Right now is a pivotal time for local government. The landscape is complex with many factors weighing down on the sector all at once – devolution, local government restructuring and the ever present need to find multi-million pound savings. The transformation ‘inbox' is full.
But how well are councils facing into these multi-faceted and complex changes? Are they investing in the right initiatives and do they have the capability and capacity to deliver the outcomes?
High performing organisations systematically identify, size up and prioritise the best investment strategies and ensure the organisation has the capability and capacity to deliver. They perform consistently well across four key phases of the investment life-cycle:
1. Back the right ideas: How good is your organisation at prioritising the right strategies and opportunities?
2. Set up for success: How well does your organisation plan, mobilise and organise these ideas into solid, tangible initiatives.
3. Execute with excellence: How well are these initiatives/projects executed.
4. Deliver the outcomes: What result does your organisation really derive from its change agenda and how good is it at driving out outcomes for residents?
By measuring the organisation's effectiveness across all four areas of the life-cycle, the management team can start to determine where value is being eroded and take action to improve performance.
Many councils have, at some point, established a corporate programme management office (CPMO). But are they set up to be the vehicle to effectively manage a council (or even) system-wide change agenda?
Too often, we see the role of a CPMO limited to administrative activities, without any of the richness of analysis or management of delivery that is fundamental to successful transformation. The purpose of the CPMO is not just to establish basic reporting across a council-wide portfolio of projects, but to ensure the whole organisation derives the best value from its change agenda and scores highly on the four areas mentioned above.
There is a massive opportunity right now to better manage the complexity of the changes afoot in the sector. One key element is to prioritise. The successful councils will take the bold decisions to trim the project portfolio where necessary to meet the capacity of the organisation.
Co-ordinating this activity, especially in the light of the over-flowing transformation inbox, will be a key role of the CPMO in the coming years.
Pip Peel is Managing Director at Newtrality
