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Nigel Riglar is Chair of the ADEPT Climate Change Board and Executive Director - Place, South Gloucestershire Council. Over the past two years he has been closely involved with Amey and ADEPT’s PACE leadership programme, first as a member of the 2024 cohort and more recently as facilitator for the 2025 programme. In this blog, Nigel reflects on the 2025 PACE journey, examining what the cohort explored together, why the programme matters for Place Directors navigating increasingly complex problems and the four core lessons that were his ‘takeaways’.

Why PACE matters for Place Directors

ADEPT and Amey devised the PACE programme to give senior place leaders something that is increasingly rare in the day-to-day of local government - space. 

Space to step outside everyday operational pressures, to work across organisational and geographic boundaries, and to grapple honestly with the ‘wicked issues’ facing those in place leadership roles. Those issues are neither small nor simple but having the time to think deeply about and discuss the complexities around problems like climate resilience, infrastructure investment, economic growth, inequality and public trust, feels like the public sector equivalent of a golden ticket.

As a participant in the 2024 cohort, I experienced first-hand the value of that space. As facilitator in 2025, I saw how powerful it becomes when a group of Place Directors commit to using it well. The programme is not about solutions handed down from above. It is about collective clarity, discussions and leadership choices that are grounded in the varying needs of place.

The 2025 cohort brought deep experience from across the country, but what mattered most was not where people came from, it was the willingness to think differently about the impact and potential inherent within their leadership roles.

Learning through place and why the locations mattered

One of the defining features of the PACE programme is always the choice of venues. Each location was intentional, and each shaped the conversations and added to the chosen theme of ‘looking up and out’ in distinct ways.

As always, the theme of the programme is set by the cohort, alongside the teams from ADEPT and Amey and with myself as facilitator. This happens several months before session one, during an initial online meeting. The cohort help to create the shape of what they’d like to explore, and we then facilitate their learning and experience over the three sessions by sourcing speakers, contributors and locations to help immerse them in the chosen theme. 

Sessions at the Gherkin in London, the Principality Stadium in Cardiff and King’s College in Cambridge are not everyday occurrences. These remarkable and thought-provoking spaces mark the days of discussion as special, worthy of note and were a clear signal to each participant that they have stepped away from the day job and are embarking on something to enrich their work and practice.

We know that not every Place Director can be part of the PACE programme in a given year, which is why we disseminate the key learning from each session in a series of videos and resources which you can find here.

Trust is a strategy, not a sentiment

Trust came up repeatedly during the programme, particularly in discussions about partnership working and system leadership. Too often, trust is treated as something intangible, nice to have, but secondary to structures and governance.

The 2025 cohort recognised that building trust evolves from deliberate leadership choices. It is achieved through consistency, transparency and a willingness to share control. In complex systems like those across local government, trust enables faster decision‑making, reduces friction and makes it possible to tackle problems that no single organisation or department or team can solve alone.

Amey and ADEPT’s PACE programme provided a safe environment this year to explore where examples of trust is strong, where it is fragile, and what leaders can do to strengthen it.

Investment follows a clear story about place

Echoing and building on themes from my own cohort in 2024, the importance of narrative came through again, but in a different way. Investment rarely flows simply because a place has need. It flows when there is a compelling, coherent story about where that place is heading and why it matters.

The PACE programme this year challenged participants to move beyond endless lists of projects and towards a shared vision rooted in place identity and long‑term outcomes. When leaders can articulate that story clearly, to communities, partners and investors alike, they create confidence. That confidence is what unlocks collaboration and capital.

The takeaway here is not about communications polish or storytelling for the sake of it. It is about strategic clarity, knowing what you stand for as a place and aligning decisions and partnerships accordingly.

Lead across systems, not services

Perhaps the most fundamental shift encouraged by the PACE programme is the move from leading services to leading systems. Public services remain important, but the outcomes we care about including resilient places and healthy communities, all sit across multiple teams.

The programme asked the participants to step back from organisational boundaries and consider their role as convenors, connectors and stewards of place. This kind of leadership requires a level of comfort with influence rather than control.

The 2025 cohort discussed the idea that when leaders adopt this mindset, new possibilities can emerge. New and different partners can come to the table, conversations are able to shift and change, and progress becomes shared rather than owned by any one body, person or team. 

Consistency beats intensity

Finally, one of the strongest themes for me was the importance of leadership habits. Not the big moments or the glossy strategies, but the consistent rhythms that really make a difference. Checking progress, closing feedback loops, communicating what’s working and what isn’t and showing incremental improvement – these can all be far more powerful and motivating than dramatic shifts in behaviours that can often be much harder to sustain.

Real leadership impact comes from this steady accumulation of consistent, purposeful actions. Consistency, not intensity, is what builds credibility over time.

The value of PACE in an ever-evolving sector

Amey and ADEPT’s PACE programme is not a traditional leadership course, and that is its strength. It is demanding, reflective and at times uncomfortable but it is also energising. For Place Directors navigating unprecedented complexity, it offers something genuinely valuable - time, space and a trusted peer network.

As facilitator, my role in 2025 was less about providing answers and more about holding the space for the cohort to do the work themselves. The insights they generated about story, trust and system leadership will continue to shape how they lead in their own places.

In a sector that is often under intense pressure, the PACE programme helps participants to understand that how we lead matters just as much as what we deliver.

Further information

• The joint venture is designed to provide thought leaders with the space to find strategic solutions that are Pioneering, Action-orientated, Creative and Entrepreneurial (PACE). Designed exclusively for place directors and senior leadership, two of the fundamental principles behind PACE is to influence the future of place-focused strategies and support place leaders in driving change.
• PACE - The Place Leaders Programme: www.adeptnet.org.uk/pace
• Amey: www.amey.co.uk

Author

Nigel Riglar is a former President of ADEPT and Executive Director – Place, South Gloucestershire Council.