenches deeper. That is why we advocate a strengths-based approach that focuses on examples where there is momentum and success — even in the small. And how we can magnify the good experiences to deal with what is challenging. In fact, there should be an approximately 80/20 distribution of focus on the successful and the conflictive in cooperation.

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In practical terms, we propose an approach in which a smaller number of specific cases are selected — for example, a few cases that were handled to mutual satisfaction and one-two cases that “ran on the fence”. The cases are first described with facts and with perspectives from the angles of the different actors. It would also be useful to invite concerned citizens to come to the table to give their experiences. It reminds all parties that the ultimate goal is good service and welfare for citizens.

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On the basis of the various “testimonies”, it is discussed whether factors and patterns can be found in when cooperation between management and politicians is going well and less well. In this context, there must be respect for the fact that there is not only one right way to cooperate. The aim should therefore not necessarily be to agree on a set of rules of the game, but instead to gain insight into the wishes of the other players and to align expectations.

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We have made a case — Storkøbing — which is fictional, but not entirely unthinkable. Storkøbing Municipality has a squeezed economy. A main problem is that the administration has exceeded the budget for adult social services for several years in a row, which has caused political distrust. The administration has been asked to provide monthly data, action plans and follow-up to the policy level, which, however, cannot agree on the use of the data or the concrete action plans.

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The result is a more conflicted political environment, fissures in the administration's internal cooperation, more resources devoted to political service in the administration and fewer resources to resolve citizens' cases, which has also led to the resignations of a number of key employees. The administration sees politicians as retail stewards and representatives of a zero-fault culture. Politicians experience management as shoddy and unwilling to let politicians into the decision-making room. Politicians, administration management and employees alike are frustrated by the lack of progress in relation to both the vulnerable citizens and the economy.