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Transformation roundtable: Managing and working with strategic partners to transform

Event details

Date: 17 October 2024

Speakers:

  • Sarah-Joy Lewis, Director Commercial at Local Partnerships
  • Kate Robertson, Director of Customer and Organisational Development at Luton Borough Council

Presentations

This roundtable brought together council officers responsible for change management as part of the LGA Transformation Programme within the Sector Support Programme 2024/25, funded by the UK Government. 

Chaired by Sarah-Joy Lewis, Director Commercial at Local Partnerships, the event focused on managing strategic and commercial partnerships to achieve transformation goals. The session featured a case study from a council collaborating with commercial partners and explored key themes such as delivering efficient outcomes, effective collaboration with the private sector, and tracking the benefits of transformation projects.

With limited resources and increasing demands, local governments can no longer develop, design, and deliver transformation in isolation. Collaboration among councils, communities, and residents is essential to providing effective services and addressing the strain on resources. Local authorities are forming new collaborative relationships, often through strategic partnerships with private sector organisations. While these partnerships help fill capacity gaps and provide external expertise, they also introduce new risks. 

Kate Robertson, Director of Customer and Organisational Development at Luton Borough Council, recently shared insights on Luton’s transformation journey during a presentation. The focus of this journey is to achieve the community vision set out in Luton 2040. This ambitious organisational change programme is built around the council’s corporate priorities and transformation themes, supported by a three-year portfolio of projects.

A key element of this transformation has been the creation of a new Project Management Office (PMO) to improve project governance and alignment with strategic goals. The council has established governance structures to ensure all activities contribute to Luton 2040. Facing financial challenges, including the loss of revenue from Luton Airport due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the council sought external partners to support its transformation efforts.

The journey began with a 12-week discovery phase, which identified over 30 transformation opportunities. Following this, the council's leadership team agreed on five priority workstreams, supported by both internal teams and external partners. Although there was initial reluctance to fully engage finance and staff, the council has since strengthened internal teams and enhanced collaboration across all levels.

Luton's strategy includes a phased approach to transformation, with clear milestones to track progress and ensure return on investment. The council has emphasised the importance of internal leadership in project delivery, even as they work closely with external partners for specialist expertise. This balanced approach has allowed Luton to remain in control of the transformation while leveraging external capacity where needed.

Key challenges, such as managing the relationship with a small strategic partner and ensuring value for money, were addressed through clear governance, transparent decision-making processes, and member engagement. Moving forward, the council aims to align all projects with Luton 2040's vision, ensuring long-term sustainability and success.

Luton’s transformation is not just about financial savings—it is about fundamentally changing how the council operates to better serve the community and achieve the ambitious goals set out in Luton 2040.

Spotlight Q&A

Could you give a better understanding of your prioritisation and segmentation tool? This seems to be a common issue raised by councils.

We developed the tool based on a combination of our own insights and resources available on the LGA website. Essentially, the tool works by generating two scores.

The first score focuses on impact, aligning with our 2040 priorities and considering factors such as whether the change affects the entire organisation or just a part of it, and whether there are legal or statutory implications.

The second score assesses risk, taking into account the complexity of the project, the risk of non-delivery, and the potential impact of failure. It also evaluates the available resources and skills within the service needed for delivery.

Together, these scores provide a prioritisation ranking, helping us categorise projects into four ranges. This allows us to determine where to focus resources and governance efforts. The tool also enables us to map our projects across a grid, showing how many major and smaller projects we have, which in turn helps us explore resource allocation. 

How has success been achieved in gaining people's support for the outcomes of a prioritisation exercise, especially when those outcomes may not align with their preferences? Has there been success in helping people deprioritise?

Success has been achieved by ensuring that the prioritisation and segmentation process is done in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders. It's very much about working together. Additionally, thorough testing of the tool was conducted to ensure it produced the expected outcomes and avoided politically sensitive results.

A key part of the approach was to rigorously test the tool to ensure that its decisions were sensible and justifiable. This ensured clarity and that the process was transparent and collaborative with the involved services. Once the exercise was applied to a broad range of projects, it enabled open discussions with the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) and Members about how certain major projects were impacting specific services.

The goal wasn't necessarily to reject certain projects but rather to phase them appropriately and prioritise what needed immediate attention. It became about making clear that de-prioritisation wasn't about deeming certain projects as unimportant or permanently sidelined, but rather recognising the organisation’s capacity for change. This was especially important when one service was overwhelmed by multiple simultaneous changes, allowing for a more manageable approach to change management.

Could you share some of the ways the workforce has been re-engaged in this change journey, especially after previously feeling like changes were imposed on them? Also, could you provide more details about your upcoming innovation network?

As a unitary authority with a diverse workforce and a significant in-house frontline presence, efforts have focused on direct engagement with staff, including early morning visits to depots and other frontline sites. While progress has been made, re-engagement remains a work in progress and requires continuous effort. The culture in Luton has historically been one where staff don't always engage in training or personal development, feeling they need permission due to their busy schedules.

The approach has involved adapting to this culture by making participation in development opportunities more structured and mandatory, allowing staff to step away from their daily duties to engage in these sessions. Additionally, key influencers—both positive and negative—have been identified across the organisation, with regular check-ins to gather their thoughts and feedback on the ongoing transformation.

The innovation network, set to launch in the coming month, will provide staff across the organisation an opportunity to join and contribute. The network will offer professional development, both for those interested in exploring innovation as a career path and for those seeking to develop their skills. It will also give staff an active role in identifying and prioritising future projects and programmes while ensuring their feedback is integrated into the governance process. Though still a work in progress, this initiative is part of an ongoing journey, and the process of engagement will likely never be fully "finished."

Could you share your approach to benefits management and realisation?

The process begins with ensuring that every project includes a section in the template specifically dedicated to outlining both financial and non-financial benefits. Each project is required to clearly define these benefits, explain how they will be measured, and provide an estimated timeline for their realisation. This information then feeds into the Project Management Office (PMO), where a benefits tracker is developed to monitor progress across all projects.

The organisation has created a non-financial benefits tracker, which they plan to start reporting on from January. This tracker will capture key performance indicators (KPIs) related to the changes being implemented, as well as provide a narrative that highlights new capabilities developed through the transformation. Since not all non-financial benefits can be easily measured, the focus is on documenting the organisation’s new capabilities or opportunities created as a result of these changes. This ensures that even those benefits without direct measures are properly mapped and recognised.

Roundtable discussion summary

The discussion covered various topics related to collaboration with private sector strategic partners, public sector partners, and voluntary organisations, particularly in the community space. A key reflection was the increasing competitiveness within this space, with many demands placed on communities, the voluntary sector, and public sector partners, who face similar financial challenges. It was emphasised that investment in community work is crucial for success, ensuring that community partners have an equal seat at the table, rather than just being assigned tasks.

In terms of private sector partnerships, it was noted that while these partners can deliver excellent results, retaining knowledge after they step away can be challenging. There was concern about the need for a "whole council" approach to avoid duplication and ensure strategic partners support the entire organisation rather than isolated areas. Solutions discussed included the role of the PMO, leadership in change management, and the importance of embedding knowledge effectively.

Another reflection was on emerging technology, data platforms, and AI, areas where councils may lack expertise. The discussion pointed out the potential vulnerability of councils to be targeted by strategic partners offering flashy solutions. A collective sector approach could provide a stronger voice in the market to balance the power dynamic.

There was also a focus on short-term financial pressures and their impact on medium- and long-term transformation goals. Attendees discussed the difficulty of maintaining focus on long-term objectives while managing immediate crises, especially in areas like Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and children’s services. The importance of early intervention and prevention was highlighted, though maintaining investment in these areas during tough financial times is challenging.

The discussion stressed the need for a unified organisational approach, breaking down silos, and encouraging honest reporting of problems. It was agreed that risk management should be about identifying and managing risks, not simply marking everything as "green."

The session also allowed for idea-sharing, including a case study of a council that had worked with PwC, finding that a strict approach with a focus on social value and contract management led to success. Finally, it was suggested that councils working with similar consulting organisations could benefit from sharing experiences and learning from one another's approaches to knowledge transfer and transformation.

The role of culture was also emphasised as a key enabler of successful transformation, with a focus on bringing staff along for the journey and clearly articulating the goals and importance of change.

Resources/useful links

Resources/useful links: