Everyone nods. Nothing moves.

In meetings, people agree. Afterwards, progress stalls. Concerns surface in corridors, not the room. Promises drift.

If you lead teams in local government, you know this pattern.

That's polite resistance. A quiet, self-protective force that slows delivery.

The Polite Resistance Index is a 5-minute reflection tool to help you see whether you're fuelling resistance or building momentum.

I've spent 25 years in hierarchical organisations and I've created this pattern myself. Teams agreeing in meetings, nothing moving afterwards, concerns surfacing in corridors instead of the room. I've come to think polite resistance is one of the most underexamined forces in local government - quietly slowing delivery while everyone stays professionally comfortable. The PRI is how I examine my own leadership. It's also how I'm looking to build a picture of what's actually happening across local government, so I can publish findings others can learn from.

Five Conditions

When leaders create these conditions, resistance drops and momentum builds:

• Speak Without Fear — Concerns raised openly, not in corridors
• Shared Ownership — Responsibility taken, not pushed back
• Confident Action — Acting without waiting for permission
• Follow Through — Promises turn into delivery
• Keep the Rhythm — Progress sustains when things get hard

These aren't five things to be good at. Each one makes the next possible, and the whole thing turns on the first — if people won't say what they think, nothing further along holds.

The PRI shows you where it's sticking.

This is how I see it. You might view things differently - and that's ok. The value isn't in agreeing with the framework it's in the process of reflection.

The Exchange

What You Get

• Where it's sticking: Which of the five conditions is slowing things down, based on how you answered
• A written reflection on your answers: Generated from your specific responses - what you said, read back to you alongside your reading of the team
• Three concrete next steps: Specific enough to try this week, derived from your actual answers

Your results are generated by AI. It analyses your answers across the five dimensions and writes a reflection tailored specifically to what you've said - not a generic report. No data is stored against your name. The assessment is anonymous.