Leading Change at Swindon Borough Council

In 2003 Swindon Borough Council was identified by government inspectors as a poor performing council (in 2004 SBC was graded one category higher, as 'weak'). Senior managers knew this was a wake-up call to initiate major change at all levels of the organisation.

Engine for change

The Council decided to set up a Leadership Academy, aimed at its second and third tier managers, specifically to act as an engine for sustained change throughout the organisation. Until this point, the training and development of the Council's top 200 people happened on an 'ad hoc' basis, and attendance at training courses had been patchy.

Jane Colbourne, HR Manager, Learning and Development, sums up the challenge which she and her colleagues faced in May 2004:

"We identified that managers didn't spend enough time actually leading people. In any organisation these days managers have to deal with bureaucracy, but it's not just about that - managers also have to provide the direction and motivation to individuals and teams."

External help

"We knew the leadership skills and behaviours we needed managers to demonstrate and decided to seek external help to support our managers in implementing these skills and behaviours."

The Council selected MaST, principally in the shape of Consultant John Garland, who was able to bring an understanding of the change issues facing the public sector.

Training needs

Jane and John uncovered a range of training needs. For example, managers needed to focus on leading more effectively. There was a tendency for managers always to adopt a style they felt most comfortable with, not necessarily one which would be most effective in a particular situation.

There was also widely held belief that 'customer orientation' meant devising a variety of different ways of giving the customer what you thought s/he ought to have - not finding what people actually wanted as the starting point for designing a service.

As in many organisations, there was much resistance to change - people clearly demonstrating anger, fear and resistance when confronted with the need to change.

Many managers operated without clarity of purpose in part caused by poorly set objectives. Even when they had clear objectives, many managers found it difficult to get their point across to others, to influence other people to support their cases to move things forward.

Programme content

Working closely with Jane and her colleagues John was able to design and co-deliver a 'Phase 1 training programme' which covered:

Leadership styles
What's your preferred style? How adaptable are you with a range of styles? How good are you at reading what the most effective style is going to be in any situation?

Customer orientation
What are current levels of customer care in your department? What helps and hinders this? What changes are possible? How can you manage change? Why introduce standards and objective setting? How to prioritise.

Managing change
Recognising the impact of change on people and their performance. Determining improved standards of customer service for your team. Developing performance standards and objectives that drive improved customer service. Identifying what actions each individual needs to take to lead improvement. Action planning for change.

Setting objectives
Setting specific, measurable objectives to which people can be held to account.

Influencing with integrity
Identifying who you need to influence to get things done. Determining how to present your case to them with maximum effect.

Emotional intelligence Throughout the programme participants were encouraged to explore and practise the skills required to demonstrate the emotional intelligence competencies of:

• Self awareness
• Self management
• Social awareness
• Relationship management

Approach

Phase 1 needed to be popular to have an impact so John and Jane deliberately designed the programme to appeal to the varied range of learning styles of the target audience. There were plenty of activities with opportunities for participants to reflect both on their own and their colleagues' behaviours. In addition, the facilitators introduced theoretical models where appropriate and expertly facilitated discussion of how participants planned to change their behaviours back at work.

What's more, MaST provided coaching between modules to help participants to embed their learning in real work situations and troubleshoot any 'blockers' to progress.

The roll-out of the programme took place between May and December 2004.

…and the impact of Phase 1?

The Leadership Academy carried out a skills survey immediately before the training programme and then again towards the end. Says Jane: "We believe the programme has made a real difference in that managers are now aware of the need to be leaders, and adapt their style to meet the challenges that they face at any particular time."

What next?

The programme is now moving on to Phase 2, in which the Academy plans to take the change deeper into the Council so that all managers can lead and manage the organisation in a consistent way.

If you would like more information about this case study or to set up an interview with Jane Colbourne, please contact Jonathan Chalstrey at MaST on 01628 784062.