Local Government Transformation Masterclass: Creating culture change and enhancing organisational development

Cllr Derrick Louis, Deputy to the Leader and Special Lead Member for Transformation, Essex County Council 

Debbie Knopp, Director of Transformation Delivery and Support, Essex County Council and Chair of the LGA Transformation Network

• Transformation isn’t new for the sector but needs to be considered in the current context for local government. 
• We need to build on our successes but also learn from our failures. 
• Empowering all parts of the workforce and political leaders is crucial to achieve transformation. 
• Essex’s transformation journey began in 2008 and has been a continual journey of several phases since then, with the current phase (phase three) to run until 2030. 
• The first two phases were financially focused, but not to the detriment of service outcomes, resulting in significant savings that have been reinvested in transformation.
• Good transformation requires time, people, and money. Without these things you’re not likely to be doing true transformation. 
• This time transformation will be across the whole council and spread across the strategic drivers of ‘Everyone’s Essex’, ‘the changing world we live in’, and ‘securing financial sustainability’.
• These three areas come together under one programme, they cannot be delivered separately as they require the same people and the same funding. 
• Although phase three was launched this year, a lot of ground work has already been done by officers in preparation for members. It is now really important to actively engage members as this phase will require significant political choices. 
• Member buy in to the concept of transformation and the aims of what is trying to be achieved has been key, as has lining this up with the work officers have been undertaking. 
• Workshops involving both officers and members has been a good way of developing a shared view of how decisions moving forward will be taken. 
• Essex County Council has coalesced around the vision of ‘Essex County Council is ambitious and by 2030, it will be one of the most forward looking, effective and financially sustainable Councils in the country.’ 
• This requires the outcomes of the transformation programme to: 
  • improve how services are delivered, including through innovative approaches.
  • reduce the cost of delivering services, including for the longer term.
  • improve or sustain defined outcomes for Essex residents.
• An example from the last phase of transformation comes from Essex’s youth service, which switched focus from youth centres to community involvement. This has resulted in a saving of £10 million and ten times the amount of young people being engaged, including those in hard-to-reach communities.
• The mindset of finding a more efficient way of doing things while maintaining or improving outcomes is key. 
• The current transformation programme is made up of transition states, taking things one step at a time. Each state includes resources for teams to complete the work and get a political mandate.
• States later on in the programme have clear objectives and direction of travel but nothing concrete on what they will look like.
• Work has commenced on designing and delivering transition state one, which is made up of 91 projects split into the three categories of high outcome / strategic enablers, statutory / keeping the lights on, and financial sustainability.
• A good working relationship between officers and members is key, officers should feel able to challenge members. 
• Putting in the time to get buy in from both officers and members is important, accepting that there will be difficult decisions that residents may not be happy about, with more change facing more resistance.
• People need to be encouraged to innovate and feel they have the permissions to try new things.
• If something doesn’t work it shouldn’t be seen as a failure, just finding a way something didn’t work. 
• The three principles of good public communication, thinking the unthinkable, and working in the open helps with transformation.
• Good governance is essential to corralling objectives and delivery portfolios allow for this.
• The focus should be on doing what is right and not who is right, even if this leads to disagreements. 
• Transformation can be a challenging word but it doesn’t have to mean cuts and job losses. 

Q: We’re looking to improve our public health service and manage demand on social care; however, a prevention cycle takes 5 – 7 years. What ideas do you have to solve this issue?

A: It’s reasonable to say that people can’t wait five years but you need a plan to improve. Although our current plan finishes in 2030 there will be delivery throughout, transformation is all about heading in the right direction and if you don’t start now there will be major problems down the line. Essex have focused on demand reduction in this area, with a lot of work done building independent living spaces which is both cheaper and has better outcomes.

Q: We’re trying to bring councils together to have a joint workforce but many have different perspectives and find collaboration scary. How do you approach staff with transformation to make it less scary?

A: Don’t underestimate the time you need to properly communicate, not just to get together but to reflect and communicate with teams, this can become a job of its own and isn’t just a side project. It’s important to be open with people, especially around their concerns and aspirations, and agree on a challenge to work on with them. Change isn’t just about going from A to B but about making sustainable changes long term and investing time and money in staff communication and engagement is a key part of this.

Q: How have you built resilience up as change delivers over time?

A: The only constant is change, even if you don’t undertake a change programme the world will change. Reliance is about having a close relationship with those going through challenging times and building up relationships in the workplace. Building resilience is difficult and you need to accept that not everyone will be happy with change. Kindness is also key, both to yourself and to others. 

• It’s good to have a programme that’s named and branded but often this is just put back on the shelf and forgotten about once completed.
• Change is a spiral, with constant reflection as you improve and progress. 
• What level of disruption is needed to encourage change? COVID-19 was a big driver in 2020/21 but since then things have slowed down.
• It’s important to have a blend of work, including transformation, continuous improvement, and service delivery.
• Even with continuous improvement there will be a point where a more revolutionary change will be necessary to take things to the next level.
• It’s important to break down change into chunks to avoid fatigue, not all staff will be there for the entire change programme, so more digestible pieces are key. 
• Frontline services are often overwhelmed and aren’t interested in transformation until they have to be. 
• Data needs to be combined with user insight about what people actually want. 
• Working together with elected members is key to making things happen and getting the buy in from leadership.