A warm welcome for the new Chief Executive

As I’m sure you’re already aware the appointments process for a new chief executive came to a conclusion last week with Jim Savege confirmed as my successor. It will be great to welcome Jim, who is currently Corporate Director for Environment and Community Services at Cumbria County Council, to the fore in February and I’m sure he’ll offer strong leadership.

The process of gearing up for your retirement is somewhat strange, I must admit, but now that we know Jim will be joining Team Aberdeenshire in February I can plan accordingly. I’m looking forward to spending more time with family and working out what’s next for me.

I remained completely outwith the recruitment process for the chief executive appointment as I don’t believe it would have been appropriate for me to be involved with the appointment of my successor. But I know the selection process which followed a national recruitment campaign was well-managed and focused on ensuring the very best leadership for this forward-thinking and ambitious local authority. 

We know Jim is keen to engage with staff across all levels when he joins the team and is keen to focus on supporting employees through a time when we’re seeing a great deal of change across the public sector. What would you be keen for Jim to offer for employees? A blog? A Twitter feed? Continued Challenge Management meetings? Video messages? Continued Back to the Floor sessions with teams? More drop-ins with teams? I’m sure he’ll have his own ideas but it would be great to get your thoughts.