Bromley LBC is a middle-class suburban borough, but chief executive, Doug Patterson, is less predictable. Heather Jameson reports
Bromley LBC is a true outer London borough. Largely middle class, suburban, and very, very Tory – so much so that mayor Boris Johnston held his first public question time at the council’s offices.
Chief executive, Doug Patterson, is perhaps less conventional than his council. A Scotsman, a sportsman and a former district chief executive, his background is not an obvious fit.
The former Glasgow PT teacher’s conversation is peppered with sporting analogies. He even says he was pushed by wanting to be seen as more than just a ‘track-suited Jock’.
Doug’s first chief executive job was in Harlow in 2000, before he moved to Wokingham in 2003. Both jobs, he feels, he left ‘a year too early’, but he did so because the right opportunities had come along.
‘There’s always a wee thing hanging over you, in terms of completing the job,’ he says.
He moved to Bromley 14 months ago, as he had ‘always fancied getting into a London borough’. He is determined not to leave Bromley too early – and has vowed not to go for a ‘full set’ by aiming for a county council.
Equally, he has ruled out Whitehall, and is happy to stay put right now.
Since his arrival, his top team has remained largely the same, with just one retirement and one extra director brought on board. It makes a change from chief executives who come in and turn round the whole top team in the first six months but, he says: ‘It’s a three-star organisation – why am I going to chuck the management team out?’
Doug’s local government career took off when he moved from schools to leisure centres, and he started to think he could do the job better than his boss.
Further training and an MBA opened doors for him as a manager, rather than a sports person.
He explains: ‘When I was in Harlow, about five or six district chief executives were from a leisure background. It coincided with a time when there was a big focus on customer services.’ That was what he had to offer.
And Bromley seemed like a good place to do it.
The council was already three star – and a confident local area. He says: ‘Bromley likes itself – it’s a well-managed borough. I thought I’d be able to move the organisation and its partnerships on.’
Doug was keen to take a job where he would be ‘starting from a good position’.
‘Getting an authority from “good” to “excellent” is tougher than getting it from “poor” to “good”. The first 90m of a 100m race are easy. It’s the last 10 meters that are tough.’
Or if you work in local government, just as you are finishing the final 10 meters, the Government adds another 100 metres, just for good measure.
And so he joined an organisation which was very much ready to move on, and aimed on ‘playing to his strengths’ of building partnerships. ‘I’m very much a team player, team supporter, and a team leader,’ he says.
He is back on the sporting analogies – but sport has obviously played such a large part in shaping his life. He tells The MJ it is sports, or the arts, which make people, and he is passionate about giving young people the chance to reach their potential. Sports and arts make the development of an individual. ‘It was only because I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t act, but I could play football that I ended up in sports rather than the arts,’ he quips.
High on his agenda at present is the regeneration of Bromley town centre, trying to make the council excellent – in the eyes of the community rather than inspectors – and ensuring what is already a fairly safe place even safer.
He will keep increasing work with local partners, and is ‘looking at the benefit the LSPs can bring without losing democracy’. And then there is the job of seeing the local community through the economic gloom ahead – something he considers to be ‘place-supporting’ rather than the ‘place-shielding’, described by neighbouring Lewisham’s chief executive, Barry Quirk. ‘We are a bit more of a “middle class” borough, but this is going to be a middle class recession.’ Let’s hope the track-suited Jock is able to sort it out.
Chief executive, Doug Patterson, is perhaps less conventional than his council. A Scotsman, a sportsman and a former district chief executive, his background is not an obvious fit.
The former Glasgow PT teacher’s conversation is peppered with sporting analogies. He even says he was pushed by wanting to be seen as more than just a ‘track-suited Jock’.
Doug’s first chief executive job was in Harlow in 2000, before he moved to Wokingham in 2003. Both jobs, he feels, he left ‘a year too early’, but he did so because the right opportunities had come along.
‘There’s always a wee thing hanging over you, in terms of completing the job,’ he says.
He moved to Bromley 14 months ago, as he had ‘always fancied getting into a London borough’. He is determined not to leave Bromley too early – and has vowed not to go for a ‘full set’ by aiming for a county council.
Equally, he has ruled out Whitehall, and is happy to stay put right now.
Since his arrival, his top team has remained largely the same, with just one retirement and one extra director brought on board. It makes a change from chief executives who come in and turn round the whole top team in the first six months but, he says: ‘It’s a three-star organisation – why am I going to chuck the management team out?’
Doug’s local government career took off when he moved from schools to leisure centres, and he started to think he could do the job better than his boss.
Further training and an MBA opened doors for him as a manager, rather than a sports person.
He explains: ‘When I was in Harlow, about five or six district chief executives were from a leisure background. It coincided with a time when there was a big focus on customer services.’ That was what he had to offer.
And Bromley seemed like a good place to do it.
The council was already three star – and a confident local area. He says: ‘Bromley likes itself – it’s a well-managed borough. I thought I’d be able to move the organisation and its partnerships on.’
Doug was keen to take a job where he would be ‘starting from a good position’.
‘Getting an authority from “good” to “excellent” is tougher than getting it from “poor” to “good”. The first 90m of a 100m race are easy. It’s the last 10 meters that are tough.’
Or if you work in local government, just as you are finishing the final 10 meters, the Government adds another 100 metres, just for good measure.
And so he joined an organisation which was very much ready to move on, and aimed on ‘playing to his strengths’ of building partnerships. ‘I’m very much a team player, team supporter, and a team leader,’ he says.
He is back on the sporting analogies – but sport has obviously played such a large part in shaping his life. He tells The MJ it is sports, or the arts, which make people, and he is passionate about giving young people the chance to reach their potential. Sports and arts make the development of an individual. ‘It was only because I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t act, but I could play football that I ended up in sports rather than the arts,’ he quips.
High on his agenda at present is the regeneration of Bromley town centre, trying to make the council excellent – in the eyes of the community rather than inspectors – and ensuring what is already a fairly safe place even safer.
He will keep increasing work with local partners, and is ‘looking at the benefit the LSPs can bring without losing democracy’. And then there is the job of seeing the local community through the economic gloom ahead – something he considers to be ‘place-supporting’ rather than the ‘place-shielding’, described by neighbouring Lewisham’s chief executive, Barry Quirk. ‘We are a bit more of a “middle class” borough, but this is going to be a middle class recession.’ Let’s hope the track-suited Jock is able to sort it out.
