Stevenage Borough Council
Background
Stevenage Borough Council employs 850 people and has been recognised as an Investor in People since 2000.
The Chief Executive, Ian Paske, is a strong supporter of Investors in People and sees it as a key strategy through which the Council will become known as a “good people” organisation. Investors in People also underpins the Council’s efforts to become an excellent authority (as measured through the Comprehensive Performance Assessment framework which all local authorities now undergo).
One of the authority’s key challenges over recent years has been tackling the shortage of affordable local housing, and by creating an arms length management organisation, Stevenage Homes Ltd., the Council hopes to see an increase in the supply of social housing in the future. A third of council staff will transfer to Stevenage Homes over the coming year, and this large scale re-deployment of staff to the new organisation will impact many areas of the council’s services.
Why Profile?
Having successfully been through a number of reviews against the IiP Standard, the Council concluded that the current assessment process was no longer adding value. . The Council’s approach to people issues was also ready for further challenge. Profile offered a way of benchmarking its approach to staffing issues against the best in the country.
The Council’s Recruitment and Training Manager, Ian Cawthra, explained that “the current IIP Standard tells you if you have reached the level or not, it does not tell you whether you’re moving forward. Over the next couple of years Profile will enable us to judge the distance we have travelled as an organisation”.
The comprehensive, business-focussed appraisal an organisation undergoes as part of a Profile assessment appealed to the organisation as they were looking for something that would get beneath the surface and give in depth feedback into strengths and weaknesses. Such understanding was seen as fundamental to effectively prioritising actions, within tight financial constraints, and then maximising the impact of any investment. The Profile framework was also seen as a way of linking the Council’s overall HR strategy to what happens ‘on the ground’.
The Benefits of Profile
- A Clear and Actionable Way Forward - According to the Council the post-assessment Profile report they received exceeded their expectations and was much more valuable than the standard Investors in People report. The information it contained related to clear and specific actions.Ian Cawthra believes that the Assessment Report made the action planning much more straightforward. “With the standard report you had to read between the lines. Now the action plan almost wrote itself, as I could identify six quick wins that would take the organisation 75% of the way to meeting the next Profile level. Also, as the indicators are interlinked, you could see how the actions recommended would have knock-on positive effects.”
- Identified Knowledge Gaps – The Profile review highlighted where staff knowledge of procedures and systems was weak and needed further support. This benefit for the organisation was specifically identified as something that would have been missed with a standard IIP assessment.
- Service Improvements - Whilst difficult to prove a causal link between using Profile and improvements in service delivery, the Council strongly believes that Profile has helped the organisation to successfully implement significant changes such as the launch of its new Customer Service Centre. This innovation has in turn already improved customer satisfaction and reduced operational costs by approximately £100,000 per annum.
- Meeting Standards - Using Profile has really helped the Council demonstrate to local authority inspectors and others its commitment to developing the Council’s staff. In particular it shows the organisation’s commitment to systematic continuous improvement against a highly regarded externally accredited quality standard.
- Managing Change – The Council firmly believes that Profile has already been helpful in identifying and meeting the challenge of migrating a third of staff to Stevenage Homes. Whilst organisational change is always likely to cause concern to staff, the principles of Profile has helped demonstrate the Council’s commitment to sensitively implementing change and keeping staff fully appraised of developments.
- Exceptional Value for Money – Ian Cawthra contacted a management consultancy he has previously worked with and asked them to look at the Profile process; this consultancy estimated they would charge £25,000 to do the same type of assessment. Therefore, Ian rates Profile as giving excellent value for money as it only cost £5,000 with the local Chamber of Commerce giving the Council £2,500 towards the cost of the assessment.