Well it’s almost Christmas and just time for one last blog before the break. I have to admit to feeling slightly tired and I’m longing for some time off with Tracy and the boys. We’re having a quiet one at home – not even planning to go back to Essex this year which must mean that we are now fully assimilated into the West Country after six years. Yes it is that long. I am looking forward to reflecting on all that has happened this year and also starting to think through our objectives for next year. Fun all the way in the Brand household! I have a few items for my telescope on my Christmas list too.
Could I thank you all for your hard work, commitment and focus this year. The innovative things we’ve achieved together never cease to amaze me: whether it’s the year of celebration (the Jubilee visit and the Olympics); our work with communities to share service delivery and develop new ways to work together and shape services locally; major new contracts for highways and street scene; our new behaviours framework; meeting over 2,000 staff at our regular forums; our improvement in customer satisfaction by 16%; seven new campuses approved and under development; our new hubs and work anywhere technology (well almost anywhere); our continued work on systems thinking to improve service performance; the integration of colleagues from Public Health – they bring another innovative dimension to our organisation; the help to live at home programme and extra care housing schemes in adult care and new commissioning strategies and delivery models in Children’s services; our primary schools rated as being amongst the best in the country in the recent league tables published; the Planning transformation programme which goes from strength to strength; the Police & Crime Commissioner elections; Economic growth, employment and the Core Strategy are progressing well too. And what can you say about the Porton science park? All of these achievements are truly outstanding and the list could go on and on...
We’ve had some tough challenges too: the Ofsted review of Children’s safeguarding, and our budget cut by a further £16m to name but two. However, we are well placed to meet these challenges with talented and skilled staff and robust delivery plans.
The key leaning for me from all of this is just what a talented and strong team we have in Wiltshire. We should probably spend a little more time celebrating our successes, especially over the next couple of weeks.
Have a very Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year. All good wishes for 2013.
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.
Thanks for reading and we’ll talk again next year.
Carlton
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Friday, 23 November 2012
Friday 23 November 2012
It feels like it’s getting Christmassy which is exciting. It’s also feels like it’s been a long week. A week ago we ran the election for Police & Crime Commissioner which went very well (an all-nighter with no sleep). It was my first election as Returning Officer for Wiltshire so it was slightly nervy to say the least. It went very well thanks to the many people involved in organising it and the even larger number who worked on the day as poll clerks, presiding officers, counters, table supervisors, deputy returning officers, etc. My sincere thanks to each and every one of you. Roll on May 2 when we get to do it again on a larger scale. I just love elections.
On Monday and Tuesday this week I attended the County Council Network (CCN) annual conference. We discussed our plans for delivering growth in our economies, something that counties with their scale can achieve very well; the very tight funding settlement from central government; Ofsted safeguarding inspections – and the tougher inspection regime coming in next year; innovation in the delivery of adult care services with the increasing demand for a growing older population. Finally we shared common experiences around our respective transformation programmes. Whitehall clearly take this gathering very seriously as they sent a Cabinet minister (Mr Pickles) and his two Ministers of State. It was a great opportunity to hear from others and see how they are tacking a common set of problems. It’s always good to learn and mix with others.
The integration of Public Health into the council continues on track. During the week commencing 3 December the whole team will arrive in County Hall – it will be good to see them and welcome them to our organisation and new building. This move gives us a huge opportunity to fully integrate the planning and delivery of health and social care in Wiltshire with our partners in the Clinical Commissioning Groups led by our local GPs and the acute hospitals.
Finally for today, Andy Brown the Head of Finance who covers the services for which I’m responsible leaves us to take up a new position with Cornwall Council. A brave and courageous move, I would like to thank him for his dedicated support to me and my teams over the last four years; his approach to financial planning and management is truly refreshing as is the manner in which he works. A true leader if ever I saw one. I shall enjoy keeping in touch with Andy on Twitter and he has promised me that he’ll be back to work on the top table at the May ’13 unitary elections.
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.
Thanks for reading and we’ll talk again in a week or so when I shall feel even more Christmassy.
Carlton
On Monday and Tuesday this week I attended the County Council Network (CCN) annual conference. We discussed our plans for delivering growth in our economies, something that counties with their scale can achieve very well; the very tight funding settlement from central government; Ofsted safeguarding inspections – and the tougher inspection regime coming in next year; innovation in the delivery of adult care services with the increasing demand for a growing older population. Finally we shared common experiences around our respective transformation programmes. Whitehall clearly take this gathering very seriously as they sent a Cabinet minister (Mr Pickles) and his two Ministers of State. It was a great opportunity to hear from others and see how they are tacking a common set of problems. It’s always good to learn and mix with others.
The integration of Public Health into the council continues on track. During the week commencing 3 December the whole team will arrive in County Hall – it will be good to see them and welcome them to our organisation and new building. This move gives us a huge opportunity to fully integrate the planning and delivery of health and social care in Wiltshire with our partners in the Clinical Commissioning Groups led by our local GPs and the acute hospitals.
Finally for today, Andy Brown the Head of Finance who covers the services for which I’m responsible leaves us to take up a new position with Cornwall Council. A brave and courageous move, I would like to thank him for his dedicated support to me and my teams over the last four years; his approach to financial planning and management is truly refreshing as is the manner in which he works. A true leader if ever I saw one. I shall enjoy keeping in touch with Andy on Twitter and he has promised me that he’ll be back to work on the top table at the May ’13 unitary elections.
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.
Thanks for reading and we’ll talk again in a week or so when I shall feel even more Christmassy.
Carlton
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Thursday 8 November
It’s another busy week with lots happening.
Tuesday I was at Monkton Park all day; firstly for Cabinet, then Capital Assets Committee, then a meeting with all the Cabinet and Portfolio holders for the services which I’m responsible for. This is where we go through all of our key performance measures to ensure we’re delivering what we need to for our communities; we examine our budget position and make any adjustments that we need to ensure we come in at year end on balance; and we assess the key risks that the services face and how we plan to mitigate these. Finally I met with all of the political Group Leaders to discuss a number of issues relating to the running of the organisation and particularly next week’s full council meeting. I really enjoy these days as we get a lot done.
Today, Thursday I am with my service directors all day. We are assessing where we are in terms of work load and the pace at which we are delivering and seeking to explore ways of doing things differently to improve our performance and free up some time. Easy to say and tricky to do! I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with them all.
Tomorrow I will be in London all day. I have meetings at the department for Communities & Local Government (CLG) and then I’m speaking at a conference on running an organisation without a CEO. I suspect there may be some heckling as there will be some CEOs present! As I shall say, any leadership model can work well or fail badly – it’s all down to the individuals in post.
Could I thank all of our staff who were involved in clearing the roads last weekend after the flooding in several areas of the county. They did a terrific job and most roads were open again within a few hours. It’s a reminder that we operate a 24-7 business with important life and limb services which communities rely on.
I would just like to remind everybody that there will be a number of events scheduled on Monday 12th for Children In Need in the East Wing. This will include a very large raffle, so please join in and give generously. I know you always do.
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.
Thanks for reading and we’ll talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
Tuesday I was at Monkton Park all day; firstly for Cabinet, then Capital Assets Committee, then a meeting with all the Cabinet and Portfolio holders for the services which I’m responsible for. This is where we go through all of our key performance measures to ensure we’re delivering what we need to for our communities; we examine our budget position and make any adjustments that we need to ensure we come in at year end on balance; and we assess the key risks that the services face and how we plan to mitigate these. Finally I met with all of the political Group Leaders to discuss a number of issues relating to the running of the organisation and particularly next week’s full council meeting. I really enjoy these days as we get a lot done.
Today, Thursday I am with my service directors all day. We are assessing where we are in terms of work load and the pace at which we are delivering and seeking to explore ways of doing things differently to improve our performance and free up some time. Easy to say and tricky to do! I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with them all.
Tomorrow I will be in London all day. I have meetings at the department for Communities & Local Government (CLG) and then I’m speaking at a conference on running an organisation without a CEO. I suspect there may be some heckling as there will be some CEOs present! As I shall say, any leadership model can work well or fail badly – it’s all down to the individuals in post.
Could I thank all of our staff who were involved in clearing the roads last weekend after the flooding in several areas of the county. They did a terrific job and most roads were open again within a few hours. It’s a reminder that we operate a 24-7 business with important life and limb services which communities rely on.
I would just like to remind everybody that there will be a number of events scheduled on Monday 12th for Children In Need in the East Wing. This will include a very large raffle, so please join in and give generously. I know you always do.
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.
Thanks for reading and we’ll talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Wednesday 24 October 2012
I attended the SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) conference last week in Coventry. It was great to catch up with colleagues from across the country and to explore the role of, and challenges facing local government. I thought that I would share with you some of the highlights over the next couple of blogs. The following is taken from the summary of the event published by SOLACE.
This year’s SOLACE Summit – built around the theme of Prosperous Places – provided a rich source of views and ideas from SOLACE members about the complex challenges facing local government.
This item reflects the richness of the Summit discussions and highlights actions for chief executives and senior managers to consider in their authorities. President Martin Reeves and Chair Joanna Killian are committed to developing the society’s work programme over the coming months, much of it based on these ideas.
Workstream 1: Your Local Future
How we think about local areas and what they mean to those that live, work and visit there. How can cities, towns and rural areas differentiate themselves from others, compete and collaborate? The answers have consequences for how we view a locality’s future and how we lead change.
Each place needs a narrative
It needs a distinctive set of attributes with which it is identified – reputation, identity, history etc – which provide a subconscious identification/sense of security/comfort/happiness. But sense of place can also undermine growth:
• People fear a loss of identity
• Residents resist change
• It can encourage people to look backward not forward.
Evidence matters – build up a picture of what people think of the area, and assess the impact of how the place is viewed from outside. Reputation can often unfairly denigrate an area – what are these negative perceptions and how can you tackle them? Local people can often buy into or perpetuate external misconceptions. You need to be in control of how others see you.
Branding matters
Branding can promote identity and tackle negative perceptions. It needs all local organisations to promote the same message. Businesses and other local organisations need to feel it is everyone’s identity, not just the council’s. Branding is an embodiment of culture, mood and emotional connection. It is more than just a logo. Place needs to be apolitical. Branding is not all about communications, but also about service quality and street scene, all of which need to reflect the values the brand is promoting.
Politicians
Members can sometimes try to keep the status quo to please voters. They need to develop a long term sense of place, which does not fit a political timeframe. Developing a sense of place may mean working with Members to develop a new set of skills, particularly around letting go of control of the sense of local identity and learning to influence as one of a number of local players. It is important to establish greater cross-party business strategies to ensure stability and success.
Boundaries
Different boundaries can be used depending on the audience, e.g. a home county might associate itself with London when talking internationally. Formal boundaries should not determine identity. There can be a conflict between the local authority and place boundaries – local authorities are not places.
Private sector
Businesses are now realising the ‘I pay my rates’ excuse no longer works. They will contribute if they realise they will get something in return. Private sector needs to recognise it is their place too and they don’t need permission from the council to transform it. Customer experience of an area is key e.g. Trip Advisor. The example of Burnley shows the value of the private sector in generating a sense of place because they understand branding. The 100 biggest companies now drive the message; the local authority does not front it.
Group comments from attendees
• A sense of place should help link local businesses with education providers, e.g. to help focus apprenticeships on business needs
• The narrative of place provides a foundation for policy issues which may destabilize existing policies and relationships
• Creating a sense of place can be a challenge if people feel you are taking over their own story
• Important to ensure leadership is not command and control – this requires a more enabling approach.
• Recognition of place management: in the UK less than 10% of places have woken up to the potential of place management. Australia does this well
• Loss of retailers: within 5 years, 30-40% of retailers will not be around. 100,000+ empty units. This requires a rapid rethink of the town centre offer
• Need to be ruthless with who is involved. Need people who want to make something happen
I find the ideas shared here thought provoking and profound for the challenges we face moving forward. We need to ask ourselves if we are up for this approach? I think we have to be...
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.
Thanks for reading and I’ll share more with you soon from SOLACE. Talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
This year’s SOLACE Summit – built around the theme of Prosperous Places – provided a rich source of views and ideas from SOLACE members about the complex challenges facing local government.
This item reflects the richness of the Summit discussions and highlights actions for chief executives and senior managers to consider in their authorities. President Martin Reeves and Chair Joanna Killian are committed to developing the society’s work programme over the coming months, much of it based on these ideas.
Workstream 1: Your Local Future
How we think about local areas and what they mean to those that live, work and visit there. How can cities, towns and rural areas differentiate themselves from others, compete and collaborate? The answers have consequences for how we view a locality’s future and how we lead change.
Each place needs a narrative
It needs a distinctive set of attributes with which it is identified – reputation, identity, history etc – which provide a subconscious identification/sense of security/comfort/happiness. But sense of place can also undermine growth:
• People fear a loss of identity
• Residents resist change
• It can encourage people to look backward not forward.
Evidence matters – build up a picture of what people think of the area, and assess the impact of how the place is viewed from outside. Reputation can often unfairly denigrate an area – what are these negative perceptions and how can you tackle them? Local people can often buy into or perpetuate external misconceptions. You need to be in control of how others see you.
Branding matters
Branding can promote identity and tackle negative perceptions. It needs all local organisations to promote the same message. Businesses and other local organisations need to feel it is everyone’s identity, not just the council’s. Branding is an embodiment of culture, mood and emotional connection. It is more than just a logo. Place needs to be apolitical. Branding is not all about communications, but also about service quality and street scene, all of which need to reflect the values the brand is promoting.
Politicians
Members can sometimes try to keep the status quo to please voters. They need to develop a long term sense of place, which does not fit a political timeframe. Developing a sense of place may mean working with Members to develop a new set of skills, particularly around letting go of control of the sense of local identity and learning to influence as one of a number of local players. It is important to establish greater cross-party business strategies to ensure stability and success.
Boundaries
Different boundaries can be used depending on the audience, e.g. a home county might associate itself with London when talking internationally. Formal boundaries should not determine identity. There can be a conflict between the local authority and place boundaries – local authorities are not places.
Private sector
Businesses are now realising the ‘I pay my rates’ excuse no longer works. They will contribute if they realise they will get something in return. Private sector needs to recognise it is their place too and they don’t need permission from the council to transform it. Customer experience of an area is key e.g. Trip Advisor. The example of Burnley shows the value of the private sector in generating a sense of place because they understand branding. The 100 biggest companies now drive the message; the local authority does not front it.
Group comments from attendees
• A sense of place should help link local businesses with education providers, e.g. to help focus apprenticeships on business needs
• The narrative of place provides a foundation for policy issues which may destabilize existing policies and relationships
• Creating a sense of place can be a challenge if people feel you are taking over their own story
• Important to ensure leadership is not command and control – this requires a more enabling approach.
• Recognition of place management: in the UK less than 10% of places have woken up to the potential of place management. Australia does this well
• Loss of retailers: within 5 years, 30-40% of retailers will not be around. 100,000+ empty units. This requires a rapid rethink of the town centre offer
• Need to be ruthless with who is involved. Need people who want to make something happen
I find the ideas shared here thought provoking and profound for the challenges we face moving forward. We need to ask ourselves if we are up for this approach? I think we have to be...
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.
Thanks for reading and I’ll share more with you soon from SOLACE. Talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Tuesday 9 October 2012
I thought that today I would talk about performance targets. The government came into power in 2010 on a wave of anti-target rhetoric but we seem now to have more than ever. See the link below to see a 400% increase in targets over the last couple of years.
http://whitehallwatch.org/2012/08/20/targets-what-targets-change-and-continuity-in-the-performance-regime-in-whitehall/
My main beef with targets is that they don’t work and they cause massive amounts of waste – waste that we pay for in terms of poorer performance and increased costs.
The main causes of waste are many, but the main culprits are always: treating all customer demand as value work; variation and its misunderstanding; targets; poorly designed work (flow); IT; thinking (command and control); Inspection regimes and specification; management (and their decisions) disconnected from the work; and leadership (or a lack thereof).
Targets cause waste for several reasons. Firstly, there is no reliable way of setting a target. They are always guesses usually made by people who don’t understand the current system. Targets come from manufacturing, my background where standardisation is absolutely vital. They work there. In the public sector of course, every client, community and customer is different so our systems have to absorb variety. Targets can never work in such a system where the client is involved in production. It is also interesting to note that people quite rationally cheat to meet the target. Think investment bankers and performance related pay...
Measures derived from a deep knowledge and understanding of our systems are important. To select good measures, always start with customer purpose. The purpose of measurement is to understand and improve the system. It’s that simple! If a measure doesn’t enable you to do this it is not the right one. Measurement is not about managing people, managing activity or managing volumetrics. These are all important for managers to do but not by setting targets.
I use four simple rules for establishing measures:
1. Does it help to understand the work?
2. Does it show variation in the process?
3. Does it relate to customer purpose?
4. Does it relate to customer experience? (I often ask customers to rate the service they’ve just had on 1-10 scale and to suggest one improvement. Try it, it’s incredible what you learn... A 7 or below is a problem.)
Any useful measure needs to do at least one of these.
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.
Thanks for reading and see you at next weeks’ staff forums in Salisbury. Talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
http://whitehallwatch.org/2012/08/20/targets-what-targets-change-and-continuity-in-the-performance-regime-in-whitehall/
My main beef with targets is that they don’t work and they cause massive amounts of waste – waste that we pay for in terms of poorer performance and increased costs.
The main causes of waste are many, but the main culprits are always: treating all customer demand as value work; variation and its misunderstanding; targets; poorly designed work (flow); IT; thinking (command and control); Inspection regimes and specification; management (and their decisions) disconnected from the work; and leadership (or a lack thereof).
Targets cause waste for several reasons. Firstly, there is no reliable way of setting a target. They are always guesses usually made by people who don’t understand the current system. Targets come from manufacturing, my background where standardisation is absolutely vital. They work there. In the public sector of course, every client, community and customer is different so our systems have to absorb variety. Targets can never work in such a system where the client is involved in production. It is also interesting to note that people quite rationally cheat to meet the target. Think investment bankers and performance related pay...
Measures derived from a deep knowledge and understanding of our systems are important. To select good measures, always start with customer purpose. The purpose of measurement is to understand and improve the system. It’s that simple! If a measure doesn’t enable you to do this it is not the right one. Measurement is not about managing people, managing activity or managing volumetrics. These are all important for managers to do but not by setting targets.
I use four simple rules for establishing measures:
1. Does it help to understand the work?
2. Does it show variation in the process?
3. Does it relate to customer purpose?
4. Does it relate to customer experience? (I often ask customers to rate the service they’ve just had on 1-10 scale and to suggest one improvement. Try it, it’s incredible what you learn... A 7 or below is a problem.)
Any useful measure needs to do at least one of these.
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.
Thanks for reading and see you at next weeks’ staff forums in Salisbury. Talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
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