Roundabouts, not traffic lights. That’s what I’ve been saying to colleagues at South Cambridgeshire DC since I arrived six months ago. After a few blank looks and some planners getting over-excited, I explained I was a fan of Aaron Dignan’s Brave New Work, a key tenet of which is to create organisations where people don’t wait for instruction (red/amber/green traffic lights) but take calculated risks as we do every time we enter a roundabout. So COVID-19 was a real test of whether we could operate a ‘roundabout’ organisation.
We were lucky to have rolled out our Council Anywhere IT project during 2019. It saw old desktop machines replaced with laptops – whoever named that project must have had a crystal ball. So, when we closed our office to the public on Monday 23 March and asked all colleagues to become permanent homeworkers the next day, they were all essentially equipped to do so.
Of course there were the scanners, and large printers and ‘kit’ issues – on the latter we just said to people – take a spare screen and your chair and be sensible with them and bring them back when this is all over.
I spent the first week almost exclusively making sure people were all right.
What was important was that we quickly established routines for people so that they could continue to do their ‘best-ever work’ (another Dignan concept). Then, on the advice of my communications colleagues, I moved to a twice-weekly vlog (video blog).
It’s a much gentler way of communicating with people. And while I can still cover the same information as in an email or written blog, the feedback has been that people prefer it.
We have also trialled a collective vlog from our leadership team, which was fun, too. The vlogs share information, signpost people to the detail, but importantly, are an opportunity to thank people for the amazing things they are doing.
We try to make them light-hearted – I have no problem with sharing my pets, messy home, family quirks, if it helps people realise that we’re all adjusting to a ‘new normal’. These moments are more important than ever right now.
Although we had positive feedback on the vlogs, I was worried people might not be coping at home, so after about 10 days we undertook a staff survey to get some statistically accurate data. The results were very positive, and while there is still some work to do – and we will continue with the survey every couple of weeks to make sure things don’t change – I was reassured.
We were honest with people from the outset. We knew that not everyone would be able to work their full hours, so we asked people to be creative and do what they could.
Many of my colleagues with small children and another partner trying to work at home have really appreciated this. The ‘split-shift’ work pattern has become the norm for them. I completely trust people to do their best and, from what I can see, people have really risen to this challenge.
We have taken risks that in ‘normal times’ we would not have taken. We decided as a team that our primary purpose was to protect vulnerable people in their communities.
With 106 villages and one small town, that meant a very distributed approach to our response, utilising the extraordinary passion of our councillors, parishes and community groups.
My colleagues – many seconded into our emergency communities’ team – walk (metaphorically) alongside these individuals and groups helping to make sure every single individual in South Cambridgeshire gets the support they need. They make judgement calls on a daily basis to solve the myriad of problems that crop up.
Sounds easy, but it has been the biggest challenge I imagine any of them have ever encountered in a work context and wow, have they risen to it. It has been humbling work. And we’ll keep going.
Liz Watts is chief executive of South Cambridgeshire DC