Friday 20 September 2013

In my last blog I described the major elements of the new Business Plan, the “what” if you like. Equally as important is “how” we set about acheiving our objectives. To do this we have developed a set of eight principles:

The council is a community leader, not just a service provider
                                                                                                
The council has a unique and distinct role as Wiltshire’s democratically elected body. Our councillors' champion a shared vision for all public services, act as a strong advocate for people and communities and make sure Wiltshire gets a fair deal nationally. We work effectively with partners such as Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), the police, fire, housing associations and academies, the voluntary and community sector to achieve better outcomes.

We are efficient and provide good value for money for our residents

We make sure everything we do or fund has a clear business case and adds value. We budget based on the contribution our spending makes to our vision, rather than starting with savings to be made. We reduce future spending requirements by investing in high quality, preventative services targeted at people who need them. We look at the hidden impact of financial decisions on individuals and communities, especially unintended financial costs that can prevent people from accessing support services.

We put outcomes for people and places first

We measure our success as an organisation by the outcomes achieved. We work innovatively and effectively with partners and focus on the bigger picture. We share resources with other public services and use technology, buildings and other assets flexibly to maximise value.

We develop a new relationship between public services and communities

We help communities stay active and become more self-reliant by doing things ‘with’ them, rather than ‘to’ them. We are inclusive and make it easy for everyone, especially hard to reach groups, to participate and engage with their community and public services. We understand the impact of our actions and deliberately design our services to promote positive, healthy behaviour. We limit the interference of public services in people’s lives and we help communities and local organisations experiment with new innovative solutions to local issues.

We design all our services with residents and communities

We involve communities and people of all ages in developing l council services (including outsourced services) and design our services to meet local needs and aspirations. We use systems thinking principles in every community and every service.

Our services work well, are joined up and easy to access

Our services work together and with other public and community services. All our services measure their performance against the expectations and experience of their customers. We make it easy for people to access services in locations that make sense to them. We are not attached to a specific way of running services. We make decisions based on data and evidence and we focus on making services work better for customers and think in terms of customer rather than services or professions.

We have and we will grow outstanding leaders and managers

Our councillors, directors and managers are outstanding leaders who communicate our vision and philosophy in a way that is understood by everyone. They work together and turn cabinet’s vision into reality. We develop our current and future leaders and provide clear career paths for high performing and  staff with potential at all levels. We also encourage and develop young people as future community leaders.

Our staff are innovative and have a can-do approach

We have a proud, committed workforce and attract talented employees through our excellent reputation and strong employer brand. Our staff, which includes people employed by other organisations, are innovative, open to challenge, act on feedback and learn quickly from mistakes. They have a can-do approach and constantly look for more effective and joined up ways of meeting customers’ needs. We will develop the capacity of staff in all our services to work with communities and listen to the views of all residents, including young people.

It would be good to hear you views on these principles.

Speak again in a week or so – after our peer review!

For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.

Carlton