Transforming Highways Maintenance in Derby

Having established a new Public Private Partnership (PPP) with Carillion Highways Maintenance, Derby City Council commissioned EiB to provide consultancy support to the new organisation DerbyRoads. The Council had just ended two unsuccessful contracts, which had been confrontation based and resulted in the development of a claims based culture. They recognised that for the new partnership to be a success there would have to be a step change in the way that the Council worked with its contractors in the future.

The issues we had to address:

• The client function capacity and capability had diminished significantly with low levels of morale;
• There was no vision or supporting values;
• There was a lack of strong leadership and there was little confidence in leaders‟ ability to manage the required change;
• There were no effective performance management or payment mechanisms in place;
• Members were frustrated by the service resulting in activity shaped by member complaints rather than by efficient and effective scheduling;
• There were no processes or tools in place to drive or embed improvements.

Transformational Route Mapping

This project involved us in working closely with the Board and Senior Management Team (SMT) of DerbyRoads to design, develop and embed a comprehensive transformational change programme.  We developed and managed a staff survey, to help evaluate the effectiveness of the change programme.

We worked with the SMT to create a blueprint for change using our Transformational Route Map (TRM) approach. This involved holding a series of facilitated workshops with the SMT, management and staff groups and key stakeholders.

The TRM set out a clear partnership Vision and aspirations for the next 5 years, including the key cultural, organisational and process changes needed in order to achieve their Vision. Importantly, the Route Map defined the key work streams that would drive the required transformation; as well as the individual improvement projects that would embed the change. The TRM was also used to communicate the Vision, values and change programme to all staff, members and other stakeholders.

The Transformational Route Map takes as its starting and finishing point a snapshot description (news headlines) about the organisation – before the start of the change, and again once it is completed. Within the same graphical presentation is shown the complete path of how the organisation will move between ‘today’s’ headlines, and those desired in the future.

This is supported by:

• Key metrics (both today, and after change);
• How key organisational elements (such as the organisational structure and culture, processes, and infrastructure) will change, and
• A summary of specific projects that move the programme from today to the end point.

Underpinning this is a comprehensive dossier of information about the specific projects and workstreams, including benefits cards, to support managers as they implement the programme.

We also provided mentoring/coaching support to strengthen leadership capacity and shape their behaviours; developed and implemented a performance management system; and introduced Lean methodologies across key business processes.

Embedding Values

The Council had failed to establish or embed a positive or consistent culture in their previous contracts and we highlighted the criticality of addressing this in the future. Consequently, with active involvement of the SMT, we developed and implemented an approach tailored for the specific needs of DerbyRoads that defined appropriate values directly aligned with delivery of the Vision and helped to embed these values within management and staff behaviours.

Establishing the Business Case for Change

Each project within the TRM was underpinned by our „Benefit Card‟ approach which summarised the resources committed to its delivery and the benefits, both financial and non-financial which would be delivered if the project was a success. This provided the Board and SMT with the framework against which progress, impact and realisation of benefits could be measured and assessed. Programme, Project and Risk Management.

We developed details of individual projects and workstreams that would achieve the transformational change, providing managers with a clear structure for delivery, monitoring and control, and the identification and mitigation of project risks.

Measuring Success

In order to gain staff commitment to the TRM, the SMT recognised they needed to be able to demonstrate the impact of the changes being put in place. To enable this to happen we helped the client to design and implement a new payment mechanism; Balanced Business Scorecard, and an exception reporting system.

We worked with managers and staff to:

• Develop a clear set of organisational values and translate these into a behavioural framework;
• This framework was used to underpin a 360° appraisal process, aligning the behaviour of individuals with the values of DerbyRoads;
• Develop and implement an online staff „pulse survey‟ to monitor the impact of the transformational route map on staff morale and commitment.

Outcomes

This project is already demonstrating its success with a number of target outcomes having been achieved to date:

• Cashable savings in excess of £400,000;
• Significant improvement in staff satisfaction levels over 12 months;
• 82% of managers assessed as reflecting the values of DerbyRoads after 2 years.

For more information on our approach and how we might be able to help transform your organisation, contact Scott Brown on 01642-661940