 Over the course of the past few years, the council has been on a significant change journey through our Together for Nottingham plan to ensure our processes and services offer Best Value for our citizens and meet the requirements of the Improvement and Assurance Board (IAB).
To continue this vital work, and to put the council on a stable financial footing, we have introduced a 'One Council' new way of working for staff.
The One Council approach is a new way of working that will help improve collaboration between teams (an ask from the 2022 Staff Survey) and ensure our resources and the skills of our workforce are distributed effectively, and where they are needed across the organisation, to provide Best Value for our residents.
This is not a new structure, but an approach that shows how services need to work better together.
With our Together for Nottingham Plan and Best Value Reviews, a new way of working is effectively already underway – the One Council approach brings it all together.
Since we set a balanced budget in March, it has become clear that balancing the budget this year and managing current levels of demand, mean the gap in the Medium Term Financial Plan is now substantial. The Improvement and Assurance Board has also made clear that the potential for commissioner intervention remains in place.
Our response must be to build on our Transformation Programmes and Best Value Reviews and address the overall operation, shape and size of the organisation, focussing on ‘right sizing' and 'right skilling’. The One Council model is how we deliver all of this.
An example of where this approach has already been effective is the Customer First and Business Support Programme, that consolidated multiple access points and contact centres.
Six draft high level organisational outcomes (please see image below) have been developed through Corporate Leadership Team workshops and are based on a review of the Strategic Council Plan, the Together for Nottingham Plan and the Medium Term Financial Plan. These outcomes have fed into the development of the 'One Council'
approach and has focused the thinking and organisation of the model. These are for internal use, to help frame our business planning and shape the development of effective services.
The 'One Council' way of working principles (please see image below) guide the overall design of approach and will help colleagues focus and prioritise their work. Analysis and comparison to other councils also shows we need to be smaller in some areas and work differently to remove duplication.
The One Council new way of working, and associated outcomes and principles, provides clarity to staff on what we want to achieve as one council, what role they may play in this, and how we will future proof our services.
Through agile working, the approach also gives staff the opportunity to develop their skills, support other areas of the council where needed, and have a more varied role/flexible role in the organisation.
Many staff are already involved in one of the Transformation Projects (those annotated on the One Council model) in which case you are already part of the new way of working. Further work will be starting on the strategic core (the right hand side of the model) and further communication and engagement will follow soon.
Lots of teams are already working differently, and we'd like to capture examples of some of the positive changes you’ve already made.
If your role is not directly affected by the new way of working, you still need to think about how you deliver your day-to-day work and how this contributes to the One Council outcomes and objectives.
The approach will provide continuing, significant change for the whole organisation. This may be hard but, ultimately, it’s the only way to assure good services in the future.
If you have any questions about the One Council approach, please speak to your manager in the first instance, or email internal.comms@nottinghamcity.gov.uk who will put together a bank of frequently asked questions.
|
