To achieve this vision we’ve identified our eight key priorities, which we’ve called the Great Eight. These are:

1. Tackling poverty and inequality
2. Education and skills
3. Health and social care
4. Economic development
5. Housing
6. Transport
7. A transparent effective organisation
8. Social impact

Our City Mayor Paul Dennett has set out this vision and whatever role we have, we are all here to make that vision a reality.

This vision gives our people direction and a shared sense of purpose.

To achieve this vision, we have a strong set of values. Pride, passion, people and personal responsibility capture the spirit and ambition of the city and inform the way we operate. They influence our choices, behaviours and how we make decisions and transform services. Living the values day in and day out creates a supportive environment which allows us ‘to be the best we can be’ and achieve our vision.

At the heart of the council the Spirit of Salford represents our culture, our social conscience and pride – our organisation is about
people and the communities that we serve. We are renowned for our resilience and coping positively with change and we make the
most of opportunities.

Our leadership behaviours

Our vision is for a better and fairer Salford providing the best possible quality of life for the people of the city, underpinned by the delivery of our Mayoral priorities - the Great Eight. This vision sets the bar high, presenting challenges and opportunities for everyone who works here to deliver high quality services for our residents and to achieve better outcomes. We deliver our frontline services through people and technology working together. We take every opportunity to think more creatively about how we deliver these services by working with our partners and developing a different relationship between public services, our residents and communities.

Salford is people-centred, and values based, and the Spirit of Salford is tangible throughout the city. To ensure that we can respond to an ever-changing environment and continue to strengthen our culture we need strong, values-based leadership.

Values-based leadership is about inspiring and motivating others to achieve high performance; creating a culture where people feel valued, empowered, and developed to do the very best job they can; modelling our values and embedding them into the way our people behave and deliver services; and demonstrating the Spirit of Salford in everything we do.

In Salford leadership is action and not a position - we lead through our behaviours and not through hierarchies or structures. What you do and how you behave is instrumental in developing a positive permission culture where all our people are empowered to develop different ways of doing things. 

Through demonstrating our leadership behaviours, you will be able to develop the values-based leadership skills and ways of working required to be successful in leading our organisation and shaping our city.

In order to achieve our vision and meet our aim that all individuals and teams benefit from excellent leadership, we need leaders that will truly help build a better fairer Salford for all.

Our Leadership framework sets this out in more detail, outlining the expectations we have of our leaders at all levels. Our leadership
behaviours are all about values based leadership focusing on: 

• Our values and culture – What we stand for, how we work with each other and our Spirit of Salford.
• The leadership behaviours – Leading ourselves, leading others, leading outcomes and leading the way forward.
• Leadership qualities - The attributes we expect our leaders to embody to achieve our vision.
• Management skills - For each behaviour sets the management skills needed to lead in this way.

Tom Stannard
Chief Executive

Our values and culture

Our values describe the personal qualities that all our people demonstrate when carrying out their roles. Putting the values in to practice across the whole organisation creates a supportive, values based, inclusive and positive environment which allows everyone to thrive and ‘be the best we can be.’

Pride

• I’m proud of and committed to our city, its people, our work, and I demonstrate the ‘Spirit of Salford’ in everything I do.
• I am proud of the role that I play in serving the people of Salford.
• I take pride in my work and take ownership to get it right first time, every time.
• I accept the trust and responsibility invested in me as an ambassador for the city.

Passion

• I am optimistic and ambitious for the city and its people, being creative and positive about change and making the most of opportunities.
• I generate new ideas, demonstrate initiative and share best practice.
• I develop strong relationships and joint working with partners and others to deliver the best possible outcomes for the people of Salford.
• I engage with others in a positive way to change and improve how we work.

People

• I respect and care for others, treating everyone fairly, listening and acting on the things people say.
• I put residents and others at the heart of what I do - doing things with people, not to them.
• I treat all colleagues, partners and residents with the dignity and respect that they deserve.
• I recognise and value the contribution that others can make to the work that I do.

Personal responsibility

• I am honest, taking responsibility and ownership for my actions and decisions and using resources that I am trusted with wisely.
• I am open and able to explain my actions and decisions to others, raising issues and solutions in a respectful way.
• I contribute to solving problems, changing how we do things and delivering the best possible outcomes.
• I use the resources available to me effectively and efficiently and look for opportunities to do things better.

Leadership behaviours

“You get the best effort from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within.” Bob Nelson

Great leadership in Salford is...

Leading others

Leaders in Salford are able to create a common purpose, know when and how to bring people together to solve problems, develop the right people for group and individual activities, influence others at all levels across the organisation and city.

Values based leadership

Leaders in Salford are values driven, human and trustworthy. Their behaviour is consistent and ethical, they follow through and deliver on commitments. They show kindness and compassion and are able to balance the needs of individuals and those of the organisation, so that people can trust them to lead, as well as trust them as human beings. They promote a positive permission culture where employees have permission to make the decisions that are in our people and residents’ best interests.

Leading the way forward

Leading the way focusses on the bigger picture. It requires a deep understanding of our different ways of working and bold and insightful knowledge of current and future demands on services. It’s also about how as a leader in Salford you can connect with our city and Greater Manchester ambitions and find innovative ways of doing things together. Always taking a strengths based approach based on co-design and co-production with residents and employees at the heart of change.

Leading outcomes

Leaders in Salford focus on achieving results through and with others.

They:

• Focus on delivering outcomes not presenteeism to get results.
• Convey a sense of urgency and drive issues to closure.
• Persist in the face of obstacles.
• Demonstrate initiative.
• Set high personal and team standards for performance.
• Have a digital mindset.

Values based leadership

As a values based leader, you will:

• Management Skills Model the values and embed them into the way your team delivers services.
• Hold people accountable for demonstrating the values.
• Respect and care for others, treating everyone fairly, valuing and welcoming diversity, respecting people’s identity, listening and acting on the things people say to enable everyone to achieve their full potential.
• Be honest, taking responsibility for your actions and decisions.
• Use resources that you are trusted with wisely.

Management Skills

Effective leadership requires you to draw upon your values, strengths and abilities to deliver high standards of service. To do so, you must demonstrate effectiveness in:

• Self-awareness, awareness of your values, principles, assumptions and ability to learn from experience.
• Self management, the ability to organise and manage yourself while taking account of the needs and priorities of others.
• Continued self-development, learning through participating in continuing professional development and from experience and feedback.
• Acting with integrity, behaving in an open, honest, ethical, and authentic manner.

Leading others

To lead others, you will: 

• Listen to understand, not to defend.
• Give people the freedom to use their initiative.
• Provide opportunities for people to discuss and solve problems and issues – focussed on learning not blame.
• Regularly provide coaching and support to others to help them achieve their objectives and potential.
• Appreciate and build on people’s strengths.
• Motivate, engage, encourage and inspire others in order to be the best they can be.
• Build lasting productive relationships with residents, partners and elected officials.

Management skills

Effective leadership requires you to work with others, in teams and networks, to deliver and improve services. To do so, you
must demonstrate effectiveness in:

• Building and maintaining relationships and listening.
• Supporting others, gaining trust and showing understanding.
• People management, recruit, manage and develop employees to ensure a skilled and engaged workforce.
• Change management, engaging and facilitating others to work collaborative to achieve real change.
• Being politically astute and aware and understand governance structures and decision making.

Leading outcomes

To lead outcomes, you will: 

• Be visible, inject pace, vigour and purpose.
• Expect high standards; mediocrity is not acceptable.
• Take an evidence and whole system approach in making decisions.
• Maximise technology and models to deliver quicker, easier, better services.
• Have a digital mindset, fully utilising digital systems and solutions to deliver services efficiently and effectively.
• Set context and challenging goals that will motivate people to take ownership, maximise performance, and develop.

Management skills

Effective leadership involves leading, directing and coordinating the work of others. To do so, you must be effective in:

• Effective financial management, managing budgets to ensure delivery of services within allocated resources.
• Performance management, setting clear outcomes-based objectives, measure, monitoring progress and results.
• Business planning and efficiency, focusing on priorities, managing business processes and operations to deliver services effectively and efficiently.
• Digital skills, fully utilising digital systems and solutions to deliver services.
• Decision making, using our values and the evidence to make good decisions.

Lead the way forward

To lead the way forward, you will:

• Be optimistic and ambitious for the city and its people, helping others to understand the need to change how we do things.
• Build strong collaborative relationships to find creative ways to make services more sustainable and flexible.
• Recognise and value the strengths of people and places, taking a strengths based approach to make the most of opportunities.
• Support people through change, in undertaking new things, and taking risks.
• Take a place and whole system approach in designing, delivering, and leading services developing solutions with our partners.
• Ensure inclusion is integral to service delivery and organisational performance and develop a resilient, diverse workforce who reflect the increasing diversity of our city.

Management skills

Effective leadership requires you to contribute to the strategy and aspirations of the organisation and the City of Salford. To do so, you must be effective in:

• Building and maintaining relationships, listening.
• Supporting others, gaining trust and showing understanding.
• Change management, engaging and facilitating others to work collaboratively to achieve real change.
• Policy and planning, formulating and implementing policies, strategies and plans for the service to respond to local needs
  within the context of place, devolution, and legislative and government policies.
• Organisational redesign, engaging with stakeholders to redesign future services.

Leadership qualities

Innovative

Creative, innovative and ambitious for the city in a fast paced, ever changing environment.

Honesty and Integrity 

Live our values and do the right thing.

People Focussed

Trusted, value each person and their contribution, show kindness, compassion, empathy and respect.

Decision making

Future focussed with the ability to take the right decision at the right time.

Connected

Connect, collaborate and communicate.

Inspirational

Inspires people, leads the way, knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.

Inclusive

Treats people fairly, values and welcomes diversity, respects people’s identity, listens to others and enables and magnifies the voice of under-represented groups.

Learn, grow and develop

We take a blended approach to development, we offer activities, training and tools to support your learning, we also encourage taking personal responsibility for your own development, which is key to your success.

There are opportunities available to you to learn, grow and develop for each leadership behaviour.