FOCUS ON INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY THROUGH THEEFQM BUSINESS EXCELLENCE MODEL

MIRZA AHMAD*

MBA LLM Barrister, Chief Legal Officer & Robert Smith, Support Services Manager,

Birmingham City Council, UK

Birmingham City Council’s Legal & Democratic Services Department has been

working with the European Foundation of Quality Management Business

Excellence Model since 2000 when Mirza Ahmad, Chief Legal Officer, joined the

Council.

The Department is committed to achieving excellence and has achieved a

number of milestones on its journey to Excellence. It has a strong philosophy

based on continuous improvement and the delivery of excellent services. The

journey has been supported by every member of staff each of whom has

contributed to these successes.

This article details how the EFQM Business Excellence Model has helped

Birmingham’s Legal & Democratic Services achieve its many successes, including

the following:

N In 2003, the Department attained the Investors in People accreditation and has

successfully retained this since then;

N In 2004, success followed in assessments for both ISO 9001 and the Law

Society’s LEXCEL Practice Management Standard;

N In 2005, the Department was named the ‘Legal Team of the Year’ in the Local

Government Chronicle Excellence Awards;

N In September 2006, the Department became the very first legal practice,

public or private, to receive the prestigious ‘Investors in Excellence’

accreditation;

N In October 2006, The Department received the ‘Most Improved Organisation

Award’ and the ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Award’ from Midlands

Excellence;

N In February 2007, the Department won the Birmingham & Solihull Best

Business Awards for the Development of Work-Life Balance.

Introduction

Prior to joining Birmingham City Council, in 2000, Mirza Ahmad had a number of

years of successfully using the European Foundation of Quality Management’s

Business Excellence Model (EFQM) at his previous authority.

The Department has been committed to achieving excellence since Mirza joined

the City Council and has secured in a number of milestones on the way. There is a

strong philosophy based on continuous improvement and the delivery of excellent

services. The journey has been supported by every member of staff each of whom

has contributed to these successes. The following is a summary of some of the key

achievements along the road to excellence:

International In-house Counsel Journal

Vol. 1, No. 1, June 2007, 14–26

International In-house Counsel JournalISSN 1754-0607 print/ISSN 1754-0607 online

N In June 2000, the then newly appointed Chief Legal Officer introduced the

Department to the EFQM Model and a commitment was made to align what

they do to this ‘excellence model’;

N At the end of 2000, a new Performance Management System was introduced,

including annual Service Action Plans and Performance Review Reports;

N In 2002, the Department was judged to be a ‘Good Best Value Service’ by the

Audit Commission;

N In 2003, the Department attained the Investors in People accreditation and has

successfully retained this since then;

N In 2004, success followed in assessments for both ISO 9001 and the Law

Society’s LEXCEL Practice Management Standard;

N Also in 2004, the Department introduced a Management Development

Programme focusing on 11 core competencies to develop the skills, knowledge

and expertise of its managers. Almost 60 managers have now undertaken this

programme;

N In 2005, the Department was named the ‘Legal Team of the Year’ in the Local

Government Chronicle Excellence Awards;

N In 2005 the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors (ACSeS)

presented the Chief Legal Officer with its very first ‘Award for Excellence’;

N In April 2006, Mirza Ahmad featured as the Black Lawyers Directory’s

‘Lawyer of the Month’;

N In September 2006, the Department became the very first legal practice,

public or private, to receive the prestigious ‘Investors in Excellence’

accreditation;

N In October 2006, The Department received the ‘Most Improved Organisation

Award’ and the ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Award’ from Midlands

Excellence;

N In January 2007, the Department was named ‘Work-Life Balance Employer of

The Year’ (Large/Public Sector Category) at the Birmingham Best Business

Awards for the Development of Work-Life Balance;

N In February 2007, Mirza Ahmad was named in the inaugural Muslim Power

100 list and awarded their ‘Public Sector Excellence Award’.

Councillor Mike Whitby, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: ‘‘These

awards are fitting recognition for the excellent work being done by Legal &

Democratic Services staff. Birmingham City Council is a good employer and these

awards, along with other awards achieved by the Council, continue to reinforce the

message that Birmingham is a global city with a local heart that values its diverse

workforce. I am also delighted that Mirza is such a powerful role model for the legal

profession and the wider community’’.

The EFQM Model

The Department has therefore come a long way since 2000 and has demonstrated

continuous improvement throughout this period. The investment has paid off

through a continuous effort to drive to improve standards and to firmly embed

the EFQM principles into what the department does each and every day. As part

of its philosophy of continuous improvement, the Department is committed to

the use of this proven Model, which is used to focus efforts in a number of key

areas, which excellent organisations have demonstrated for many years to be

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vital to achieve and sustain success. It also acts as a reminder of the need to

review performance and evaluate achievements against original objectives. This

approach develops a cycle of continuous improvement through the ‘review and

act’ processes.

The Model focuses on nine criteria – five ‘enablers’ criteria and four ‘results’

criteria – which help to develop business and services.

The nine criteria are as follows:

N Leadership;

N Policy & Strategy;

N People;

N Partnerships & Resources;

N Processes;

N Customer Results;

N People Results;

N Society Results; and

N Key Performance Results.

By focusing on these areas, Legal & Democratic Services has been able to develop

its operations in a way that helps to deliver better services, develop better managers

and staff, use partners and resources more effectively and become a centre of

excellence in local government and the legal profession.

Using the EFQM Model has also recently secured the department the Institute

of Paralegals ‘Diversity Employer of the Year Award’. This, together with

‘Work-Life Balance Employer of the Year Award’ demonstrates that the

Department concentrates on its customer results, whilst remaining focused on

the needs of its people, the needs of wider society, and its relationships with its

partners.

Leadership

One of the key principles of the EFQM Business Excellence Model is focus on

‘Leadership’. This is possibly the greatest factor in being able to use the Model

to deliver substantial and lasting improvements – it is absolutely vital that the

Model is ‘driven from above’ and that the organisation’s leaders fully support

Figure 1

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the EFQM journey. Mirza’s dedicated leadership and commitment to the

Model – along with the support of the political leadership of the City Council

and successive Chief Executives – has been instrumental in securing these

achievements. It started with Mirza establishing the Mission and Vision for the

Department as soon as he arrived in 2000. They have stood the test of time in

subsequent years and remain both suitable and relevant to the direction and

culture of the Department.

Mission for Legal and Democratic Services

To make Birmingham a better place in which to live, work, play and do business. The

Department aims to achieve this by:

N Working in partnership with our clients to provide a high quality, proactive,

effective and efficient service.

N Making positive and innovative contributions to the delivery of Birmingham

City Council’s stated aims and objectives.

N Being a centre of excellence in local government.

Vision for Legal and Democratic Services

To provide the best quality legal and democratic advice service to Birmingham City

Council and associated bodies to enable them to fulfil their objectives. The Department

aims to achieve this by:

Being accessible, approachable and courteous;

N Working with and meeting the changing needs of our customers;

N Providing positive and innovative legal and democratic solutions to meet

customer needs;

N Keeping costs down through the application of ‘Best Value’ principles;

N Improving our service through the use of quality systems (e.g. EFQM

Excellence Model, ISO 9001 Quality Assurance, Law Society’s Lexcel Practice

Management Standards, and Investors in People;

N Valuing diversity in the workforce, training, listening, and caring for all staff;

N Making effective use of information technology; and

N Learning from customer feedback.

Some results: Employment tribunal successes

The Mission and Vision has helped guide Legal & Democratic Services to

considerable success. Not only has the successful continuous improvement within

the Department been recognised through the accreditations and awards described

above, the impact of improvement and excellence is clear to see in the Department’s

performance results. Some examples are summarised below:

The Employment Team, led by Principle Solicitor Gill Harrad, has an enviable

success rate in defending Employment Tribunal claims – employers, generally,

successfully defeat around 55% of claims, and local authorities are successful in

around 73% of their claims. Performance monitoring at Birmingham City Council

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demonstrates that, over the last 5 years, the average annual success rate is 90%. This

is shown in the following graph:

Some results: Housing litigation successes

The Housing Team, led by Principal Solicitor Kate Priest, which assists the City

Council’s Housing Department, has had an outstanding level of success in reducing

housing disrepair cases. In January 2005, the number of cases in progress stood at

over 2400 and the potential cost to the City Council was vast. In January 2005, very

challenging targets were set for the Team to help improve the situation. By March

2006, the number of cases in progress was halved.

In addition, and contrary to what might have been expected in a drive to close

cases, the average cost and compensation per case paid out by the City Council was

over £3800 at the end of January 2005 but had reduced to less that £1700 by the end

of March 2006. The positive financial impact to the City Council is clear. This can

be seen in the following diagram:

Since the end of the last financial year the costs and compensation have continued

to fall and outstanding cases now stand at around 500.

Figure 2

Figure 3

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Some results: Criminal litigation successes

There are a number of measures used to review performance in the Criminal

Litigation Team (led by Principal Solicitor, Lisa Morgan). These include the

numbers of prosecution summonses issued, the percentage of prosecutions resultingin conviction, and the percentage of cases concluded within four months of receipt

of instructions. The following graphs indicate performance in these areas over the

last three years.

This graph demonstrates the Team’s performance against a target of 1000

prosecution summonses per year. It is clear that this target has been successfully

achieved in all three years and that an upward trend is apparent. This is a result of a

continued strong focus on assisting our client departments in discharging their

duties to prosecute offenders. These prosecutions relate to many issues including

operating without compulsory licences and the sale of counterfeit goods. These

results have also been achieved through willingness on the part of the Team to

prosecute cases; over the past three years the Team has issued summonses in over

90% of cases where our clients have requested prosecution.

This graph shows the Team’s performance in relation to successful prosecutions.

There is a challenging target of 90% of prosecutions resulting in conviction. This

target is particularly challenging in the context of the Team’s willingness to

Figure 4

Figure 5

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prosecute. The fact that over 90% of requests have resulted in the issuing of

summonses is a strong indicator that the Team does not prosecute only those cases

where the evidence means that success is assured. The graph shows that there has

been a consistently strong performance by the Team. The percentage of successful

prosecutions has remained steady at between 92% and 93% over the past three years,with target being achieved in each of them.

Some results: Debt recovery successes

The Department’s Debt Recovery Unit has a target to recover 50% of moniesoutstanding to its client from its debtors. This primarily relates to overpaid Housing

Benefit.

This graph demonstrates that the Team has exceeded this target in each of the last

four years. It is likely that further recovery for 2004/05 will occur so it is reasonable

to assume that the upward trend of earlier years has continued. This is particularly

pleasing in light of the fact that over the last year or two client departments have

become more selective in the types of debt referred to the Department. The client is

now far more pro-active in chasing its debtors who are simply late with payments.

This has meant that a greater percentage of debts referred to Legal & Democratic

Services are ‘disputed’ debts making recovery more difficult.

The Unit also has a target to recoup £2 Million per annum. Again, this has been

made more difficult now that the client has become more selective in the types of

debts referred.

Figure 6

Figure 7

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This graph demonstrates that the Department has again been successful in

achieving this target in each of the monitored years (2005/06 is also over the £2

Million target but the figures are not used in this submission because a significant

part of the eventual recovery is likely to be outstanding at this time). There is a

particularly high recovery level for 2002/03 and 2003/04 due to the fact that the

client was referring a greater percentage of its debt to the Department for collection.

Some results: Monitoring complaints

The Department also monitors complaints. Data is collected in respect of

complaints for Birmingham citizens and from officers of client departments. The

following graphs demonstrate recent performance.

This graph indicates the number of complaints and compliments received from

Birmingham’s citizens over 2005/06 under the City Council’s ‘3Cs’ procedure (The

3Cs standing for ‘Complaints, Comments and Compliments’). It is clear that the

number of complaints is very low, with a monthly average of just one complaint.

Although the Department does not like to see any complaints, it is a remarkable

achievement for the largest public legal department in Europe to receive just one

public complaint per month as an average. It is also clear that the number of public

compliments received far outweigh the complaints.

Figure 9

Figure 8

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This graph shows the number of client complaints and compliments. It can be

seen that just six complaints were received for the year compared to around a

hundred written ‘compliments’

There is a target to respond to all complaints within ten working days. This was

achieved on 100% of occasions during 2005/06.

Some results: Other noteable successes

Similar successes right across the department, including delivering some of the

largest property developments in Europe for the City Council and delivering

training across several sectors to prepare the local ‘legal system’ for wholesale

changes to adoption and children legislation, have placed the department at the

national forefront of public and private law. This can also be seen, for example, in

the appointment of Feizal Hajat, Principal Lawyer for the Community Safety Team,

as a key member of the Government’s Respect Task Force.

The Department also uses benchmarking to assess its performance against that of

other local authorities and private sector organisations. Some benchmarking results

are as follows:

N In relation to employment tribunals, Birmingham’s average number of hours

per Tribunal case was the lowest of the six authorities submitting data;

N In terms of effectiveness, it was apparent that the average local authority

‘‘success rate’’ in defending claims was 75% whereas the comparable success

rate at Birmingham was 93%.

N The cost to the City of each individual ‘Right to Buy’ transaction was cheaper

than other members of the Benchmarking Group and;

N In relation to Emergency Protection Orders, the results showed that LDS

delivers this service in less than the average time in comparison with the other

authorities.

Some results: Customer satisfaction

These results demonstrate the department’s focus on innovation and creativity in all

that it does. Sustained continuous improvements in performance have been the key

factor in delivering these successes. The improvement in service over the last two

years is plain to see and has not gone unnoticed by City Council and external clients.

For example, the results of client questionnaires on the department’s performance

have indicated high satisfaction levels, which can be seen from the following results:

The Department –

1. ‘Exceeded’ or ‘met’ client expectations in 99% of cases.

2. Provided ‘creative/innovative’ advice or advice that was ‘usually helpful’ in

97% of cases.

3. Kept clients ‘always well informed’ or ‘usually well informed’ in 96% of cases.

4. Gave legal advice that was ‘always appropriate’ or ‘usually appropriate’ in

99% of cases.

5. ‘Always met’ or ‘usually met’ timescales in 97% of cases.

6. Drafted documentation that was ‘always accurate’ or ‘usually accurate’ in

100% of cases.

7. Delivered outcomes that were ‘very good’ or ‘good’ in 88% of cases.

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8. Delivered outcomes that were ‘successful’ in 94% of cases brought by the

Council (with 94% of outcomes ‘as advised’).

9. Delivered outcomes that were ‘successful’ in 91% of cases brought against the

Council (with 96% of outcomes ‘as advised’).

10. Provided in-house advocacy that was ‘most effective’ or ‘usually effective’ in

100% of cases

It is clear that the Department has now reached a level of performance to match

any organisation, whether in the public or private sector. The EFQM Business

Excellence Model has played an enormous part in making this journey so successful.

Some results: Staff satisfaction

However, the EFQM model also requires that the organisation focuses on its

people, their well-being, development and performance. The following results from

the Department’s Annual Staff Questionnaire help to demonstrate its success in this

area.

The Department uses an annual questionnaire of around forty questions, ten of

which act as Key Perception Indicators. Each Question asks managers and staff to

respond to a statement with one of the following options: ‘‘Strongly Agree’’; ‘‘Tend

to Agree’’; ‘‘Tend to Disagree’’; or ‘‘Strongly Disagree’’. The primary targets are

based on responses within the first two categories. The targets and results for the

Key Perception Indicators in the 2006 questionnaire are laid out in the following

table:

The rationale behind the targets is that in those areas where the Department has

control of the outcome, for example by communicating effectively to staff how

Question Target*‘Tend toAgree’

‘StronglyAgree’ % in Target

1. ‘My role provides me with jobsatisfaction’

80% 61.3 18.9 80.2

2. ‘The training/development needshighlighted in my PDP have been orare being met’

85% 59.8 24.7 84.5

3. ‘The priorities of my job are clear tome’

95% 59.9 33.6 93.5

4. ‘I understand how my work fits intothe overall aims of the Department’

95% 57.8 36.5 94.3

5. ‘There is effective two-waycommunication between my linemanager and me’

95% 54.8 38.5 93.3

6. ‘My line manager encourages me tocontribute ideas’

95% 51.5 39.6 91.1

7. ‘My line manager treats me fairlyand with respect’

95% 47.1 47.1 94.2

8. ‘The department is committed to thepromotion of equalities issues’

95% 55.9 37.2 93.1

9. ‘Providing a high quality service ispart of the Department’s culture’

95% 43.3 51.9 95.2

10. ‘The Department is committed togreen issues’

85% 56.3 18.4 74.7

*Target 5 ‘strongly agree’ or ‘tend to agree’

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their work fits into the overall aims of the Department, targets are set at 95%.

This is felt to be as high as the target can be realistically set, given the fact that

very few responses outside the target categories would result in a failure to meet

this target.

Where the Department does not have full control over the outcome, targets are set

at 85%. For example, external courses that are identified as part of an individual’s

Performance Development Review can be cancelled and some of our sustainability

activities operate under wider City Council policies. This reflects the element of the

activity concerned that is out of our control. Finally, the target for Question 1 is setat 80% because the response required will be quite subjective and there is only so far

the Department can go in trying to help an individual find job satisfaction. It would

be unrealistic to set this target higher, although the relatively challenging target still

demonstrates our commitment in this area.

The results demonstrate that the Department has been successful at either

achieving or nearly achieving these challenging and aspirational targets in most ofthe questions. They also provide a rounded overall picture of the staff perception of

our performance as they are a cross-section of questions from seven broad question

categories used.

Concluding remarks

The EFQM Business Excellence Model has helped the Department to focus on everyimportant area of its business, from policy to people and from leadership to

customer results. The way in which the model helps an organisation to develop

excellent leadership, form successful policy and strategy, and enlist the support of its

people to deliver results is clear to see in this ongoing success. We commend the

EFQM Model to both public and private legal practices as a focus for continuous

innovation and creativity. You have everything to gain and nothing to fear!

Mirza Ahmad, MBA LLM Barrister, Chief Legal Officer, Birmingham City Council,

UK

Mirza was Called to the Bar in 1984 and he became Chairman of the Bar

Association for Local Government & the Public Service in April 1998 (www.balgps.

org.uk). He is also a member of the General Council of the Bar for England & Wales

and, since October 2004, he has been the Association of Council Secretaries &

Solicitor’s Lead Officer on Ethical Governance issues. On 9th November 2006,

Mirza was elected to serve as a Vice-President for ACSeS.

As Chief Legal Officer (& Monitoring Officer) for Birmingham City Council, he

manages a Legal & Democratic Services Department in excess of 300 staff and he

became the first local government manager, in 2000, to obtain a ‘3 star – excellent

rating’ under the Government’s Best Value regime.

Mirza is the General Editor of Butterworth Tolley’s ‘Knights Guide to Best Value

and Public Procurement - Law & Practice’ and a member of the Editorial Board for

Butterworth’s Local Government Direct website. He is a regular speaker on

Freedom of Information, Ethical Governance and Human Rights for local

government.

Recent achievements:

N In February 2007, Mirza was profiled in the Muslim Power 100 publication

and won their Public Sector Excellence Award.

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N During the UK’s Black History Month 2006, Mirza was profiled in a CRE

publication, entitled ‘‘Black Letter Law’’, along with other great lawyer

leaders, present and past (such as, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and

Muhammad Ali Jennah (the Founder of Pakistan)) and, in April 2006, Mirza

was named ‘‘Lawyer of the Month’’ by the Black Lawyers Directory;

N On 3rd November 2005, Mirza was awarded the Association of Council

Secretaries & Solicitors’ very first ‘Award for Excellence 2005’;

N On 10th June 2005, Mirza was named in the ‘Top 5 Lawyers in Local

Government 2005’ by the Local Government Chronicle; and

Robert Smith, Support Services Manager, Birmingham City Council, UK

Robert Smith has over twenty years of management experience in both the public

and private sectors, from sales management to industrial production management.

Rob currently heads up the Support Services Team at Legal & Democratic Services,

providing support in Personnel, IT, Finance and Administration. He also leads on

practice development within the department

Following a career break, during which Rob gained his Law Degree at the

University of Oxford, he joined Birmingham City Council in August 2005. Since

then, Rob has been instrumental in helping Legal & Democratic Services develop

many quality and best practice initiatives and secure numerous awards.

Rob has brought with him considerable experience of quality and performance

management from the private sector and has quickly found ways of tailoring his

knowledge in innovative ways to push forward the continuous improvement agenda

within the Department.

Recent achievements:

N Rob has led the Department’s recent developments in the area of well-being

and work-life balance, leading to success at the Birmingham & Solihull Best

Business Awards for the Development of Work-life Balance 2006 (the

Department being named ‘Employer of the Year’ in the large/public sector

employer category).

N Rob has been the Department’s lead officer in driving forward changes linked

to the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) Business

Excellence Model. At the Midlands Excellence Awards 2006, the Department

became the first legal practice in the UK, public or private, to be awarded the

prestigious ‘‘Investors in Excellence’’ accreditation It also received awards for

‘‘Most Improved Organisation" and "Corporate Social Responsibility’’.

N During 2006/07, Rob has established a number of new quality initiatives at

Legal & Democratic Services that have helped to build-in improvement

mechanisms across the Department.

About Birmingham City Council Legal & Democratic Services Department

The Department has been working with the European Foundation of Quality

Management Business Excellence Model since 2000 when Mirza Ahmad, Chief

Legal Officer, jointed the Council. He had a number of years of successfully using it

at his previous authority. The Model has helped the department secure many

successes over the years, including Investors in People accreditation, the Law

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Society Lexcel Practice Management Standards, ISO 9001, LGC Legal Team of theYear 2005, Midlands Excellence Awards 2006 and Worklife Balance Awards 2007.

The investment has paid off, in particular, over the last two years which has seen a

further drive to improve standards and to firmly embed the EFQM principles into

what the department does each and every day. As part of its philosophy of

continuous improvement, the Department is committed to use of this proven Model,

which is used to focus efforts in a number of key areas, which excellent organisations

have demonstrated for many years to be vital to achieve and sustain success. It also

acts as a reminder of the need to review performance and evaluate achievementsagainst original objectives. This approach develops a cycle of continuous

improvement through the ‘review and act’ processes.

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