We conducted a literature review on the factors which determine the effectiveness of evidence centres. This highlighted leadership as a key influence on their success but revealed that there has been very little empirical analysis of what leaders of evidence centres actually do, the skills they need, and how they acquire them.
To help address the gap we conducted interviews with the leaders of What Works Centres, regional evidence centres, and policy observatories in the UK. We found that they required an unusual combination of skills. They had to be highly credible with policy makers, academics and funders, needed to be effective team leader, and must be able to develop strategy, work well with their boards, and manage large budgets and complex programmes. Key to their success was the ability to make things happen, the agility to respond rapidly to policy makers’ needs, and the resilience to keep going in the face of significant challenges.
The evidence centre leaders who we interviewed had not received any formal training for the role. Most had simply learnt on the job. We recommend creating more structured opportunities for leaders to share experiences with each other and better training and development for future leaders.