Leadership
Leading Salford
At Salford City Council, our daily work centers around a shared vision—to create a better and fairer Salford with the highest quality of life. Our 'This our Salford - Corporate Plan' sets out the priorities for the next four years including initiatives to tackle poverty and enhancing our status as a child friendly city, among other aims.
Melissa Caslake, Interim Chief Executive
Salford envisions a city that is not just better but fairer, aiming to provide the highest quality of life for its residents through 'This is our Salford - Corporate Plan' priorities. This ambitious vision creates both challenges and opportunities for all employees, requiring a commitment to delivering top-notch services and achieving improved outcomes. Salford's operational ethos revolves around a people-centric, values-based approach, with the tangible Spirit of Salford underscoring the city's unique character. To navigate the dynamic landscape, Salford recognizes the imperative for strong, values-based leadership that inspires high performance, fosters a culture of empowerment and development, and aligns behaviours with the city's values.
In Salford, leadership is more than a position; it's a set of actions that influence positive change. The focus is on cultivating a positive permission culture, empowering all individuals to innovate and contribute to different ways of achieving goals. The Leadership framework details expectations at all levels, emphasizing values, leadership behaviours (leading oneself, others, outcomes, and the way forward), leadership qualities, and management skills needed to guide the city towards its vision. This comprehensive approach ensures that leaders play a pivotal role in shaping Salford's future and building a better, fairer city for all its residents.
Leadership Behaviour Framework
To ensure strong leadership at every level, we have developed the Leadership Behaviour Framework, co-designed with input from colleagues through interviews, focus groups, and surveys.
This framework builds on our core values of Pride, Passion, People, and Personal Responsibility and provides a clear, shared language about how we want our leaders and managers to fulfil their roles and contribute to the city’s success.
The framework highlights the importance of aligning leadership behaviours with Salford’s vision and values. It emphasises leading in three key areas: Leading Self, Leading People, Leading Salford. Each area focuses on the qualities and behaviours needed to inspire and guide teams effectively. Encouraging leaders to take a proactive, reflective approach to their work, the framework ensures that efforts are rooted in our values and prioritise the best outcomes for residents.
In addition to leadership behaviours, the framework outlines the attributes and skills required for managers to succeed. Practical management skills, such as clear communication, strategic thinking, and effective decision-making, complement these qualities, enabling leaders to address challenges and seize opportunities in a fast-changing environment.
This framework ensures that leadership across Salford is not only consistent but also deeply connected to the city’s identity.
Expectations of a Salford Manager
Expectations of a Salford Manager are our essentials to good management. Our leaders are the role models for our organisational culture, demonstrating behaviours that align with the Spirit of Salford and promoting a sense of purpose and belonging within their teams. Managers create opportunities for individuals to grow, providing the support and encouragement needed for colleagues to achieve their full potential.
The expectations for Salford managers are designed with this in mind, to ensure that they are not just overseeing performance, but leading by example, creating opportunities, and inspiring others. Our managers are expected to create positive, inclusive environments where teams feel supported and motivated.
An effective Salford manager goes beyond simply delivering high-quality services, they play an integral role in ensuring that services meet the evolving needs of our residents. This requires a blend of strategic vision and hands-on involvement, balancing the ability to see the bigger picture while remaining responsive to the day-to-day realities and challenges that teams face. Flexibility and adaptability are key, as managers must be able to respond to new opportunities, challenges, and changing circumstances.
Ultimately, the expectations of a Salford manager are about creating a thriving, innovative, and empowered environment. Managers lead by example, support their teams’ growth, and drive the delivery of services that truly reflect the needs and aspirations of the people of Salford.