Councils worried by change management 'skills gap' as pressure for Transformation grows
4th August 2008
The survey¹ of 102 local authority chief executives, policy makers and change managers across the UK - commissioned by Civica, found that one third of respondents (34%) claims to have made significant progress on service transformation so far.
Nearly half of those questioned - 48% - expects to do so over the next six months while only one in six reckons that significant progress on service reform will take them a year or more.
However, senior executives’ optimism was tempered by clear concerns over management skills needed to deliver transformation. Researchers found that a majority of authorities (60 per cent) views management skills training as a high or significant spending priority for their authority over the next 12 months, with almost the same numbers seeking help on the key issues of funding/financial consultancy advice (59 per cent) and skills auditing (57 per cent).
The survey, conducted for Civica by research company, Marketing Assistance, also suggests that partnerships with private sector providers are now so fundamental to local service delivery that the availability of specialist skill sets to support councils on key transformation elements such as change management, process re-design and workable shared services models, will depend on them to a large extent.
Most respondents - 70% - have full confidence that they will be sharing services with other public sector bodies within three years. Virtually all authorities also view partnership with specialist providers as a high priority or significant in service delivery, whether in the form of IT consulting and services (95 per cent of respondents), management consultancy (94 per cent) or a business process provider (94 per cent).
The survey’s insight into the mechanics of service transformation at the local level comes as Civica formally launches its Enterprise Service Transformation service (EST). Aware that every authority is on a different ‘journey of change’ in response to Government promptings, EST provides chief executives with bespoke change programmes including corporate strategy, service design, tailored Value For Money delivery systems, information management and specialist services.
Lindsay Dransfield, director, Enterprise Service Transformation at Civica said: “Local authorities are clearly in a difficult position, aware that the Spending Review’s tough efficiency targets may be preventing councils from making the investments in change programmes they need to deliver effective strategic reforms. As a result, they are looking for management consultancy and enhanced management skills to help ‘kick start’ the type of structural and cultural changes that will reform services while driving down costs.”
Val Earle, head of consulting for Enterprise Service Transformation at Civica, said: “The survey is revealing because it shows that many of the elements needed for successful change programmes ‒ commitment to partnerships, investment in IT and the appetite for considering alternative service delivery models - are already in place.
“Those councils that manage to harness their previous investment in technology or business process re-engineering can take the next step of uniting front line and back office services and information systems. Authorities that aim to transform themselves from within will be better placed to achieve real and sustainable Service Transformation with clear system-enabled efficiencies whilst carefully considering their move towards shared services or potentially disruptive process outsourcing arrangements.”