Waveney District Council Improvement Journey

1
Waveney District Council Improvement Journey

• Presentation by
• Councillor Mark Bee Leader
• mark.bee_at_waveney.gov.uk
• Glen Garrod - Chief Executive
• glen.garrod_at_waveney.gov.uk

2
Waveney District Council The Context

• Low taxation, low reserves, low wage based
  economy, missed opportunities
• Diverse communities wealth and
  deprivation/rural and urban
• On the geographical periphery
• Structural weaknesses transport, strategic
  thinking, Traditional Council

3
November 2004 The Comprehensive Performance
Assessment

• CPA weak assessment
• Poor performance management
• Weak financial management
• Insufficient consultation on priorities and
  community engagement not systematic
• Inadequate prioritisation and alignment with
  resources
• Ambitions need to be more externally focused
• Sharing of learning not embedded
• BUT, areas of strength notably in regeneration

4
Looking to Improve

• New Management Team and an Administration with a
  majority
• Improved Communications and Planning Cycle
• Defining the enabling agenda
• Addressing structural weaknesses
• Improving performance agenda
• Refreshed Strategic Direction and Medium Term
  Financial Strategy
• Community Leadership and Engagement
• Developing the role of Members

5
CPA Refresh Slow

• Many improvements and optimism for future, but
• Improved political situation but some residual
  tensions and lack of overall engagement
• Improvements in partnership working but outcomes
  not sufficiently delivered
• Need to further refine strategic direction and
  prioritisation and align with resources
• Lack of robust service planning
• Pace of change slow

6
Adding Support Capacity Building Fund Programme
05-06

• Programme Management role capacity, skills and
  enthusiasm
• IDeA Project Sponsorship, Critical Friend and
  Project Management
• Focus on Senior/Key Members and Officers Year 1
  enhancing leadership
• Whole-Council cultural change
• Peer Reviews eg. Planning and Asset Management

7
Critical Interventions Building Relationships

• Effective working relationships with IDeA, Audit
  Commission, Region
• Involvement of Member Peers
• Involvement of Senior Managers from outside the
  Council
• Strong Programme/Project Management provided
  through an independent consultant scoping of
  work streams

8
CBF Successes!

• Programme being delivered in full
• Personal Development Plans completed for 17
  Members wider roll out to follow
• Member Development Strategy in place and new
  induction strategy prepared
• An increasingly Member led Authority
• Confidence in Leadership

9
And theres more

• Support in refreshing the Strategic Direction
  building on an enabling agenda
• Follow-up and review using health-check and
  Peer reviews
• New Chief Officer team functioning more
  effectively with the Administration and wider
  elected membership
• A further refined annual planning cycle agreed
• New values agreed which inform a new competency
  framework
• Members are taking more of a lead and are
  adopting a more Strategic perspective

10
Reflections

• Communicate Insight, Involve, In-touch
• Accept you will not persuade everyone Members
  or Officers but find a critical mass
• Keep the momentum going members and officers
• Focus on the big picture
• Outcomes, outcomes, outcomes
• Building Consensus
• Find friends and partners
• Need to develop political capacity below
  leadership levels

11
Building Capacity and Regional/Agency inputs -
Feedback

• Time-lag from assessment to application to
  approval to funding
• The small print
• Flexibility of funding within the year
• The tendency to think regionally on areas of
  overlap
• Appointment of the top-team, notably a new CEO at
  the time of CPA

12
2007 - a Major Year Ahead

• Preparing for 4 yearly elections
• Improving performance in key areas and
  maintaining existing strong performance
• The so-what test
• The Waveney Campus and a partnership for Customer
  Services
• Pathfinder status?
• A Corporate peer review in late 2007
• Planning inspection possibly housing?
• Supporting improvement in middle-senior managers
• A voice for Lowestoft?