Across the UK public sector, particularly within local authorities, there is a palpable sense of strain. Councils are operating in an environment that feels increasingly unpredictable, fragmented and difficult to interpret. Many leaders describe a disorienting mix of competing pressures: post-election restructuring, financial constraint, workforce fatigue and an evolving political context.
This is not just complexity, it is what many now frame as a BANI world:
Brittle systems that crack under pressure
Anxious teams stretched thin
Nonlinear cause-and-effect relationships
Incomprehensible signals that defy easy interpretation
And in this context, something interesting, and important, is happening inside organisations, a return to “Storming”.
Tuckman’s model of team development reminds us that high-performing teams cycle through Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing stages. What many councils are experiencing right now is not dysfunction, but a return to “Storming.” This is not failure. It is a signal.
Following May elections and ongoing political uncertainty, leadership teams are being reshaped. Priorities are shifting. Relationships are being renegotiated. Decision-making becomes contested. Trust is tested. In short; new alliances are being formed, old assumptions are being challenged, and clarity is temporarily lost.
Storming, in this sense, is a natural response to disruption, yet in a BANI environment, it can feel amplified, persistent and harder to move beyond. Indeed leadership could be described as being in a, ‘state of bewilderment.’ We see this theme across our public sector clients with senior leaders asking themselves;“What does stability even look like now?”
“How do we lead when the environment keeps shifting?”
“What should we prioritise when everything feels urgent?”
The traditional leadership playbook, grounded in predictability, planning cycles and linear progress, is no longer sufficient. In a BANI world, strategies can feel obsolete within months, communication becomes harder as certainty diminishes and decision-making carries higher perceived risk.
The result is not a lack of capability, but a gap between expectations and reality. Leaders are expected to provide clarity when the system itself is ambiguous.
The Ripple Effect on Teams
When leadership teams are unsettled, the impact cascades throughout the organisation.
Teams may experience:
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Increased conflict or tension
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Reduced psychological safety
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Uncertainty about roles, direction and priorities
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Fatigue from continuous change
This often manifests as a return to Storming behaviours, even in previously high-performing teams
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Questioning authority or direction
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Competing priorities between departments with a ‘my department first’ mentality
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Resistance to change initiatives
Importantly, this is not simply “poor team performance.” It is a systemic response to instability.
So this leads me to L&D: The Pressure Point in the System!
At the centre of this dynamic sits a critical, but often overlooked, group: Learning & Development professionals. Leaders are increasingly turning to L&D teams for answers:
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How do we rebuild leadership capability?
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How do we re-establish team cohesion?
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How do we develop resilience at scale?
Yet L&D themselves are operating within the same BANI context:
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Reduced budgets and resources
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Expanding expectations
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Pressure to deliver rapid, visible impact
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Their own uncertainty about what “effective” looks like no
In effect, L&D is being asked to provide clarity while navigating ambiguity themselves. This creates a critical tension. The very function tasked with enabling organisational stability is itself experiencing instability. This gives us a moment to pause… not push harder! In many councils, the default response to disruption is acceleration: more initiatives, more plans, more transformation programmes. But the current moment calls for something different. A pause. Not inactivity, but intentional reflection:
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What stage are our teams really in?
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What are people experiencing beneath the surface?
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Where are we overloading the system?
Recognising a return to Storming allows leaders to:
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Normalise conflict as part of development
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Focus on rebuilding trust and clarity
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Avoid misdiagnosing symptoms as failure
Reframing Leadership for a BANI World
If the environment has changed, leadership must evolve with it. In a BANI context, leadership is less about certainty and more about sense-making and stability creation.
Key shifts include:
1. Answers to Framing: Leaders do not need to have all the answers, but they must help teams make sense of uncertainty.
2. From Control to Connection: Strong relationships and trust become the anchor when systems feel brittle.
3. From Pace to Presence: Moving faster is not always the solution. Sometimes progress comes from slowing down enough to realign.
4. From Certainty to Clarity of Purpose: Even when the path is unclear, a shared sense of purpose provides direction.
The Role of L&D Going Forward
For L&D teams, this moment is not just a challenge, it is an opportunity to redefine their role. Rather than focusing solely on programmes and interventions, L&D can act as:
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Facilitators of collective reflection
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Enablers of team development conversations
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Supporters of leadership adaptability
This may mean:
Creating space for leadership teams to reflect on their stage of development. Supporting open dialogue about uncertainty and pressure and ultimately collaboratively seeking to build capability in navigating, not eliminating, ambiguity. Being change agile is not yet in everyone’s skill set.
Crucially, it also means acknowledging their own limits and modelling the same openness they encourage in others.
Moving Forward: Stability Through Awareness
The current landscape for UK councils is undeniably challenging. But within that challenge lies a critical opportunity, by recognising:
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The realities of a BANI world
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The natural return to Storming
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The shared experience of uncertainty across leadership and L&D organisations can shift from reaction to awareness.
Awareness is the starting point for rebuilding trust, re-establishing direction, and creating more adaptive, resilient teams.
To support this ambition, t-three is offering a Learning Leaders Exchange, a dedicated space for L&D professionals across local government to connect, share experiences, explore solutions to common challenges and learn from one another's successes. Launching in September 2026, the Learning Leaders Exchange will provide valuable opportunities to build your network, gain fresh perspectives and contribute to conversations that matter most to the sector. If you'd like to join a trusted community of peers and be part of the discussion, register your interest by emailing sayhello@t-three.co.uk
