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Fenland DC is 100% ‘people driven'. Our innovative organisational culture and excellent people-management practices have unlocked the potential of our staff to deliver exceptional customer service to our residents. It was not always like this, though. Previously, the IDeA highlighted a lack of corporate leadership, poor people management and little evidence of performance management. The organisation was seen as hierarchical, top-down, silo-bound, and outdated. Our recipe for change was to overhaul the organisational culture, embed a ‘one team' approach, and put the customer first. Fenland created an innovative 100% people-driven culture, where staff feel empowered to focus on outcomes, not inputs and outputs. Our people management is cutting edge, including a comprehensive approach to talent management, recruitment and engagement – leading to a national reputation that any organisation would be proud of, and phenomenal staff survey results, with 95% of staff feeling they make a positive contribution to the success of the council. We also abolished departments so all staff see themselves as working for the council and the community, rather than for a ‘department'. This approach encourages cross-organisational working, which enables us to focus on the issues that matter most to the community, and also use the skills of our staff to their full potential. This has been the case on major projects such as housing stock transfer, a complete review of our refuse rounds, and becoming the first organisation to achieve corporate ‘customer service excellence' in the country. This empowers staff to do something different with their skills which, in turn, makes them feel valued through the offer of different opportunities. These opportunities also extend to training and development. With low levels of literacy and numeracy in the district, it is extremely important for Fenland to train staff to the highest level. We secured external funding to provide high-quality training, tailored to our organisational needs, and we now have more than 450 employees enrolled on NVQ and Skills for Life (SfL) courses. And we have one of the highest success rates in the country for NVQ and SfL completion at 95% compared with the national average of 45%. We celebrate the success of our staff in gaining these qualifications through the chief executive presenting certificates to staff in the council chamber. We are extremely proud of the achievements of our staff, with an incredible 97% of our customer services team gaining NVQ Level 2 in customer service excellence – national benchmark 70% – and 100% of our waste, recycling and street cleansing team achieving NVQ Level 2 qualifications. We also celebrate the contribution of our unsung heroes from across the organisation in our nationally-recognised staff awards scheme which contributes to high staff morale. Our ‘one team' organisational culture focuses less on long service and more on good service, attitude, enthusiasm, skills and potential. Giving somebody the opportunity to shine, regardless of their age or qualifications, is one of the secrets to Fenland's success. Our team is made up of a mix of people from different backgrounds with a range of skills, but they all have one thing in common – a passion to make a difference. This is shown through our successful achievement of corporate customer service excellence, the first organisation to do it! This project provided us with a great opportunity to place customers firmly at the heart of everything we do, and this increased customer focus has resulted in 97% of customers seen at the first point of contact in our one-stop shops, and just a 1.2% abandoned call rate in our telephone contact centre. To sustain our organisational culture, our recruitment process has been transformed into an unforgettable experience for both the council and the candidates. Recruiting people with the right attitude, confidence and drive means they can work to deliver a range of services across an organisation. Fenland has embedded a flexible approach to job roles, which has created a multi-skilled workforce equipped to take on different projects and eradicate the ‘that's not my job' culture. Our unique and innovative approach to the efficiency agenda is protecting staff and minimising the impact on frontline services. Instead of recruiting additional staff, existing employees have filled vacancies through secondments without backfilling posts. This approach has reduced redundancies and offered staff the opportunity to undertake new and exciting roles. This has enabled them to learn new skills and the organisation to make efficiency savings. The one team culture has enabled us to successfully confront the current challenges facing local government, and minimise the pain other local authorities are currently experiencing. Our unique organisational culture promotes big picture thinking, and empowers staff to achieve well beyond the remit of a district council within the community. And due to this approach, we have achieved and sustained high performance over time, delivered a series of major projects, and attained high levels of staff and customer satisfaction. Fenland is a district council which consistently punches above its weight. The innovation with which we design our services, the organisational culture that inspires our staff and partners, and the ambition we have for the district is among the best in the country.

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WHITEHALL

The MJ Awards 2010 People and Workforce Achievement Winer

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