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Colin Mackenzie, the new president of the Association of Directors of Social Work, knows he has a tough job on his hands leading the profession in Scotland.

The next 12 months promise to be some of the most controversial in the history of Scottish social work with the 21st century review of the profession due to report its findings to the Scottish executive in October and ministers likely to act on them soon after.

On top of the political negotiations Mackenzie will take the lead on, he also has to move the association and profession forward during his time in office and keep his day job employers - Aberdeenshire Council where he has been head of social work for nearly 10 years - happy. Mackenzie is aware of the size and the scope of the job.

"I've been talking a lot to Alexis Jay [the previous president who is now head of the Scottish Social Work Inspection Agency]. She's an extremely hard act to follow. You're trying to do three different jobs and it is about getting a balance between the national and local issues," he adds.

But it will inevitably be the Scottish social work review that will dominate much of Mackenzie's time.

But relations between the ADSW and the review - headed by specialist public sector management consultant Willy Roe - have not got off to the best start.

The interim report by the group carrying out the review has already set tongues wagging: it criticised both social work practice, which it said was outdated, and social work departments for becoming too bureaucratic and process driven. There is a risk-averse culture throughout the system that is stifling innovation, the group added.

These findings angered the ADSW. It argued that it was too early in the review process for the group to be making such assured and critical statements and that its research to date was too narrow.

A bullish letter from the ADSW was published in the Glasgow daily The Herald. It appeared to question Roe's ability to understand the issues and to suggest that he is following an executive-driven agenda. But Mackenzie plays down the feud.

"There has been a misunderstanding," he says. "I have had detailed discussions with Willy Roe and civil servants since the interim report was published about how we have a wider debate on the issues."

Mackenzie prefers to focus on the main themes he believes have come out of the review already and which are likely to be developed further: the rights and responsibilities of service users, the development of person-centred planning and the balance between prevention and crisis services.

"We should be moving away from the term 'service users' - people are investors in the services they receive.

They bring more to it [the relationship] than we sometimes acknowledge. We have been working on person-centred planning for a long time but we need to look at things in a more holistic way.

"We also need to develop our capacity to do preventive work and to do it at the same time as helping those people that require intensive services. Local authorities already have a lead role in developing community planning in Scotland and this will be one of the important parts of that," he says.

And Mackenzie is also warming to the idea, floated at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities annual conference last month, that councils could play a greater role in planning, managing and providing health services.

"It is a medium to long-term strategy, but the situations that people live in, such as employment and good housing, all impact on people's health," he adds.

Achieving a balance between people's rights and responsibilities needs "wide debate" Mackenzie says. Roe has also identified this during the review process.

Mackenzie says: "I agree with Roe - people turn to social services when all else fails. We need to have a debate about what people's responsibilities to themselves and their communities are."

Another issue the new president will have to grapple with is how to tackle the shortage of social workers in Scotland. His predecessors have had some success on this in recent years but the review still identifies it as a major hurdle that needs to be overcome if services are to improve.

"The review identified that social workers are an effective but scarce resource. Staff vacancies are gradually reducing but the number of [government/executive] initiatives have resulted in vacancies. The issue is how quickly we can fill that gap."

More "grow your own" schemes; better training, support and rewards for social care staff; and continuing development of the skills across social work departments are all on the agenda, he adds.

Another issue likely to arise, and one close to Mackenzie's heart, is the ever-growing problem of substance misuse. It has been a particular issue for north east Scotland because illegal drugs have been imported into the country through the area's many ports. And it will be drawn into political focus when the executive's three-year review of children's social work departments launched in response to the death of Caleb Ness is completed in October.

"Drug use is still prevalent in the area and the effect that has on families' lives is an issue we need to find a solution to. We have 60,000 serious drug misusers in Scotland," he says.

Mackenzie wants to take a multi-faceted approach to negotiations. With the ADSW being a major advocate for a more just society, he wants to ensure the association influences policy and works closely with politicians, Cosla and other partners.

It will be a tough year with many uncertainties on the horizon, but one thing is for sure, Mackenzie will be struggling to spend as much time on his other passions in life: playing sport - he's a big rugby fan - his family and holidaying in Scotland.

But at least he can console himself with the fact he's not the new director of Scottish rugby - the game's governing body sacked the incumbent a few weeks ago after losing 14 of their last 17 matches.

"That's an even more challenging role than this one," he says.

Route to the top 

• 1973: Trainee social worker in Dundee City working in criminal justice and child protection.
• 1975: Child care specialist at Tayside region.
• 1977: Promoted to area team leader at Tayside.
• 1982: Social work manager, Grampian Council.
• 1985: Divisional officer at Grampian.
• 1996: Appointed head of social work at Aberdeenshire Council.
• 2002: Appointed director of housing and social work at Aberdeenshire.
• Why did you enter the profession? "When I was three years old my father died: we were destitute and homeless - it later made me think about the support people like us needed."
• What do you like most about the job? "I get the greatest reward from seeing the difference we can make to people's lives. Such as seeing the quality of life that people who used to live in a long-stay hospital now have, or seeing children that have been in local authority care grow up and live constructive lives."