The recent announcement of the Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) puts additional pressure and scrutiny on Government. Senior private sector advisors are tasked with helping Government find a further £30bn of savings across a number of cross cutting initiatives. Again, there will be more focus on the frontline, and streamlining of the back office, but additionally, delving deeper into other areas such as asset management and property which could yield further cost savings. But given the stringency of the last two Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) rounds, can Government step up to this further challenge?
Currently Government seems to be constantly in Transform & Tighten mode. Back office collaborative working across Departments, such as the introduction of the Government Gateway – the backbone of customer interaction at HMRC - is yet to be fully integrated and exploited. Taking collaboration further into shared services and outsourcing key functions is high on most agendas, but this is still substantially in planning mode as departments and local authorities struggle with the myriad of stakeholder interests, not least ‘the citizen’.
Belt tightening around the edges and partial implementation of programmes such as Lean Service Re-design will not make the significant savings that are necessary. Consequently, decisive action and consistency of political direction will be needed - these are not always easy to achieve.
Whatever the recommendations of the review, in order to ensure they take place, two elements need to be in place: strong leadership and effective measurement.
Leadership begins with establishing a common purpose. Many Government initiatives are now focusing fully on customer needs, but also balancing rights with equivalent responsibilities, and this needs to be clearly recognised in the achievement of any goals. Once we have a sense of the demands of the customer, both frontline staff and back office staff need to understand and buy into the approach, so that they can effectively work together. This not just at the overall level, which is often quite simple in concept, but how it applies to each member of staff and how their contribution ‘makes the wheels turn’.
But Government leadership now has to go further than this, they must collaborate and ensure the full cost savings can be gained across Government, and there are only a few initiatives that are working towards this at the moment. Government leaders must step up to the cross governmental challenge, build the vision and the team around them. A great deal of resilience will be required as the economic climate worsens and the ‘Voice of the Customer’ will inevitably become more demanding.
In our experience successful programmes start with an effective leadership team, and an ability to focus on results. When we talk about local empowerment of staff, and taking responsibility for cost reduction, this has to be balanced within overall organisation objectives and the board must integrate these ideas into the overall agenda.
We worked with a Government Agency who had an active agenda to improve the effectiveness of the Board - both working more effectively across internal organisational boundaries, and creating and supporting organisational change and improvement. We ran focused workshops devised specifically to develop and stimulate debate around topics such as getting things done in the organisation in spite of the 'politics' and managing multiple priorities . Key actions arose from these both at the Board and individual level to enable better agreements between Board members and contributions to others activities – particularly bridging the gap between business requirements and financial planning.
Secondly, effective measurement. Marshalling individuals towards one overall aim requires strong line management leadership, performance management implementation and desire to break the mould. Sponsorship for initiatives should not be a problem as once the OEP reviews are complete, all Government leaders will have/should have hard targets to meet. They will either have their own plans to amend or will seek out new ideas on how to achieve these targets.
Often programmes do not have one answer - it is the combination of strategy, operational experience and IT which will achieve results. To achieve operational efficiencies of this magnitude, it is vital that the organisation underpin business changes with effective IT that is aligned to business need. But overall it is the way in which things are measured that will drive performance.
When a target is clear and measurable it is so much easier to a) find a solution and b) work towards it. When a pilot is completed, how is it measured and assessed? The influence of the political climate cannot be underestimated, but this should not detract from striving to really understand the results, in context of the overall vision, which will form the basis of a sound future strategy.
Working with the local branch of an agency recently, we supported a new pilot operation to join three parts of the agency together. We worked with them to create a locally devised performance management framework which helped them understand the inputs to, and results from, the agencies activities. It also gave the business leaders a ‘what if’ capability to project what is likely to happen in the future. This type of intervention can be a key element in defining the roadmap to longer term objectives.
The last element of achieving results is judgement. The ability to take on board a myriad of views and judge the best way forward will be a critical differentiator for which programmes succeed and which will fail. Time and time again we hear that Government must learn from the private sector. Whilst this is true in some cases, it is simply time for Government to take pride in its achievements to date, be bold and decisive, and drive out the right results.