Coaching Organisational Leaders: A Guide for Local Government Officers

In today’s complex and ever-changing public sector landscape, local government officers are expected to do more than manage—they are called to lead, inspire, and coach. As the demand for emotionally intelligent, adaptable, and visionary leadership grows, so too does the need for frameworks that support this evolution.

This blog explores three influential leadership and coaching theories—John Adair’s Action-Centred Leadership, Bernard Bass’s Transformational Leadership, and Richard Boyatzis’s Self-Directed Learning—and how they can be practically applied by local government officers seeking to grow as coaches and leaders.

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1. John Adair: Action-Centred Leadership

John Adair is widely regarded as one of the foremost leadership theorists in the UK. His Action-Centred Leadership (ACL) model, developed in the 1970s, remains a cornerstone of leadership training across sectors.

The Theory

Adair’s model is elegantly simple yet profoundly effective. It identifies three core responsibilities of a leader:

• Achieving the Task

• Building and Maintaining the Team

• Developing the Individual

These three elements are interdependent. Neglecting one can undermine the others. The model is often visualised as three overlapping circles, symbolising the balance required for effective leadership.

“Effective leaders carry out functions in all three areas and maintain the balance between them.” – John Adair

Application in Local Government Coaching

For a local government officer, ACL provides a practical framework for coaching team members while managing operational demands:

• Task: Set clear objectives and ensure accountability. Use coaching conversations to help staff align their personal goals with organisational outcomes.

• Team: Foster collaboration through regular check-ins, team coaching sessions, and shared learning experiences.

• Individual: Identify development needs and aspirations. Use one-to-one coaching to support growth, resilience, and confidence.

By applying ACL, officers can coach with structure, ensuring that performance, morale, and personal development are all addressed.

2. Bernard Bass: Transformational Leadership

Bernard Bass expanded on the work of James MacGregor Burns to develop the concept of Transformational Leadership, a model that has become central to modern leadership thinking.

The Theory

Transformational leaders inspire and motivate followers to exceed expectations by appealing to higher ideals and moral values. Bass identified four key components, often referred to as the “Four I’s”:

1. Idealised Influence – Acting as a role model and earning trust.

2. Inspirational Motivation – Communicating a compelling vision.

3. Intellectual Stimulation – Encouraging innovation and critical thinking.

4. Individualised Consideration – Attending to each person’s needs and aspirations.

“Transformational leaders are those who stimulate and inspire followers to both achieve extraordinary outcomes and, in the process, develop their own leadership capacity.” – Bernard Bass

Application in Local Government Coaching

Transformational Leadership is particularly relevant in public service, where leaders must often inspire change in the face of limited resources and bureaucratic constraints.

• Idealised Influence: Model integrity and transparency. A coaching leader in local government should embody the values they wish to instil in others.

• Inspirational Motivation: Use coaching to help staff connect their daily work to a broader mission—serving the community.

• Intellectual Stimulation: Encourage staff to challenge the status quo. Use coaching questions like, “What would you do differently if you had no constraints?”

• Individualised Consideration: Tailor coaching to each team member’s strengths, challenges, and career goals.

By adopting a transformational approach, local government officers can become catalysts for both organisational and personal growth.

3. Richard Boyatzis: Self-Directed Learning

Richard Boyatzis, a leading scholar in emotional intelligence and leadership development, introduced the concept of Self-Directed Learning (SDL) as part of his Intentional Change Theory.

The Theory

Boyatzis’s model outlines a five-stage process for sustainable personal change:

1. Discovering the Ideal Self – Who do I want to be?

2. Assessing the Real Self – Who am I now?

3. Creating a Learning Agenda – How do I bridge the gap?

4. Experimenting and Practising New Behaviours

5. Developing Supportive Relationships

   
   

This model is grounded in emotional intelligence and the neuroscience of change. It emphasises intrinsic motivation and the importance of positive emotional attractors (PEAs) in driving transformation.

“Coaching with compassion—activating a person’s vision and dreams—stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is essential for learning and change.” – Richard Boyatzis

Application in Local Government Coaching

SDL is particularly powerful for officers who want to coach others through change or develop themselves as leaders:

• Ideal vs Real Self: Use coaching sessions to help staff articulate their aspirations and compare them with current performance.

• Learning Agenda: Co-create development plans that are meaningful and motivating.

• Practice and Feedback: Encourage experimentation with new leadership behaviours in a safe environment.

• Support Networks: Build peer coaching groups or mentoring schemes within the council.

For the officer themselves, SDL offers a roadmap for becoming a more reflective, emotionally intelligent leader.

Integrating the Theories: A Coaching Toolkit for Local Government

Each of these theories offers unique insights, but they are most powerful when integrated. Here’s how a local government officer might combine them in practice:

Theory	Focus	Coaching Application
Adair	Task, Team, Individual	Use as a framework for balancing coaching conversations
Bass	Vision, Motivation, Innovation	Inspire and empower staff through transformational dialogue
Boyatzis	Personal Growth	Facilitate deep, sustainable change through self-directed learning

For example, during a performance review, an officer might:

• Use Adair’s model to structure the conversation (task performance, team contribution, personal development).

• Apply Bass’s principles to inspire the individual and encourage innovative thinking.

• Introduce Boyatzis’s SDL to help the staff member set meaningful goals and identify support systems.

Final Thoughts: Coaching as a Leadership Mindset

Coaching is not just a skill—it’s a mindset. For local government officers, adopting this mindset means shifting from command-and-control to collaborate-and-coach. It means seeing potential in every team member and creating the conditions for that potential to flourish.

By drawing on the wisdom of Adair, Bass, and Boyatzis, officers can lead with clarity, inspire with purpose, and coach with compassion.

“Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.” – Simon Sinek

In the public sector, where the stakes are high and the resources often limited, this kind of leadership is not just desirable—it’s essential.