Relational Leadership, Storytelling, and Narratives: Practices of Local Government Chief Executives

This article examines the storytelling and narrative practices of an elite group of public administrators in the United Kingdom: local government chief executives. The authors do so through the lens of relationality, exploring the collective dimensions of leadership. The focus on leadership and stor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public administration review 2017-07, Vol.77 (4), p.515-527
Main Authors: Orr, Kevin, Bennett, Mike
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administrators
Appreciation
Bureaucracy
Chief executives
Leadership
Local government
Narratives
Politicians
Public administration
Public Administration and the Disciplines
Qualitative research
Scholarship
Storytelling
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Summary:This article examines the storytelling and narrative practices of an elite group of public administrators in the United Kingdom: local government chief executives. The authors do so through the lens of relationality, exploring the collective dimensions of leadership. The focus on leadership and stories embraces the narrative turn in public administration scholarship. It responds to calls for research examining the distinctive settings of everyday leadership action. The contribution to theory is a qualitative understanding of the relational ways in which stories and narratives are used in the practices of public administration leaders. The article analyzes four ways in which such leadership is accomplished: inviting an emotional connection and commitment to public service, making sense of organizational realities, provoking reflections on practices and assumptions, and managing relations with politicians. The authors offer an appreciation of how relational leadership influence can be generated by expressive narratives and storytelling rather than stemming from bureaucratic authority.
ISSN:0033-3352
1540-6210
DOI:10.1111/puar.12680