BETTER FOR LESS.........OUR JOURNEY

MIKE ATTWOODPROGRAMME DIRECTOR FOR COLLABORATION

‘Pain is inevitable... suffering is optional.’

M. Kathleen Casey

What we said in 2009 ...‘The time is right – a special combination of factors...’

• crisis for public sector leadership and a will to re-connect

• the scale of the challenge is beyond any single organisation

• emotional and practical understanding that the old ways don’t work

• the clock is ticking...

• the uncertainty and concern is at all levels of the system – and is pushing collaboration

• enough leaders willing to ‘let go’?

• partnerships are at a crossroads – marginal to mainstream

• new relationship between local and central – less projection of problems between us

• cross-political statements about localism and shift from targets to outcomes.

• Population of approx one million (an area for growth) – 85% live & work here

• Diverse: urban/rural, younger/older, ethnicity

• Centre of road and rail network

• Existing partnership working

• Strongest performing economic sub- region within the West Midlands

• 49 Super Output Areas within the 10% most deprived nationally, two thirds of these are in Coventry

• 88 Super Output Areas in the 10% least deprived nationally

• 1 unitary, 1 met. borough, 1 county, 5 districts – 2 LEPs

• 2 PCTs, 1 Care Trust, 2 Police/Fire orgs

The Place

‘Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners…and necessity has made us allies...

‘Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder...

‘This is a partnership, not an empire.’

John F. Kennedy

The scale of spending

• Overall spend in the sub-region (population of 1,046,000) of around £6.5 billion

• Around 50% is by national agencies

• Around £1 billion spent on education and children; £1.6 billion on health

• Two axes of spend ‘deep dive’:

- Front-line ‘horizontal’ – children, older people, waste

- Back of house ‘vertical’ – procurement, HR, strategic planning, emergency planning

What some of the wicked challenges look like:• type 1 diabetes in children is rising by 3% per year (NHS Confederation)

• pupils who had truanted were 11 % more likely to report taking drugs at least once a month (HSCIC 2009)

• the public want more police on the street – but the evidence for effectiveness is mixed

• we need less hospitals but the public, local and national politicians are in denial about this – 50% estate occupancy?

• challenging families are less likely to work, more likely to commit crime and don’t tend to engage with services

• professional boundaries and identities are hard to shift

• we need macro, cross-system solutions in a time of growth in micro organisations

• 4% per year needed at least – double thatof high-performing public sector organisations.

Getting clear about the programme – Keith Grint and wicked problems

• Critical problems need command: just do it (it doesn’t matter what you think)

• Tame problems need management: déjà vu (I’ve seen this problem before; I know what process will solve it)

• Wicked problems need leadership: vu jàdé (I’ve never seen this problem before; I need to get a collective view on what to do about this)

The Programme

FRONTLINE COMMON SUPPORT

CHILDREN’S SERVICES•NEETS•CHILD HEALTH 0-5•SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT•SCHOOL SUPPORT SERVICES•ANTI – BULLYING STRATEGY

WHAT?PROCUREMENTHR TRANSACTIONAL SERVICESLEARNING ACADEMYASSETS

HEALTH AND ADULTS•PUBLIC HEALTH•OLDER PEOPLE

HOW?BUSINESS TRANSFORMATIONSTRATEGIC PLANNING

WASTE COLLECTION/RECYCLING

STRATEGIC BUT PRAGMATIC , TANGIBLE, VISION ABSTRACT VISIONING FOR TOO LONG – DISPLACEMENT ACTIVITY!

WHAT’S KEEPING US AWAKE AT NIGHT? SEEN AS AN ‘EXTRA LAYER’

‘INTENSIFY’ INDIVIDUAL TRANSFORMATION PLANS PARALLEL MACRO PROGRAMME DISCONNECT

CONSCIOUS REDESIGN FOCUS WITH SUPPORT ‘LUMPED TOGETHER’ SHARED SERVICES

POLITICAL COMMON PURPOSE ON THE LOCAL A GRANDIOSE SUBREGIONAL ‘ENTITY’

PROGRAMME SUPPORT FROM THE PATCH SEPARATE TEAM – TOO MUCH CONSULTANCY

PARTNER/EXTERNAL CHALLENGE ON BENCHMARKING AND ‘SIZE OF THE PRIZE’

INADVERTANT ‘TURKEYS AND CHRISTMAS’ SET-UP

LOCAL FRONTLINE: SHARED SUPPORT UNCLEAR ABOUT RIGHT SERVICE SPATIAL LEVELS

STRONG SPONSORSHIP ‘MAKE IT SO’

STAGED ROLLOUT PAN PUBLIC SECTOR PARTNERSHIP ‘PRESENTEEISM’

CLEAR ABOUT COMMON DOING VS .LEARNING NO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

FLEXIBLE COALITION OF THE WILLING DOCTRINAIRE ‘ALL IN OR BUST’ APPROACH

What helps and hinders?

Tricky issues and learning:• How to engage meaningfully across the public sector – not just local

authorities?• Democratic deficit vs. local authority perceived control by partners• Organic or deliberate?• Managing transition – decommissioning and double-running• It will take time – traditional savings still required meanwhile• Where do savings accrue? – How to risk share• What about local localism?! – Schools, GPs...• A public sector savings scrum or more money in local people’s pockets?• The compact with local people• Impact on jobs – honesty with staff and TUs• National political flux and nerve – how will it look? • Sustainability

– Turkeys voting for Christmas – supportive change management and neutralising the blockers who won’t change

– Front-line education and development...new staff for a new world

– Leadership development

It’s about keeping the culture and the counting together

• F. Scott Fitzgerald‘The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless, yet be determined to make them otherwise.’

• King John or Thomas Jefferson? Forced in to a decision/change against your will

OR

• Make the decision to BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE

‘With less than half our productive capacity the Soviet Union has at least equalled us in several crucial areas of military science and technology.’

John F. Kennedy