The UK government has recently placed a strong emphasis on ‘implementing digital transformation’, an ever-evolving initiative which has put councils under an immense amount of pressure to constantly update their online customer service offerings.
It goes without saying that the drive for the digitalisation of services has been compounded by the pandemic – and since realising the many benefits of technology in enhancing ways of working, most organisations have fostered this as a permanent fixture. This cultural shift has forced many local councils to transition their services to online delivery sooner than anticipated – not just presenting a certain conundrum for management teams, but also a resistance by those required to implement the change.
With IT playing a significant role in facilitating the ever-changing working environment, technological advancements in local council services are evolving at a rapid pace – requiring workers to learn to adapt to new methods of service delivery in order to streamline their processes and ultimately improve public services.
Despite this resistance, however, digitalisation of services in recent years has made a tremendous impact on councils. Key developments include the creation of a personalised user portal, as well as a suite of online application forms. This complete restructure of content has enabled users to swiftly locate and complete forms at the click of a button – resulting in faster service delivery.
Yet grasping these complex processes, services and demands can be overwhelming for those who are unfamiliar with them – particularly whilst managing their existing daily workload. Implementing new systems is seen as a necessity to senior management teams, but the council administrators are less likely to feel enthusiastic about such change when they fail to see any work benefits.
This profound struggle to adapt within the workplace means appropriate training is essential - and an increase in administrative duties for staff members is therefore inevitable. In some circumstances, council workers may be expected to increase the documentation of their work, take on more administrative tasks and participate in management-led quality improvement initiatives, in order to gain those key technology skills.
It is this continuous need for ongoing education that has become increasingly important when it comes to ensuring that professionals’ competencies keep pace with current standards. Not only this, but it is essential for maintaining and enhancing the skills needed to stay abreast of the ever-changing digital landscape and its impact on council services online. Furthermore, this training will provide crucial support to those who are finding the shift to digital processes overwhelming. However, organisational culture, lack of ownership and poor communication remain major barriers to implementing such change within local councils – with some administrative staff being ‘suspicious’ of senior administrators’ motives behind the restructure.
Could it be that the fear of the unknown is the underlying issue?
Recent studies have shown that resistance to organisational change is often associated with employees’ psychological uncertainty about how the new practices will affect their working environment, daily workload and overall role within the council.
Failing to secure employee buy-in at the offset can have a significant impact on employee health and well-being long term – not just resulting in reduced organisational commitment, but also in loss of productivity and work-related stress.
Therefore, clarity in the communication and a level understanding between teams is key to preventing this from happening. If change is driven through the entire organisation from the bottom up - with those most knowledgeable about their work placed in an optimal position to identify relevant problems and initiate appropriate changes - the likelihood of a more seamless transition is far greater.
Early engagement enables the workers to feel truly valued and empowered – resulting in a strategic plan that everyone can get behind. That’s keeping it real!
Campbell Harte is head of delivery services at NDL
