A Variety of Topics Were Discussed on the Day, Including

Change Managers Network Event The first Change Managers Network event was held on 28 January at the COSLA Conference Centre. Representatives from 29 local authorities attended, sharing experiences of change within their organisations, with reference to relevant pieces of work and approaches. A variety of topics were discussed on the day, including:  the nature of change and its challenges  commonly used methodologies and their use in local authorities  mobile and flexible working  where the Change Managers Network goes from here This output pack provides a summary of the themes and messages communicated at the event for each of these breakout sessions. You can access each of the sessions from the event by clicking on a heading above. A Knowledge Hub group has now been established with membership limited to change managers and their team members within Scottish local authorities. This group will allow members to take ownership of the network, using the group to discuss on-going challenges and share innovative practice. If you have any questions about the Change Managers Network or any of the summaries provided in this document then please contact Dave Morton at [email protected]

Section 1: The nature of change and its challenges At what level is change happening? (Council wide/service level, transformational/ operational) Feedback indicated that strategic level change is now being driven by a change or transformational strategy or through consultation with a change board. These strategies underpin top down change within councils and encompass the corporate elements of change, e.g. centralised business support for all services within councils. Service level change is also apparent within local authorities, with different change teams focussing on different services (e.g. Western Isles – Health & Social Care Integration, East Ayrshire – Leisure). This is dependent on each council’s needs or challenges at present. Constructing a better understanding of what other local authorities are working on at service level could help promote the sharing of good or innovative practice as well as encourage local authorities working on similar service level change to collaborate on implementation Several councils (e.g. Glasgow, Dundee, and North Ayrshire) highlighted the need to involve staff in change programmes, to ensure that linkages are made between the strategic vision and service delivery and to join up thinking between what is strategically and operationally required to ensure a change programme is successfully delivered. Poor management of people has a strong relationship with the failure of projects (Kappelman et al. 2006) thus involving all members of staff within service level change can help achieve the desired benefits.

What are the current change activities taking place? There are several change activities taking place, including:

 Transformation of services  Asset transfer  End to end integration  Welfare Reform  ICT  Centralised business support  Mobile & Flexible Working  Management restructuring  Care Finance Programme  Customer Relationship Management  Health and Social Care integration These activities were discussed in detail during the session. It was apparent that councils are working on similar programmes in isolation (e.g. mobile and flexible working, transformation); there may be an opportunity for councils to network or collaborate to implement new ways of work, e.g. sharing business cases on on-going pieces of work such as Customer Relationship Management.

What have been some of the key achievements/successes?

Glasgow City  Reform programme – delivered savings & included all services in the reform Council programme  Tomorrows Glasgow – involved partners, connected strategies  £230m savings 2009/10 – 2013/14  Commonwealth Games – collaboration opportunities, linked services North Ayrshire  Major success with internal communications – involved staff in change Council East Ayrshire  Built a factory and filled it with a tenant – risk but paid off Council

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36.  Vibrant communities – what do our communities want Falkirk Council  Reduced number of software licenses  Saved £800k on vehicle procurement processes – recognised that ‘best value’ isn’t always the cheapest option at the time  Better training for drivers that were ‘kerbing’ their vans/cars Others  Mobile and Flexible working programmes  Self Service – ICT programmes enabling residents to report/request service  Business cases – used to identify potential benefits  Collaboration with Community Planning partners – particularly the NHS at strategic level  Innovation funding – researching UK grants

What challenges are you experiencing to deliver change?

A consistent message throughout the feedback from the session was how the financial cuts faced by local authorities are affecting the capacity for change. In some cases change is only seen as viable if the benefits realised are financial, with outcome measures deemed less critical at this moment in time. Others feel their organisation loses sight of the cuts and the barrier they present to change activities, this has been highlighted with problems engaging with elected members. Generally the focus to change seems to be ‘where can cuts be made’ rather than ‘where can changes be made’, communicating the positive message of change in difficult times remains a major challenge for councils. A further challenge comes from programmes where Councils are required to put up an initial investment to realise later savings, e.g. investing in mobile & flexible working technology for building rationalisation. Risks often seem impractical in the current financial climate, however they may be worth it if a good return on investment is realised. The culture and relationships within an organisation may also present a barrier to change. Several examples were given about individual teams or people who are change averse; the challenge here is getting all staff on board with an initiative and converting those with a ‘that’s the way we have always done it’ attitude. An analogy of a ‘golden thread’ to piece services together was used - such an approach could be used to express the positive message of change across to individuals and teams, while really giving them the chance to take ownership of new ways of working. Challenges are also experienced when trying to engage elected members in leading change. Councils reported that it can be challenging getting elected members to appreciate the reality of the cuts; this in turn has led to problems getting them on board with change activities. Other challenges that were highlighted included:  Measuring the benefits of change activities

 Technological problems – ICT services, networks

 Barriers to collaborative working – links into culture, where individuals or teams are resistant to working with others. Feedback indicates that councils throughout Scotland are all facing similar challenges as they deliver change. The idea behind the Change Managers Network is to facilitate collaboration and networking

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36. amongst Change Managers to support them to address common challenges and to share innovative practice and lessons learned which may help tackles issues such as culture and financial pressures.

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36. Section 2: Approaches to Change

Prince2 is a commonly used project management methodology across local government with 28 councils having heard of it. Aberdeen City, Glasgow City, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and Dundee City amongst others, all have accredited Prince2 and Managing Successful Programmes practitioners within their organisation.

When asked about Prince2’s main strengths, councils noted the following:

o Prince2 provides a standardised approach to change that sets a good standard for all to follow.

o Project Initiation Documents scope out clearly what you are doing and provide a structured, disciplined framework for delivering projects.

o The whole toolkit provides a full end to end approach to delivering projects that is tried and tested.

When asked about Prince2’s main weaknesses, councils noted the following:

o The vast scale of Prince2 can sometimes mean individuals get lost in the complexity of the jargon, this can make it tough for councils to embed Prince2 into their working culture

o Prince2 somewhat fails to address the people element of change projects.

All things considered Prince2 is still one of the more favoured approaches used by councils today due to its disciplined control over complex projects. Many councils will select elements of Prince2 and practice a lite version; this makes it easier to understand and less complex in practice whilst still maintaining the discipline.

Lean is another change methodology that is widely used across local government with all the councils who attended the event having heard of it and used it in some capacity. Lean has predominantly been used in IT projects as it is tailored towards iterative developments throughout a project lifecycle.

When asked about Lean’s main strengths, councils noted the following:

o Lean isn’t too training intensive. The toolkit is primarily common sense and is relatively easy to understand at all employee levels.

o Councils agreed that Lean has translated well into the public sector and its use has been predominantly focussed in the redesigning of services. It has been used well on focussing on process efficiencies within council services.

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36. The following table indicates some of the change methodologies used by councils based on feedback from the event on 28th January 2015:

Methodology Used by: Agile North Ayrshire Aberdeen City (IT projects due to flexibility) City of Edinburgh Champs2 N/A Kaizen Shetland Islands (Payroll & Sickness) City of Edinburgh (Roads Waste) Perth & Kinross & Aberdeenshire (widely used, housing & social work) West Dunbartonshire (Working for you – integration) Aberdeen City (uses a lot of concepts, shortens delivery of projects) North Ayrshire Lean Aberdeenshire (service reviews), East Renfrewshire (Project Development), East Dunbartonshire(Project Approach), City of Edinburgh (Transformation Programme) Dundee City, East Ayrshire, Glasgow City PRINCE2 Aberdeen City (a lot of staff accredited in PRINCE 2 and MSP) East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, Dundee City, Glasgow City Prosci City of Edinburgh Scrum N/A Six Sigma West Dunbartonshire & East Dunbartonshire (Process Reviews) Aberdeenshire (Improvement professionals – green/black belt accreditation, have key tool sets, used with care) North Ayrshire Waterfall East Dunbartonshire Others Managing Successful Programmes (City of Edinburgh, Stirling, Aberdeen, North Lanarkshire) Customer Journey Mapping (City of Edinburgh, Perth & Kinross) Systems Thinking (West Dunbartonshire , Dundee City) Kai Sigma (mix of lean & six sigma – North Ayrshire)

General comments around the use of methodologies were as follows:

o Change is more fluid and incremental, it doesn’t need to be branded or labelled as part of a model

o Cultural dimension and mind set is more important and is not captured in many models

o Too much jargon associated with all models listed, people struggle with language

o Most of the information in models is common sense

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36. A document detailing the change approaches listed in the table above is now available on the Change Mangers Network (Scotland) Knowledge Hub group. If you would like any further information on these methodologies then it can be accessed by clicking here .

Section 3: Mobile & Flexible Working

Overview

In August 2014, a report was submitted to the Local Government ICT board that outlined the work undertaken across Scotland following on from the completion of a survey by 19 local authorities. This survey captured information on the work undertaken to date, scheduled proposals going forward and identified areas where collaboration could be achieved. The results are available in the presentation published on the Change Managers Network Knowledge Hub group.

This report signalled for work to be undertaken on two levels as we move forwards, by separating into a business and technical proposal that would help identify collaborative opportunities for the future working practices of local government. It was agreed by the Local Government ICT Board that the Improvement Service should continue to lead the business proposal as part of the New Ways of Working programme, supporting business case development, cultural and non-technical aspects. The technical proposal will be led by Nicola Graham, Head of ICT at Aberdeenshire Council and focuses on technical landscaping to ensure that the ongoing business proposals can be supported by ICT developments.

Summary of actions

The Change Managers Network meeting discussed mobile and flexible working developments, current, proposed and ideal, taking place across individual local authorities. This work was broken into barriers and enablers for both mobile and flexible working, on the premises that mobile was defined as ‘location independent’ and flexible as ‘location agnostic’.

The conclusions from this work were as follows:

Mobile working Cultural Issues1 Technology Issues  Customer-focussed services  SWAN may lead to enhancements of the  Modernisation of services sharing  Being able to do more with less (cost-  New mobile technology increases cutting through digitalisation) capability

1 Key ---- =enabler, X=barrier

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36.  Extension of service to enable systems to  Increased mobile coverage communicate  PSN appears to be a hindrance for  Sharing has now become a negative mobile working connotation  Security and authentication (passwords)  Political barriers exist with regards to  Affordability of services to smaller sharing of information councils  Solutions may be forced on employees rather than devised in conjunction with them

Flexible Working Cultural Technology  Time saved  Improved mobile coverage (especially  Productivity gains where broadband unavailable)  Reduced office space/costs  Virtual job assignment  Talent Retention/Attraction  Software to enable offline input for  Device agnostic uploading automatically when available  Digital native generation coming through  Will enable processes to become more – should be offered efficient  Personal cost (heating, electricity)  Personal data may be leaked  Sense of isolation and lack of networking  Mobile ‘notspots’ hinder work  Access to files/information  £ of investment required  Skills not available to work as normal  Authentication levels and access to be  Management style defined  Difficulties in enabling data exchanges across different programmes

As captured at the mobile/flexible working session, mobile working appears to have been enabled through technology but little consideration has been given to the cultural implications this change of working practice brings. The feeling therefore of the work being forced upon, rather than being worked up with employees is one that exists across a number of Scottish local authorities. Individual investments in software/hardware will not reap the benefits here because it has been considered in isolation - business and ICT departments do not appear to have been working together to the same developments.

Flexible working on the other hand poses a slightly different issue. As mobile working remains appropriate for those people operating ‘in the field’, it is perhaps not as significant a shift in culture required here. Whilst certain employees view flexible working as essential for their work/life balance, the risk of isolation from management (and of not being seen in the office) has consequences on the support available to facilitate flexible working.

What next?

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36. Based on the aforementioned discussions, it was evident that there are different extents to which mobile and flexible working is offered across Scottish local authorities and policies and practices are often designed in isolation. It is the latter point here that must be addressed in order to offer practical solutions that build on lessons learned and deliver the best solutions available.

Whilst the technical team are considering the implications of PSN on mobile/flexible working, it is essential that this is not done in isolation and that a cultural working group is established to ensure the technology enables business solutions and does not drive the programme. The continued reservations over data, access and security should be considered on a practical level to ensure that any restrictions imposed by ICT do not impair operational functions for employees. As the change managers group is comprised of representatives from across all 32 councils, it would be an invaluable network to ensure discussions capture technical and practical solutions.

Section 4: What next for the Change Managers Network? Is there a role for a Change Managers Network and if so, what is this role?

Delegates agreed that there is a definite role for a change managers network between local authorities in Scotland. The key priorities were as follows:

 The network may operate as a coordinating body for building capacity and capability; councils may use the expertise within the network to collectively address pieces of work that are being duplicated within councils, this shared expertise may minimize the risk of wasted time and resources in developing business cases that has already been prepared in another council. In this respect, the network may function as an initial consultancy to share ideas or on-going challenges rather than dealing with these in isolation.

 Innovative practice can be shared by the group, which can include lessons learned and give councils the chance to share success and help avoid the same challenges

 The network will provide an opportunity to share thoughts on and actively shape future work programmes - this could act as an early warning to upcoming pieces of work

 This network will promote and enable collaborative working between councils.

 Councils will have the opportunity to share skills across the network; this could be in relation to an area where a particular council is lacking or the sharing of skills that a council has invested in. Joint training and development could be an area of interest going forward

 The network can be used to discuss what projects are currently being undertaken in councils. Who is doing what and to what timelines, particularly when joint procurement exercises may be possible

Representatives from all 32 councils in Scotland have been invited to join the Knowledge Hub group, providing an opportunity to share ideas, innovative practice, success stories and common challenges faced within local authorities. The role of an established group may be to facilitate the formation of networking and collaborative working opportunities linking to current pieces of work and upcoming

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36. programmes or projects. The Improvement Service and members will have a role in facilitating this network and signposting members to innovative practice that has been shared.

To enable this network to succeed and allow collaborative working, the following are suggested as principles for the Knowledge Hub group

 Contribute to the group – share any documents you feel others could benefit from or would like feedback on or post on-going change activities for discussion in the forum

 Be open - if you are sharing information with another local authority then share it on KHub for all authorities to see

 Be honest – share your thoughts about what has gone well but also what has NOT gone well, some of the most valuable lessons learned are from pieces of work that have been unsuccessful

 Be active – regularly sharing information and ideas on the Knowledge Hub could save a lot of time, money and effort if opportunities to share practice and work collaboratively can be identified

What should the priorities of the network be? How should the network be organised to progress these priorities?

 Members will use the network to share innovative practice and signpost any lessons learned from similar undertakings

 IS will take a role as a moderator, mediating group discussion and encouraging participation

 Members will have the opportunity to share their roles and responsibilities, drawing on experience on teams with similar profiles to share expertise and exploring the possibility of joint working

The network will prioritise the sharing of information and innovative practice from councils around Scotland. The IS will help to organise the network, ensuring that key messages are shared amongst the group and that all councils have the opportunity to ‘have their say’.

What can councils bring to the network? What support would you require going forward?

 Councils will bring knowledge and expertise to the network

 Support required will be access to further information

 Signposting, highlighting key messages

The mobile and flexible working session was intended to highlight how knowledge could be shared on a topic which is of interest to all 32 local authorities. A Change Managers Network provides the opportunity for local authorities to share their knowledge and expertise on any topic they wish to discuss. The IS will play a role in supporting the network by uploading information of interest and

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36. helping to signpost members in the direction of information and resources that are relevant to any queries.

What is your future vision for a Change Network? How often should the network meet? What will you use the network for?

 Network meetings twice a year if the agenda is relevant and engaging (may be occasion to meet more often)

 Keep the network within change managers before growing, keep it small to start off with, establish it first – maximum 2 delegates/council on KHub group to begin

 Embed the network well and don’t grow it too soon, ensuring that it retains the overall sense of purpose to informally (and formally) share ideas

 Networking and knowledge sharing, knowing who to speak to, talking to other councils

Delegates were given the chance to take ownership of the network to help shape its future. Following on from previous questions, there was an agreement that biannual meetings would be worthwhile but only if the agenda was of sufficient interest. Currently the next meeting would be in summer/autumn 2015, members are encouraged to use the KHub group to discuss issues that they would like to see included in a second meeting as well as the date and venue for this meeting.

In order to keep the group content from being diluted, only change managers from local authorities will be granted membership until agreed otherwise. Embedding the network in this way gives members the opportunity to form networks with other councils and make full use of the opportunities available. Once momentum has been built there may be room for wider public sector participation, the group will be asked to confirm any proposed changes to membership rules.

Kappelman, Leon A., Robert McKeeman, and Lixuan Zhang. "Early warning signs of IT project failure: The dominant dozen." Information systems management 23.4 (2006): 31-36.