News and Insights
Welcome to Avanti Insights.
Change doesn't happen in a vacuum - it happens in a worls that's constantly shifting. Here you will find our latest thinking on leadership, transformation, organisational development, and the trends shaping th public, private and third sectors.
From new about our work and partnerships to artcles exploring the ideas that drive us, this is where Avanti shares what we're hearing, learning,doing and thinking.
When the Structures Change, Who Do We Become?
Part Three: The Margins Don't Move with the Map
A new authority does not automatically inherit trust. Especially not from the people who never fully gave it to the old one.
The first two parts of this series explored what LGR does to place and to people. This final piece turns to the group who rarely appear in the reorganisation conversation at all — those already on the margins. People experiencing homelessness, living with learning difficulties, navigating poverty. The ones most dependent on the relationships and local knowledge that reorganisation puts most at risk.
In Part Three, Dr Amanda Milliner argues that trust cannot be transferred like a file or a caseload. That the knowledge which holds vulnerable communities together lives in people, not systems. And that when reorganisation happens quickly, it is always the 'hardest-to-reach' who pay the highest price — quietly, without anyone intending it.
Reorganisation is not a neutral act. New authorities have a chance to prove otherwise. But only if they choose to.
30th April 2026
30th April 2026
When the Structures Change, Who Do We Become?
Part Two: Reorganising the Organisation, Disrupting the Self
While LGR is planned in spreadsheets and governance papers, something else is happening that never appears in the project plan — the quiet, disorienting experience of people whose professional world is changing in ways they did not choose and cannot fully control.
In Part Two, Dr Amanda Milliner turns from communities to the workforce and leaders navigating reorganisation from the inside: the loyalty that doesn't show up on any org chart, the impossible position of leaders expected to model certainty they don't feel, and the invisible relational work that holds local government together — and that is most at risk when the ground starts to shift.
This is a piece about what compassionate change leadership actually looks like. And why getting it right matters far beyond the restructure timeline.
When the Structures Change, Who do We Become?
Part One: The Places We Call Ours
Nobody tells you that a town can grieve. But when Local Government Reorganisation arrives — announced in the language of efficiency and strategic fit — that is often exactly what happens.
In the first of this series, Dr Amanda Milliner explores what LGR really does to the places and people it reorganises: why place is not a boundary on a map but a story of belonging, who feels the disruption most, and why inheriting services is straightforward while inheriting trust is not.
Drawing on doctoral research and Arnstein's Ladder of Participation, this think piece asks the question that never makes it into the impact assessment — what are we now? — and why new authorities ignore it at their peril.
30th April 2026
22nd April 2026
There and Back Again
Jonathan grew up in the Welsh valleys, studied at LSE, and spent three decades working at the intersection of leadership, governance, and public service — across local government, national consultancy, housing, and mental health. He has supported some of the most complex organisations in the UK and beyond through transformation, always with the same focus: helping leaders find clarity about who they are and what they stand for. He co-founded Avanti because the most important leadership work isn't technical. It's human
When Everything Moves at Once
In this new think piece, Dr Jonathan Huish examines what it really means to lead in local government right now — when reorganisation, devolution and political change are all happening simultaneously. Drawing on Avanti's frameworks and work with senior leaders, Jonathan explores the specific pressures this convergence creates, the temptations that derail good leadership under pressure, and what genuinely high-performing teams look like when the system around them is still being designed.
19th April 2026
12th April 2026
Building Systems with Dignity
Leadership is often discussed in terms of strategy and results. But at its core, it shapes something far more human, how people experience the systems around them.
In this feature, The Real Edits explore the journey of Amanda Milliner, leadership advisor and co-founder of Avanti Change and Trinity Pathways. Her work bridges organisational leadership and social impact, focusing on building systems that not only function effectively but also restore dignity, stability, and trust for the people they serve.
Her story reflects a powerful truth: values are not meant to sit in mission statements, they are meant to be lived through decisions, structures, and everyday actions.
This piece offers a thoughtful perspective on what it means to lead with integrity, challenge broken systems, and create change that is both practical and deeply human.
