Envisioning the next chapter in public service @dewcadre - Tumblr Blog

Public Sector Transformation through applied Adaptive Leadership: “Observe, Interpret and Intervene”

We are currently supporting one of our “visionary” “pathfinder” public sector clients on a complex transformation programme that seeks to respond to massive challenges in their operating environment at a time when funding is reducing, the pace and scale of change is increasing, and their key stakeholders’ expectations are higher not lower! A simple force-field analysis revealed they were in the midst of a powerful cocktail of forces both driving and restraining their ability to embark upon a transformational change journey.

What impressed us about this client is that, unlike many public sector organisations, they had taken the vital step of deciding to look beyond trying to apply traditional short-term technical fixes and have courageously decided to look for truly sustainable long-term strategic and operational responses.

We decided to take up this particular commission (NB: We always have the final say on whether we believe a commission has the potential for driving really meaningful beneficial change) because they convinced me, right from day one… that they wanted to be innovative, to consider all options and to be ambitious and bold.

“Bold” incidentally, doesn’t mean reckless! For us, (and them) it meant being prepared to: look beyond short-term fixes; overtly put stakeholders first; and to explore and consider all options. It also meant having the leadership-wealth and leadership-courage to be willing to make tough decisions about the future direction of travel.

Reflecting upon what we have done to support them, we have “stood alongside their in-house team”, encouraged, challenged and assisted them, with new insights, external perspective and industry best practice knowledge and expertise around better business case, PRINCE2, AGILE, MOR, integrated Project Teams and transformational change.

Perhaps though, the most vital contribution we have made is to have applied (often unseen and unknown by them and their stakeholders), the theory and practice of Adaptive Leadership. We have sought to help them build an adaptive culture and to: understand the adaptive challenge; understand the political landscape; and to embed the qualities of an adaptive organisation within their transformation programme. The latter has involved: Naming the elephants in the room; developing shared responsibility for the organisation’s long-term future; building leadership capacity and resilience; valuing independent judgement and contrarian viewpoints; and to mainstream reflection and continuous learning.

At the heart of this particular intervention has been our focus upon stakeholders and effective communication. At the end of the day, any transformation effort is all about PEOPLE. We have encouraged and empowered our client’s team to act politically by: finding allies; increasing the project’s informal authority; staying connected to the opposition and to protect and engage potential voices of dissent. We have sought to orchestrate conflict by: creating a safe holding environment; regulating “the heat” where necessary and to “give the work back” to others in order to make progress.

Like all good working relationships, (but especially so, when the work involves real innovation, challenging the status quo, deliberately pushing the boundaries and, ambitious change) this commission has been founded upon absolute trust, mutual respect, and a shared vision of success. I think we have all gained and learned from this commission – I know we have as a practice, but probably, the most rewarding thing of all for us, has been the professional growth in some of the Programme Team. It has been a privilege to see them develop into “adaptive change agents” being more willing and able to:

Speak from the heart and inspire others;

Focus on the long-term end game – Future Beneficial Outcomes!;

Be prepared to “turn up the heat”;

Embrace the prospect of heightened levels of “managed risk”;

Develop personal resilience and the guts required for the journey ahead;

Be more willing to confront the big ticket issues and to take tough, unpopular decisions;

Be prepared to Step up to the plate!

The Economy January 2016

I was lucky to be able to hear the whole of the Chancellor’s presentation to business leaders in Cardiff Bay last week. For anyone really interested in the Economy and the State of the Nation his presentation was packed full of fundamental messages and indicative signals about the future direction of travel.

What he described was a challenging and highly-volatile economic climate for the UK as a whole. Citing powerful forces like: the global economic slowdown; and severe market disruption in China. He warned everyone to prepare for rising interest rates in the light of the Federal Reserve increasing rates in the USA. He warned against “creeping complacency” in some politicians who mistakenly believe that we are over the worst and are calling for increased borrowing, and consequently, more debt.

His overarching message was compelling and well-articulated:

“We must finish the job of fixing the public finances. It will require hard effort and continued application. 2016 is Mission Critical. We must back infrastructure investment and innovation; be an outward-facing Nation forging new and stronger links with the rest of the world; support a higher pay, lower welfare, lower tax economy; support consumer markets that foster choice and competition; and do more to support savers. This plan is what Wales and the rest of the UK needs and why the economy remains centre stage to everything we want to achieve in this Country. So 2016 isn’t “mission accomplished”. Our future is very much in our hands. This year is “MISSION CRITICAL”. Now is the time to make the long-term decisions to secure our Country’s future and in the forthcoming budget and beyond that is precisely what I will do for Wales and the whole of the United Kingdom.” - The Chancellor of the Exchequer

So what has this all got to do with the public sector?

The answer is… EVERYTHING! Whilst his briefing was aimed at the business community – everything he said applied to the public sector. I was particularly interested in what he had to say about the importance of competition:

“Competition doesn't just happen. If you are not active in promoting it, monopolies creep in, vested interests take control….” - The Chancellor of the Exchequer

When decision makers allow this to happen, the result is that consumers suffer because they are reliant upon those limited suppliers. He cited a range of examples utilities, insurance et al and explained that a Competition Commission was looking at how these previously “restricted markets” could be opened-up allowing consumers greater choice and driving entirely new value propositions.

Whilst in conversation with one particular Council CEO recently I asked him to describe his role. He described his job as “Being responsible for a Group comprising hundreds of small and medium sized Companies.” That brief but telling observation, leads us to question: So why can’t we have greater competition across many of the services being offered by our Councils?

In Wales, we have shielded our local Government “monopolies” from major reform and empowered them to collaborate in order to protect the consumer - “our Citizens”. For many Councils, the concept of competition isn’t one they associate with their organisation and, because they have been heavily shielded, the prospect of them having to face competition isn’t even on the radar. The results of collaboration have been pretty mediocre and the opportunities for meaningful voluntary merger failed miserably. Consequently, what we have in Wales is our Councils deciding “in our best interests” to: cut our services; raise the cost to us through increased taxes; and to oppose major reform and restructuring. There can be little doubt that if a business behaved in that way to changing market conditions it would go out of business!

There can be no doubt that these Councils are “controlling monopolies” run by paid Officers and paid elected representatives who have a personal vested interest. The minute paid remuneration is involved there is an inbuilt and inherent conflict of interest that drives self-preservation. They cannot be allowed to make the decision to change themselves – because in many cases they simply aren’t able to do so. There’s an old saying and in this context it appears to be very true… “Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas!”

It has been 3 years since Sir Paul Williams was appointed to establish a “Commission” into public services in Wales. Knowing him, I had thought that the Commission into Public Service Governance and Delivery would tackle this conflict head-on – sadly, despite being very clear in its recommendations and urging immediate action, The Commission’s excellent report didn’t have the impact I thought it would.

With an Election in May it is unlikely that there will be any major progress until a new Administration comes into power and we face the sad reality that, even if we do have a restructuring of local Government, it will have taken an unbelievable 5-6 years to consult, define, plan and execute the change! No Nation, in this fast-moving digital era, can adapt so slowly without massive adverse cost to its people. This is known as lost “opportunity cost” and our work suggests that failure to restructure our Councils is costing us several hundred million pounds every year. Here’s one example based upon the Welsh Government’s own map of local government published last year, taking just one of the regions proposed and one of its functions, Gwent/Corporate Services:

The proposed Gwent Region currently has 5 Unitary Authorities each with its own corporate central services team to support it (HR, Finance, Legal, Cabinet/Electoral services, IT, Estates et al). In the proposed new Council you wouldn't need 5 teams - you’d need 1 and even allowing for increased scale we believe the savings to the community are massive. Just taking staff costs into account:

One off costs would be around £22 million 3 Year savings would be £36 million The NET annual saving (after costs) is £12 million pa. You can deliver a lot of front-line services for £12 million!

Like:

40 additional Social and Mental Health Workers

50 additional Health Care Workers – providing better quality home care

50 additional Teaching Assistants

25 additional Teachers

150 new Youth Apprenticeships

50 additional Police Officers

50 additional Drug and Substance Misuse Workers.

What is more, the costs of that central services restructuring could be completely met from just one of the councils existing reserves! Let alone the reserves held by all five!

When you then consider all of the other main functional departments in local government Councils (highways, education, social services, economic development etc etc) you can’t help wondering…. how uber inefficient it might actually be, with so many, tiers of management, administration and bureaucracy.

Here is the plain and simple truth, unless there is courageous Leadership in the new Administration and cross party political support for local government reform it will be the people of Wales that will suffer. If the Welsh Government isn’t able to lead and implement reform of our public services it brings into question - who is actually running the Country? Right now, to us, it looks like Powerful Vested interests enjoying monopoly conditions are holding back essential reform to the detriment of Citizens. You see, it really doesn’t matter what sector you look at… the basic principles of power and control over supply and demand apply.

Having provided a few extracts from the Chancellor, I’ll leave you with a few deeply held beliefs from some Welsh Local Government Councillors which sums the whole debacle up for me:

“We are standing alone and have no intention of merging with anyone!”

“With an election due in May 2016 nothing will happen before then. And the whole thing will go through another consultation and rethink. It will never happen.”

“Even if Legislation was enacted it will take years before anything changes on the ground.”

“Merger, Restructuring, it is all codswallop – it’s just a political exercise - shifting the chairs on the deck. Nothing will really change because politics won’t allow it to!”

As the Chancellor said last week - the future is in our hands!

#public sector #economy #great britain

The Map of Local Government for Wales... To publish or not to publish? That is the question...

The BBC “Wales Today” news programme reported a heated meeting between the First Minister Carwyn Jones, his Public Services Minister Leighton Andrews and several prominent Labour Council figures. Nick Servini (BBC Political Editor) reported that the Labour Council representatives made a last minute plea to cancel or water down the much awaited plans to publish a new local government map for Wales.

Issues apparently raised at the meeting included concerns that publishing a map now would have the effect of “whipping everyone up into a frenzy” and also, that publishing before the election, would adversely impact upon the Labour Party’s election prospects next year! This last minute attempt to divert Ministers from the need to take action to protect the long-term future of our precious local services was pretty predictable. After all, many have resisted and opposed the process of reform and simply don’t want “their” Councils merging with others.

On the first issue: I think that the uncertainty that has hung over our precious local government workforce for the last few years (like a Sword of Damocles) is doing far more harm than actually knowing what is going to happen. It is kinder to be honest with our workforce and to provide them with the maximum amount of time and support to start to make their own life-plans based upon the knowledge of what is going to happen rather than worrying about what might happen in the years ahead. This seems to us, to be a simple matter of compassion and basic duty of care!

On the second concern, any further delay will compound the immense damage already being done to local services through parochial, silo’d, stand-alone decision making by self-preserving Councils - when what is desperately needed is “visionary citizen-centred leadership” that puts services ahead of institutions! What the electorate want is sustainable first-class services delivered in the most efficient and effective way. Our current system simply isn’t sustainable and there is a growing realisation that a more strategic response is required, because the changes needed, simply aren’t being taken forward at a local level. Our assessment is that this latest attempt to stall the process of reform is yet further evidence that some of the people involved are underestimating the massive social change that is taking place in Wales and are over relying upon old political constructs that lack both agility and, in many cases, the ability to adapt.

We think the Public Services Minister and his Welsh Government Officials have done a fantastic job so far in terms of the consultative and legislative processes. They have gained essential traction and now simply must continue to drive forwards. Delay in publishing the map now would undermine that hard gained traction and compromise vital momentum.

My message to the First Minister (For whom I have the highest regard) is continue to show courageous national leadership, put our communities before party politics and party self-interest, and back your Minister….. Publish the Map!

Only by doing so, will you: i. end the uncertainty; ii. allow people time to make appropriate life choices; and iii. enable everyone concerned to rally around the new model and maximise the time for them to explore and exploit the exciting opportunities that are ahead.

Finally, given this recent news feature revealing the lobbying that has gone on, I would be concerned about the perception voters will form if the Map isn’t now published as planned. There might be a very real risk that voters will see further delay as weak national strategic leadership driven by party political and local self interest. That seems to us at least, to be a far more damaging prospect. Moreover, someone may well decide to challenge a decision to delay publishing the new LG map of Wales, and consider subjecting the whole process to a Judicial Review.

It has been a long time coming… over 2.5 years since the Williams’s Commission was launched; 18 months since the Commission reported its findings and recommendations. It is now time for:

national interests to come first;

community interests to come before political interests;

services to come before organisations;

removing uncertainty for our local government workers;

rallying everyone around a new sustainable vision for local service delivery

…… It is time to publish the map of Local Government in Wales!

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Time to work together to avert our Local Government Super Tanker drifting over Fiscal Falls!

I can’t believe it has been over 3.5 years since we published our in-house research on Local Government Reform in Wales and started to lobby for “progressive change” in order to avert a disaster for our local public services.

As far back as 2011, a reduction in the number of Councils was, to us, absolutely vital. Having evaluated all the possible variants 12, 10, 8, 5, 4 we published our map reducing 22 to 11 in order to create a sustainable local government value proposition for the people of Wales.

In that time, an awful lot of water has flowed by, with the “super tanker” that is Local Government in Wales steering what seems to us at least, to be a relentless course towards fiscal and service oblivion. The Ships Captains have known throughout, that there were treacherous stormy waters ahead – no doubt they have felt that they were steering a prudent course. However, the fiscal graph of doom with finances plunging from 2014 and beyond has been known about for a long time. Unlike their counterparts in England, Welsh Councils have been shielded by measured budget reductions in Wales and have been both urged and encouraged by Welsh Government Ministers to collaborate, innovate and become more efficient.

Three years of precious transition time has passed by and we cannot afford to postpone or delay any longer the shaping of entirely new service delivery models. Sadly, it is only now in 2014, faced with the hard cuts of +4% pa next year and beyond, that some Councils have been forced into taking merger and deep-collaboration seriously.

For those that have already declared their intention to work together and explore merger (Denbighshire and Conwy) I applaud you. You are leading the way and deserve to be recognised, encouraged and supported!

I want to take this opportunity to encourage all Councils to respond positively to the Welsh Government consultation process and the Prospectus calling for voluntary merger proposals in November.

At present, when I look at the recent consultations each Council has undertaken on budget pressures asking their citizens to prioritise which services should be cut – it is a pretty depressing vision of the future!

It seems that some Councils are absolutely determined to stay afloat for as long as possible - no matter what the cost. Their only strategy seems to be to jettison overboard the precious cargo of services they are carrying and to ask their paying passengers to pay more.

A number of Councils are also actively considering casting adrift hundreds of their own crew in a desperate attempt to lighten the load. They seem devoid of “progressive ideas” that share and redistribute precious employment opportunities and are, all too willing in our view, to simply ditch their core beliefs of “valuing all of their people” and of “equity and fairness”.

I’ve actually heard some Councillors comment that nothing will happen until after the elections and until legislation is enacted, so there’s little to be gained from talking merger right now. For them, merger isn’t even on the horizon, let alone on their agenda. As they say “2018 is a long way off!” All they can see is the cuts required next year in order to protect the world they know.

There are two points I’d like to make to any Councillor who shares this take on things:

The simple truth is, you don’t need “legislation” to collaborate and begin the path of unification with an adjacent Council. All you need is Leadership-wealth, courage, conviction to do the right thing for your community, and some Vision. The electorate will see who has these qualities when we hear the outcome of the consultation and prospectus.

As for those Councillors who feel that exploring merger will be an unnecessary distraction from the pressing need to manage budget cuts, I think you are missing something fundamental. By brigading your assets, resources and capabilities with another Council you extend your choices not diminish them. You don’t have to act upon every proposal but some are bound to be mutually beneficial and offer best value and optimum service provision for your communities!

My Message to Leaders:

Work with your neighbours – you are stronger together than you are alone.

All you have to do is deploy some joint internal resource (you don’t need to spend a fortune on external consultants) to explore the possibilities and then decide whether to collaborate (Merge) or not.

Until you do that joint scoping feasibility work you simply don’t know what all your options are… and without that information and intelligence you’re steering your ship in the dark, without navigation charts and without a compass. Is that prudent leadership? I for one, think NOT!

Here to help….

#Welsh Local Government Association #wales #local authorities

Choosing… to always remember the fallen - Volunteering… to ensure that we do!

Our latest volunteering project saw the Dew Cadre giving some time and resource effort to a project at the Tower Of London. I first heard about the project from an old military buddy and a few days later I saw HRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on TV planting one of the first Poppies. We wanted to make a contribution to the Nation’s commemoration of those who gave everything and lost their lives fighting for the freedoms we all enjoy today. So the decision was made to play our part.

Here are my personal reflections on the day.

The Tower of London, as part of the 100 year Commemoration of the Great War, has embarked upon a truly inspiring commemoration project. The poppy installation known as “Blood Swept Land and Seas of Red” will eventually fill the Tower of London’s moat with 888,246 ceramic poppies. (Representing one poppy for every British military fatality during the war). Each poppy is handmade and therefore “unique”. They are individually assembled on site and planted by unpaid volunteers who are working morning and afternoon shifts right through until the installation is complete.

I joined a diverse group of about 30 fellow volunteers on a morning shift and spent four hours fitting together the various components that make up the ground spike stem and poppy flower attachments and then planting the poppies into the ground.

Planting the poppies was incredibly moving. It was a time for personal reflection and as one looked around at the vast number of poppies already planted (it looked like a flowing river of red) the enormity of the lives lost hit home… really hard! As I planted one particular poppy I said a few words of remembrance for Rifleman James Robert John Dew who died aged just 21 in 1918. That Poppy was his!

All of us there that morning were deeply moved by the experience. We were a small group of people from all over the UK who were honoured and humbled to be part of this simple act of commemoration. Each of us had our own personal reasons for being there. But it was only when I left the Tower of London and walked around outside and saw the full visual impact of the Poppies that I really understood its significance. There were 1000s of tourists taking photos, talking about it, and wanting to find out more. It suddenly struck me that this wasn’t a commemorative act by our nation for our nation; it was reaching out and touching people from all over the World. During the summer millions of tourists would have seen the river of red growing each and every day.

I’m sure that many of them will have been moved by what they saw on their visit to the Tower of London, and, they too… will remember all those who gave everything for all of us.

#tower of london #great war

Our thoughts on the Welsh Local Government Association’s discussion paper: An Alternative Approach to the Williams Report.

The Creation of Four Combined Authorities for Wales?

I really welcome this piece of work as an important part of the on-going White Paper consultation. There is much within the WLGA’s discussion paper that adds to the debate and is, in my view, worthy of serious evaluation and consideration.

As I read the paper, I found myself agreeing with many of the arguments and propositions within. Such as:

the pressing need for a coherent vision

form should follow function not the other way around;

the need for greater collaboration;

the case for localism; and

the plain truth that “traditional and superficial” merger/boundary changes would be both damaging and inadequate.

I think the WLGA definitely has something here in the Combined Regions concept but, this paper for me at least, is weakened, not by what is says …but rather by what it doesn’t say. For instance, where is the laser-like focus on addressing the Citizen and Community outcomes that are under immense pressure right now! Four years of sustained fiscal pressure has already happened adversely resulting in 12,000 Jobs lost, services being cut, programmes delayed, and the burden of increased taxation upon hard-pressed families. There doesn’t seem to be any sense of the case for “urgency of action” and, as far as we’re concerned, there simply must be! Another 3-4 years of debate, deliberation and positioning will be devastating for our communities!

Even accepting the status of this work as a “discussion paper” I’m left wanting more detail and wanting answers to some pretty fundamental and blindingly-obvious questions like:

Q: “How will 26 organisations be more sustainable for Wales when we can’t sustain 22 now?”

Q: “Where is the cost benefit analysis?” and, most importantly of all,

Q: “Why aren’t the massive adverse impacts of inertia and delayed reform (the opportunity cost) being taken into account?”

The case studies cited in the paper are useful and interesting but they need further interrogation. For instance, in the case of the Sheffield Combined Authority, our understanding is that it hasn’t been specifically established to generate significant efficiency savings and/or increased Council productivity per se. Its principal aims are to try to deliver a bigger bang for the buck in terms of some functions like economic development and, crucially, to act as an “enabler for additional devolved functions” in the future. Both are of course perfectly reasonable objectives. However, that leads us to question if (as the discussion paper suggests), we are looking at the removal by 2018 of £877million from local government budgets…, Where are the savings going to come from under this alternative proposal?

The Sheffield Combined Authority investment case has as its starting proposition that it should be cost neutral. Some operational savings may indeed follow, but to be clear, it was not established with the specific aim of generating massive efficiency savings in the way participating Councils run their operations. My point is that, we need to be very careful here, that we aren’t confusing apples with pears!

For clarity, let me say that I am a longstanding supporter of the case for City Regions and of the case for brigading functions such as economic development and transport to enable the leveraging of precious resources with the aim of achieving significantly improved beneficial outcomes for our communities. (Incidentally, I think there are a number of other Council functions that may be better handled at a regional level) However, creating two City Regions or indeed four additional Regional Combined Authorities (RCAs) in addition to retaining 22 Unitary Authorities makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

If however, the creation of two City Regions (or indeed as the WLGA propose, four RCAs) were accompanied by rationalisation of the 22 UAs to around 11/12 through voluntary merger (or “Unification” as we prefer to describe it) then we can see the opportunity emerging for the creation of a truly sustainable, inclusive, “localised” service delivery blueprint for Wales.

I guess though what I am most concerned about, is the passage of time and the lack of urgency in making any decisive progress whatsoever. As the debate rages on about numbers, structures, configurations, boundaries, and dare I say it, politics, we are failing to take advantage of efficiencies that are plainly there for everyone to see. It is our communities that will suffer as a consequence of further significant delay. At the forefront of everyone’s attention must be the enormity of the fiscal and service-demand pressures ahead. These two devastatingly powerful forces for change can only be tackled by decisive action and through the creation of an entirely new value proposition.

That is why any proposals to develop RCAs in Wales (and incidentally we think they should be considered), must be much more than merely “cost neutral” and should overtly increase productivity and lead to direct and demonstrable efficiency savings in the constituent Councils. This is where the WLGA paper is, disappointingly, at its weakest – it fails to cite the hard numbers required (NET £££s saved) to persuade anyone that 4 plus 22 can be economically viable and affordable.

Finally, the associated and quite frankly essential rationalisation of existing UAs must not just be about merging structures and boundary changes – this too, must also involve a fundamental supply-side redesign of service delivery models leading to substantial operational efficiencies, enhanced service delivery and substantially beneficial outcomes for our communities.

To sum up and to make our position clear:

We want to see urgency of Action;

We want to see a quest for Excellence;

We want much more detailed Option Appraisal work to be done;

We want much greater participation of Councils in shaping the Vision and Strategic Direction;

We want adjacent Councils to start to explore unification through voluntary merger NOW in the interests of their communities; and

In terms of the William’s Commission Report and the WLGA’s Discussion Paper contributions, we don’t see this as being an either/or scenario……. We believe the future involves the best of both!

#WLGA #Welsh Local Government Association #Williams Report

Our Councils and the Anti-Poverty Agenda in Wales

I was recently invited, as a businessman, to suggest what more could be done to address poverty in our communities. Knowing that (despite £Billions of European funding and countless strategies, initiatives and programmes), 25% of our communities in Wales are still in poverty and 30% of our children are still living in households that are existing below the poverty line, I decided to invest some time and effort to respond.

I chose to focus on the way our Councils are responding to the challenges they face and to suggest ways in which our Councils could do more to address poverty and community hardship during what is, and will continue to be, a sustained period of austerity.

Those of you who know and follow what we do, will appreciate that we are extremely passionate about our public services and, you’ll also know, that I am keen to see progressive adaptation leading to significantly beneficial outcomes for our communities.

Over the last few years, Welsh Councils have chosen to deploy industrial era, largely HR Department-driven responses to the need to cut expenditure. The same very old, and blunt, surgical tools (that haven’t been used during a period of two decades of growth) have been “dusted off” and reintroduced to crudely treat the symptoms caused by reducing budgets rather than to try to address the illness. Our Councils are, concurrently, trying to address a whole range of complex socio-economic challenges across their communities such as tackling poverty - their “Anti-Poverty Agenda.”

Over the last 6 months, with some limited success, I have been trying to get Councillors to raise their heads up, to look beyond the “management” response they are getting from their executives and, to get them to explore alternative more holistic and sustainable options for change. I have always believed that our Councils are there to serve and support for the betterment of our local communities. I have always believed that it is an honour and privilege to be employed in the public service and not a right to be taken for granted. I have always believed that the main priorities of our elected Councillors are to always put Citizens first and to hold their Officers to account through effective challenge and scrutiny.

Given these long held beliefs, I confess that I am struggling with the current Council response, and I’m going to share with you why that is. I’m going to do so in the context of the massive challenges of reducing public expenditure and increasing poverty across our communities. Let us take just two aspects of the current Council response:

Redundancy: Over the last 2 years nearly £50,000,000 has been spent on making thousands of Council workers redundant. Those who have lost their jobs will struggle to find comparable employment and their families will suffer hardship. We cannot afford to loose these public sector jobs and by adopting this crude response we are adding to poverty and hardship – not making it better! (Right now, as Councils decide upon their response to biting cuts in their budgets, between 12,000 and 20,000 jobs are at risk over the next 3 years).

Additional Remuneration: Over the same 2 year period that Councils shed these jobs nearly £80,000,000 has been spent on Overtime, Bonuses and Allowances for Council employees.

My point is that if Councils had decided to introduce a job sharing regime (4 days on 4 days off) and used a fraction of the redundancy costs budget to incentivise it, I suspect many of those who have now lost their livelihood would have preferred the stability of continued part-time employment and been prepared to accept the reduced income that comes with job sharing. I think the choice should be given to those who are about to be sacrificed on the altar of outdated industrial era thinking. After all, you don’t need to be a Professor to know that a secure, fairly paid, part-time job and regular income is better than… no job and benefits!

Moreover, had there been a moratorium on overtime, bonuses, and allowances (Morally just I would argue, in that, it simply cannot be right to be paying some people additional amounts above their salary while you are telling others we can’t afford to keep you on any longer) those funds could have been used to create further part-time employment opportunities.

Both these measures would directly, and I believe significantly, make a huge impact upon reducing poverty and hardship in our communities. Perversely, the current response is going to do the exact opposite and will adversely impact upon poverty and hardship levels in our communities!

So what could be done differently and how might it work?

Rather than compulsorily making 300 staff in the Council redundant a more progressive option would be for Councils to offer a voluntary job sharing scheme where 2 posts are merged into one. (Keeping those employees engaged, productive, and ensuring they and their families have a continued livelihood). In addition, the Council could ensure that from now on, most new posts were recruited on a job sharing basis.

Those existing employees volunteering to job share would be offered a living wage salary of around £14,500pa.

Based upon two £20,000pa posts merging (plus the on-costs) the annual pay bill saving would be around £14,500pa. Each volunteering participant would be offered job security for a minimum 3 year period and a one-off incentivised payment of £5,000 acknowledging their voluntary move away from a full-time post.

The Benefits to the individual: They have continued job security in uncertain times; they have a living wage salary; their homes and families are protected; they have more free-time to pursue other interests such as re-training, taking on additional work; they can enjoy an improved work-life balance; they have a cash lump sum to enable them to clear any loans or to invest; they have a three year window of opportunity to explore other career options should they choose to do so.

The Benefits to the Council: The pay bill will be reduced by £2.2million pa. There will be cost avoidance of one-off redundancy of £3.6million. Over a three year planning cycle the Council pay bill would be reduced by £5.1million. The Council will have “lived up to its values” in respect of being: Fair, Equitable, Inclusive and Valuing all of their People. Their workforce becomes more agile. Public funds will have been used in a productive way that helps hold the Community together. Non-productive costs will have been avoided.

The Benefits to the Community: The individual is still productive and contributing rather than needing to receive benefits; Funding is being used in a sustainable productive way; 300 households are protected from poverty. Services are retained and are more accessible - available 7 days a week not just Monday to Friday.

If this job sharing approach was extended on a voluntary basis each year the savings would be dramatically increased. In a Council with 5,000 employees even if just 10% of the workforce were employed on this more equitable fair and inclusive basis we calculate that the costs could be met by deploying budgets for redundancy and/or additional remuneration and would result in a NET pay bill saving over three years of over £15.8million. There would be cost avoidance of £3.6million in redundancy costs.

Moreover, if two adjoining Councils decided to unit and merge, the potential for job sharing is massive!!! The fear everyone quite rightly has is the spectre of job loss and redundancy – so why don’t we just deal with it… and look at progressive alternatives like this!

What is absolutely critical to note is that by adopting these measures in a merged Council scenario, potentially up to 1,000 homes and families within our community, would have been protected from unemployment and Poverty! And, over the three year planning cycle a minimum of £32million efficiency savings would have been achieved without sacrificing anyone’s livelihood and we would avoid a further £7.2million in redundancy costs without adding to the poverty problem that blights some of our communities.

My advice to Councillors is, subject what you are being told to real SCRUTINY. There are far better options out there and it is time you all started opening your eyes to them! If you do, you will be able to shape a new delivery model that spreads and leverages the precious socio-economic betterment that comes from Council Expenditure to far greater impact. Rather than merely repeating the reactive, regressive outcomes of past decades! And, crucially, you’ll start to tackle inequality and poverty in your communities head on!

“If you keep doing what you’re doing… You’ll keep getting what you get!”

#poverty #homeless #homelessness #wales #welsh councils

Tuesday 8th July: A very good day for Welsh Communities as the starting pistol is fired in the race for Sustainable Delivery Excellence!

I spent much of Tuesday in Cardiff Bay attending a series of engagements. Whilst there, I took the opportunity to visit the Senedd and watch the Welsh Government formally outline their response to the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery.

The First Minister and the Minister for Local Government and Government Business set out their position on the William’s Commission and shared their Vision for Public Services in Wales. I was impressed with Lesley Griffiths’ leadership style, her determination, clarity of purpose, ambition, and her sense of urgency. The message was crystal clear – no wavering, we are going to change the way we deliver, govern and scrutinise public services… and we are, through bold collaborative endeavour now aiming our sights on how we consistently and sustainably deliver “World Class Services” to our Citizens and our Communities.

As I listened to her speak, I found myself nodding in agreement. I liked what she had to say and I left the plenary session with an increased sense that the starting pistol has now been fired and the race for excellence has finally started!

Today, I read the associated White Paper and considered the consultative process. Welsh Government has set out a clear timeline and programme for change. Crucially, from my perspective, it incentivises and offers support to those Councils that show Leadership and choose to pursue mergers on a voluntary basis.

My message to Welsh Council Leaders: Use these next few months wisely and engage fully in the process keeping public sector values at the heart of all your deliberations:

Putting the Citizen-First;

Inclusivity;

Fairness;

Equity;

Service;

Valuing all of your People!

Welsh Local Government: Our Message to the First Minister for Wales

We understand that you will make an announcement on the future of Welsh Local Government before the summer recess. We fully support the way you and your Officials have handled this complex and sensitive issue and await with keen interest to hear your leadership message. We are firm supporters of the case for fundamental values-driven adaptation of our precious local government and the vital services they provide to our communities. We have consistently been supportive of:

The decision to have a Commission into Public Service Governance and Delivery;

The fundamental suite of recommendations contained within the Commission’s report;

Your stance that the Status Quo for Welsh Councils is no longer an option and also that voluntary merger should be encouraged;

The immediate reduction of Welsh Councils through Unification to around half the current number.

We sense that there is an increasing feeling of frustration at the loss of momentum since the Commission reported. We also know that the uncertainty is sapping of energy and is affecting morale. We appreciate that in order for this scale of change to happen there needs to be political will and a coming together of many minds. We also know that a tremendous amount of work has gone on behind the scenes over recent months to try to reach agreement. Achieving that cross party support is incredibly challenging but everyone involved needs to be constantly reminded that every day of delay is costing communities dearly! In our view, no lobby group or vested interest intent on maintaining the status quo (no matter how powerful or influential) should be allowed to hold up this essential transformation. The Opportunity Cost is simply staggering and will be devastating for our communities.

In the past, we have indicated that we believe this particular issue to be the defining moment of your administration. We remain of that view, and we urge you when you make your announcement, to take the opportunity to remove the lingering uncertainty hanging over employees and provide clear decisive strategic direction that empowers leaders to commence, without further delay, the essential feasibility/scoping activity necessary to inform unification of existing Councils. We appreciate that legislation will be required for formal merger and the creation of new statutory bodies, but we would urge you to create shadow authorities in the intervening period to shape and guide the formative work and collaborative effort that simply must begin immediately.

We would also urge you and your officials to encourage unification that goes beyond traditional “merger” thinking. This is a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to achieve substantially beneficial outcomes for our communities and not just reduce expenditure.

Those involved should be encouraged to shape a new value proposition (or offering) to our communities and also to our precious public sector employees.

Those involved should be encouraged and empowered to look beyond industrial-era thinking and to consider new more agile, impactful and sustainable ways of “delighting the Citizen - not just merely satisfying their needs”.

Our own Citizen Services Blueprint, developed over the last three years, shows the way ahead and what might be achieved. Its aim is to generate significantly beneficial outcomes, in a sustainable values-driven way that is capable of uniting people to achieve something very special for all concerned - not just the protected few.

First Minister, you continue to have our full support and, in the lead up to your announcement, we would wish to stress upon you that the prize is simply immense. Your leadership focus (and your subsequent direction) shouldn’t be about boundary changes and management structures. It should be about the OPPORTUNITY through compassionate, values-driven, progressive supply-side reform, to:

Free-up over £1,000,000,000 pa to be redirected towards the Nation’s future economic prosperity and wellbeing;

Enhance and develop local services as opposed to reducing and diminishing them;

Protect, spread and leverage the socio-economic impact of public sector employment;

Create 21st Century service delivery models that are agile, adaptive and achieve significantly beneficial outcomes for our communities;

Provide all our employees with stability, greater life choices and more rewarding opportunities to make a personal contribution.

This isn’t about MERGER – it is all about UNIFICATION: Uniting our people; Uniting our resource efforts; and Uniting our communities for the greater good!

Tough Love message to Welsh Councils: It is time to put the interests of your Citizens and Communities First!

Welsh Local Government Transformation

Tough Love message to Welsh Councils:

It is time to put the interests of your Citizens and Communities First!

In a few weeks’ time we will be publishing a new blueprint for local service delivery in Wales based upon three years of progressive research. It will be hard-hitting and reveal the full extent of the adverse impact of delaying fundamental reform of Welsh Councils.

Since 2011, we have independently and impartially monitored the transformation response of Welsh Councils to immense fiscal and demand-led challenges. For 3 years we have sought to engage and encourage more progressive change. For us, the latest Council Budget Round, with its unimaginative, regressive and redundant measures signals a lazy, self-preserving strategic intent to blunder-on regardless - deploying crude, industrial era management responses. Knowing what alternatives exist, what might be possible and what the positive impact upon communities might be, we consider this leadership approach to be completely unacceptable. We think here that it is worth pointing out that the tax payer paid over £7million to the leaders who are responsible for this “strategic direction”.

Some four months ago the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery recommended (after an 8 month inclusive, extensive and exhaustive consultation) the immediate merger of Councils in Wales.

Since then, powerful vested interests, determined to protect the status quo, have been lobbying hard behind the scenes to resist having to take action. The cost of inactivity and of this orchestrated marshalling of resistance to what are fundamentally progressive recommendations is incredibly damaging to Wales. We suspect that some are putting self-interest and self-preservation before the interests of those Councils are meant to Serve. If it were private sector commercial organisations we were looking at – that might, for some, be acceptable – but it is wholly unacceptable for this to be taking place across the Public Sector.

Our Citizen Services Blueprint, based upon an entirely new value proposition overtly underpinned by accepted public sector values provides a compelling alternative to the status quo and, with eye-watering clarity, reveals the massive cost to Welsh Communities of delay in fundamental reform.

Corporate Social Responsibility 2014: Three Welsh Peaks Challenge

If I’m honest, this challenge came around really quickly… far too quickly! More time for personal training would have been appreciated, and next year, I have decided to do something a little less arduous, like run the London Marathon again!

I’m relieved to be able to say that I managed to complete the challenge in one day. The details and timings are in the image below. This particular challenge has been something I’ve wanted to do for some time and it was my first climb up to the summit of Snowdon.

In many ways, it’s been a hugely beneficial journey of personal exploration for me. Let me try to explain starting with my training which I did in the Brecon Beacons. On one beautifully sunny training day I passed an elderly couple sat on the top of Crybin. As I passed them and pressed on to Fan y Big I remember thinking I hope I’m still walking in the mountains when I get to their age. That day I walked for about 8 hours and did about 19k covering all of the familiar ridges. As I walked back along Craig Gwaun Taf towards Corn du heading homewards I was feeling pretty pleased with how the days training had gone but I still had niggling doubts in my mind about whether I could complete the three peaks challenge. I was stiffening up, both my calves were very tight and I was looking forward to a soak in the bath.

Then I came across two walkers coming towards me along the ridgeline. To my utter surprise it was the elderly couple I’d passed several hours ago on the other side of the valley! I simply had to stop and chat to them and ask them what their secret for longevity was. It turned out that they were husband and wife from the Forest of Dean and had walked all their married life. They came to Wales whenever they could to walk in our stunning Beacons. They explained that they were in their 80s and that arthritis was slowing them up! I told them about my challenge and shared my doubts with them. Knowing all three peaks well, they both reassured me that I would do it! We chatted for 10 minutes or so and then, as walkers do, we bid each other farewell and went our separate ways.

That chance encounter was profound. Despite their age – they were the one’s encouraging and reassuring me! Looking back, it should have been the other way around! They were an absolute inspiration and I am so very, very grateful to have had that all too brief encounter with them both!

Throughout the actual challenge there were several occasions when I had brief moments of doubt about completing it. Looking back, I think three things helped me complete this challenge: Faith; the two brilliant organisations I wanted to help; and the couple from the Forest of Dean!

I wonder if that wonderful couple will ever appreciate the profound impact they made on the walker they passed that day!

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard

Corporate Social Responsibility 2014

Trēs intrā ūnus – Three Peaks in One Weekend!

“These are tough economic times… many people in our community are struggling to cope and are in need of support. Each year, we have sought to sponsor worthy organisations and have chosen at least one community based and one national emergency service-related cause to back. This year, we have decided to sponsor two worthy local charitable causes which provide practical support, advice and quite frankly, hope, to those who are in need:"

Bedwas Bethel Baptist Church to help fund essential Refurbishment Works; and

Bridging the Gap Food Bank to help provide food and advice to families in need.

This year, on 26th -27th April in aid of these two worthy causes, we will be attempting to complete a Welsh three peaks Challenge - climbing Snowdon, Cader Idris and Pen Y Fan.

The logistical and physical challenge involves:

A round trip car journey of 340 miles

Ascending 2,000 metres

Ascending and descending a total of 13,000 ft

Walking a total of 31 kms …. all done within 48 hours.

Please consider Sponsoring us!

Corporate Donations can be made into the dedicated account via BACs transfer or Cheques can be made payable to Dew Cadre Change Associates Ltd

To sponsor us or for further details and a fact-sheet please contact [email protected]

#Welsh Three Peaks

Decision time for Local Government Wales

Our thoughts on yesterday’s Western Mail Front Page Article “Merging Councils will see services stagnate”; and, our advice to the First Minister for Wales

Yesterday’s front page “headline news” article is largely based upon a YouGov Poll of just, 1,017 adults in Wales. It highlights the ongoing polarised views of various interests and serves to “stoke up the fire” on the merger debate. All good “to and fro” stuff!

Seriously though, does it really help or inform, anyone who is trying to determine the future of our precious local services in Wales? Our point of view on this article is:

the sample survey is too small to be significant;

the fact that 21% responded “don’t know” speaks volumes;

other than, in the highest possible terms, there is no attempt to define what “Merger” actually means, so the whole thing is actually, pretty pointless.

There has been much talk about the costs of merger; the stagnating impact it will have upon services; and the “inevitable” hike in Council Taxes it will cause. All are reasons, cited by some, to resist merger! We are left asking why people aren’t highlighting:

the massive costs of delay;

the fact that we are borrowing to prop-up the current unaffordable model;

the fact that services are already being cut right now;

the fact that 1,000s of job cuts are actively being considered by Councils right now; and

the fact that Councils are already considering Council Tax increases to fund “their” status quo!

The plain and simple truth is, the only two decisions that are profoundly and unforgivingly damaging for our communities and our public service workers are:

to proceed, as we currently are, treating the symptoms rather than the illness by relying upon crude budget-related cuts to staff and services to try to keep the current delivery model alive for as long as possible; and

to delay vital transformation. The lost opportunity cost of inactivity is simply staggering!

Our Message to the First Minister for Wales:

“Decision-Time is long overdue, the defining moment of your Government has come… it really is this particular issue and now or never!

The issue is: Local Government in Wales; and Who’s Serving who?

The prize is: World-class sustainable local services delivered by UNITING people around a set of unifying and empowering core public service VALUES: Citizen-First Service, Equity, Fairness, Inclusivity, Agility, Adaptation, Valuing People; Protecting Communities & Livelihoods; and above all Compassion!

This really is a once-in-a- lifetime “Leader’s opportunity” to make a huge difference to the People of Wales. No other decision you make will have the same potential to transform the lot of the people of Wales than this one.

You were right to launch the Commission;

You were right to allow it to consult unfettered for over 8 months;

You are right to state that the “Status Quo” is no longer an option;

You are right to highlight the need to shape new service delivery models that are more efficient, effective, accessible, responsive and better governed.

What’s more, you have been incredibly patient over several years in your quest to get Councils to collaborate and become more agile and innovative. The truth is, Councils have failed to explore and exploit the full potential of cross-boundary collaborative effort, both in terms of scale and impact. Councils, like everyone else in Wales, had over 8 months to influence the Commission’s thinking by articulating convincing and compelling alternative proposals if that’s what they had wanted to do. Why should they be given a second bite at the cherry?

There is a risk that what seems to be happening now will undermine the work of the Commission and its unequivocal recommendations for immediate and radical change through merger. The campaign by “vested interests” (i.e. those who currently stand to gain the most from the current delivery model) will result in delay, prevarication, and could obviate this vital process perhaps into and beyond the next Assembly elections. This last minute attempt by Councils to look for different options might seem to some observers as being driven by self-preservation.

More worryingly, the delay it is causing is profoundly damaging to our communities and jobs - not “protecting them” as some might have others believe. We wonder, given the immense lost opportunity costs associated with continued delay, is this the last desperate attempts of vested interests to hold on to position, power, and reward? We certainly don’t believe that more delay is in the interests of communities, citizens and employment opportunities during tough economic times.

Our independent (we have no vested interest, we aren’t on the payroll of any organisation, and we are non-political) advice to the First Minister and the Cabinet is crystal clear: Press ahead with Merger with all possible speed. Take personal Leadership responsibility for it. Form a progressive “empowered” strategic portfolio transformation team in each new unified Council area to develop new value propositions and operating models.

We know that the decision to do so, will take great courage and is not without personal political risk… BUT, the prize, is simply immense! Our international work suggests that provided the process of “unifying Councils” overtly:

Adheres to the aforementioned “values” we highlight;

Generates deep and broad cultural change; and

Enables new progressive employment regimes,

…then a new public service “value proposition” between Unified Providers and the Communities they Serve can be implemented achieving the following positive outcomes over the next three years: No Compulsory Job Losses; No Service Cuts; No Council Tax Rises; Over £1b per annum in efficiency savings.

The two key questions for the First Minister and the rest of the Welsh Government are:

Q1: What could you do to stimulate Wales’ recovery with that funding available each year?

Q2: What immense, unseen, damage is your Administration doing to the People of Wales by failing to urgently reform an unsustainable, unaffordable, and, in some cases, unacceptable underperforming delivery model?

#western mail #wales #local government #Welsh Local Authorities

Our Offices at the Innovation and Technology Centre

#caerphilly #Dew Cadre

Some public servants have all the fun!

Here at the Dew Cadre, we're not just interested in the heavy issues confronting our precious public services and the need for transformation - we're also interested in celebrating excellence when we see it and the amazing things our public servants do for us each and every day. This video shows an RAF pilot flying a Typhoon through North Wales and Cumbria at more than 450 knots (517mph!) and pulling '8G' turns. What a fantastic country we live in, what fantastic public servants we have, and what a ride this particular public servant has!"

#raf #typhoon #public servants #Dew Cadre

Our initial reflections on the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery in Wales…

WE congratulate Sir Paul and the Commission on conducting an inclusive and very thorough review. It is one of the most significant pieces of work ever undertaken on public services in Wales.

It paints a stark picture that simply demands swift unified action to tackle many fundamental and systemic problems with the current set up in Wales. The challenges our public services face around accountability, affordability, and sustainability are so significant that immediate action is vital.

The Commission state very clearly that the suite of recommendations they set out should not be cherry-picked with some parts accepted and others not. WE agree with this stance and also with the case for immediate action. We cannot delay whilst further lengthy deliberations and consultations take place because that would just further exacerbate an already dreadfully precarious position. The inescapable truth is, the longer we delay, the more painful and draconian the measures will need to be in the future.

In just one single month (December 2013) the UK Public Sector Debt increased by £22.6billion. Simplistically, if you break that down by regional population, the Welsh share of that increased Debt was a staggering £1.079 billion. That equates to £34,826,382 each and every day throughout December 2013. That is the enormity of the fiscal challenge we face.

Yesterday (Tuesday 28th January 2014), the UK Government announced the highest growth since 2007. UK Growth increased by 1.9% last year. WE believe that there is a risk of some public service leaders using this “good news” as a means to challenge the need for immediate and decisive action. They will argue…

“Look, we have turned the corner and things aren’t as bad as they first seemed!”

BUT STOP and HEED the caveats that come with that good news. Our UK economy is fragile (very fragile) and we are on a long journey of rebalancing our Nation’s Finances.

WE believe that this essential “rebalancing” will be the single constant defining theme of the rest of this decade as will be an unstoppable continuous process of public sector supply-side reform - irrespective of which political administration(s) is in power.

Yesterday was also, an anniversary in Wales – it was one week since Sir Paul presented the Commission’s work to the First Minister. In that period, the Welsh population’s share of UK Public Sector Debt will have increased by £244million. That’s why we can’t delay the process of public service evolutionary transformation any longer!

As for the Commission’s Recommendations on Local Government… It will come as no surprise (to those who follow us), that we are delighted with the recommendations for swift Merger of UAs. The exact details of their proposals for merger vary slightly from our own long-held views (See our previous blog) but their proposals are close enough for us! WE have argued the case for this rationalisation from 22 to 11 from as far back as 2011. Indeed, I can remember mooting rationalisation (and explicitly 22 to 11) as being “inevitable” in a book launch presentation I gave in Cardiff City Hall in early 2012! The massive opportunity cost of not merging sooner rests uneasy with us!

From what we know, we simply cannot understand why the Council Leaders (Executive/Political & Trade Union) aren’t all sitting around the table right now and starting immediate Merger Scoping and Implementation discussions. Yes, there will be some up-front costs. A figure of around £200 million has been cited recently and it has, been used by some, as a reason to resist merger.We actually believe the up-front cost will be much higher than that… BUT, we also know, that the costs of delay are vastly more damaging and destructive. Not to mention the lost opportunity costs which our work suggests are massive!

For those Council decision-makers who:

i. make a personal decision to prevaricate and resist the now inevitable and, quite frankly, essential mergers; or

ii. think the current Local Government Model in Wales has any prospect of ever becoming sustainable;

… WE say this to you:

You’re failing to grasp the enormity of the crisis;

You’re failing your employees and your communities; and

You’re being very badly advised!

Our greatest concerns, now that this definitive work has been done, are that:

Prevarication, Political-Posturing and Self-Interest will be allowed (maybe even encouraged by some) to result in inertia and inactivity;

The focus will remain on boundaries and structures instead of what really matters - shaping new value propositions and agile operating models; and

Outdated industrial era employment terms and conditions of service will result in crude industrial era management responses, that will inevitably, fail to deliver the new agile employment arrangements that are just, fair, affordable, inclusive, and equitable

Based on what we have heard and read over the last week, the signs don’t look good…

Finally, a message for any progressive, courageous Council Leaders out there (Political/Officer & Trade Union)… We’re here to help you and we’d love to share our views about the massive opportunities these mergers offer you, your people/members, your communities and our Nation as a whole!

Source of data: Office of National Statistics

#wales #public sector #public service #public servants #Welsh Local Authorities #local government

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