This month’s BBC documentary 'Who’s spending Britain’s billions?' made fairly uncomfortable viewing for the sector.
The programme took a case by case look at public sector spending - from Whitehall to town halls - in a bid to see how wisely public funds are spent. In particular the programme focussed in on the sectors often perceived reliance on consultants and what this relationship really delivers for the resident. The programme went further by suggesting transformational change is not required, which in my view, is an insult to a sector, which has done so much to deliver in the face of such financial adversity.
Although it may be painful to admit, what the programme highlighted, in essence, was true. It is evident that there is a genuine requirement for the sector to use external support. What could be more sensible than building on the lessons of other authorities and brining in support for change only when it is needed?
However, it would appear that at present, local authorities in particular are being fleeced by big consultancies who are able to make easy pickings of those needing support to transform by rolling out a cookie cutter approach to organisational change time and time again. Not only doesn’t the price come down but the solution is insensitive to local circumstances.
In an environment where spend is so highly scrutinised, it is understandable why a risk averse culture has manifested itself - where risk appears to be minimised by doing exactly what others have done with little acknowledgement of whether the outcomes are truly focussed on the need for that particular organisation.
Denial that transformation is required isn’t the answer. That way lays bankruptcy for public services. The answer is simple, the sector needs to remember that nobody has the understanding of why local authorities exist better than the staff themselves.
We need to move from a high cost cookie cutter transformation to an approach that builds on the sectors past successes but is tuned to local circumstance. To do this we will need to rethink how we develop and share the models of good organisation design and the methods by which we deliver the transformation.
The sector must understand that there isn’t a silver bullet to solve all issues, but instead of being daunted by this, see the opportunity in working as a sector to create organisation design models. New models that take a fresh look at the real purpose for local authorities but also allow the individuality for change to succeed.
We have made a start. Our white paper 'From Surviving to Thriving', with the support of over 100 authorities, set out a common basis for organisation design. Together the iESE authorities have been trialling a common method to transformation from understanding the local challenges and opportunities to using the models in the white paper to deliver a tailored organisation that has the impact locally that we all want and meets the financial challenges. We have and continue to look around the world for lessons that we can learn from and as a result are trialling new tools that help us bring greater speed and certainty councils using our method to deliver their transformation.
As a result of this we are trialling new technologies from Australia and Singapore that modernise the transformation process as well as the organisation that results.
Our aim is a transparent sharing of the Surviving to Thriving model, the methods of implementation and to build the capacity of the sector to deliver its own transformation with a common set of tools.
But this will require authorities to be brave, committed and driven.
Ryedale Council is a recent example of an authority that has done just that. We have been working with them for some months supporting them in redesigning their operating model around the need of their customers and how they want to use the council.
In understanding its customers, the reasons why they interact with the council and what adds value to both them and the organisation, a set of design principles have been developed to help shape a new operating model for the council which will ensure that activity occurs in the right places and most importantly, for the right reasons.
The council has taken a completely fresh look at its reason for being, driving the change through a high level of staff engagement and feedback, but using iESE’s methodology to provide a sense of rigour to their programme, ensuring that no stone is left unturned and that all the lessons of the sector were learned in finding the right answer for Ryedale.
The approach adopted by Ryedale is not only proving itself for the authority but is demonstrably building upon the work of the sectors previous successes. The first time we saw this breadth and depth of transformation it took millions of pounds to achieve. This wasn't a waste of public money. It was definitely worthwhile for residents and there was a business case for authorities. But the payback period was measured in years. The Ryedale project takes us to a new level. The cost was a fraction of previous transformations and therefore the payback is less than a month.
We don’t see transformation as a sausage machine process. The authorities that founded iESE did so because they wanted the sector to succeed together. They created iESE as a not for profit so that new members would see the iESE group of authorities as genuinely wanting the share our transformation lessons. They knew that the sector is full of excellent practice, initiatives and innovations, that’s they created the iESE annual awards to help showcase this for the benefit of all. That’s why we publish our models and methods rather than hoarding them.
But the iESE founders went beyond sharing best practice to sharing the capacity to make change happen - significant transformations that have a meaningful impact for residents and local businesses. They knew that the safest and most cost effective way to deliver change without becoming dependent on consultancy was to share the people that make change happen. People who are experts in the sector that understand the differences and individual nature of the councils they work with including the importance of the member dynamic but, whilst delivering change, are also willing to be the conduit to building the capacity of the sector and transferring skills.
Understanding what transformation actually is and what it can achieve is critical to meeting the challenges of the next decade. Together the iESE members are building support the sector can trust. If you want to join them or you have a lesson that the sector should learn, get in touch.
Dr Andrew Larner is chief executive of the Improvement & Efficiency Social Enterprise.
Nominations for the 2017 iESE awards open in November. To find out more visit www.iese.org.uk/events
