Sarah Johnston presentation

1. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 1
©RedQuadrant 2016 Sarah Johnston 0770 10149836 sarah.johnston@redquadrant.com

2. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 2
Hats
Hats are important!

3. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 3
The plan
• Programme of support and challenge for Service Managers
• Introduce and embed new skills, tools and techniques
• Tackle complex challenges and work in a different way – The Bristol Way
• Do things better and do better things (plumbing and poetry)
• Enable Service Managers to step up
• Deliver savings and continual improvement
• Do an alpha and a beta and then get on with it……
• Whole organisation would be behind it
So, so exciting – real buzz!!

4. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 4
Early approach
• Co-design and deliver programme
• Learning is in the work and should have immediate impact
• Quality assured
• Value for money
• Great mix of learning materials
• Pre determined cohorts with savings targets attached
• Contracting conversations, sponsorship, etc
• Personal and generic elements
• Carrot and stick
• Show don’t tell
• Systems Thinking, Demand Management, Agile, etc, etc
What could go wrong?

5. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 5
The reality – roller coaster
• Operating conditions not aligned to ambition
 Over engineered the pipeline – roll out slow
 Complex admission criteria – long lead times
 Support element was over-controlled and difficult to plan for
 Competition between different directorates
 Governance structure cumbersome
• Led to a culture of ‘Haves’ and ‘Have Nots’
• Sometimes even slowed existing change programmes down
• Content was great
• Service Managers immediately started to apply their learning –
‘Curly Journeys’
• Every cohort had different expectations and needs
Don’t try too hard to get it perfect first time around

6. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 6
Curly journeys

7. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 7
Curly journeys

8. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 8
Next Iteration
• Pace and focus
• Type and scale of approach aligned with environment and context
• Local, small, positive contributions
• Empowering and resourcing
• In business coaching
• Pull on coaching
• Teams doing it for themselves
• Less control
• Prototyping
Create real opportunities and support to kick start

9. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 9
Benefits delivered (1)
• £11m savings from first four cohorts
 New functionality released on the website
 Joined-up approach to enforcement
 Redesign of Citizen Services
 Resource Allocation System – technical IT and behavioural change
 Improved Information, Advice and Guidance and supported on-line
self-assessment
 End-to-end redesign of internal support services
All cohorts: seeding continual improvement journeys.
Real champions for new ways of working created

10. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 10
Benefits delivered (2)
• Embedding sustainable continual improvement within the organisation
• Building capability across the council
• Do it in lots of different ways at different levels
• Clarity on commitment and expectations for everyone
• Created centres of excellence
• Delivers savings and allows the service to thrive
• Culture change – ‘can do’ attitude!
The ripple effect – interest grew!

11. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 11
What helped
• Constant feedback and iteration from participants, sponsors, etc
• Staying close to the Senior Leadership Team
• True partnership between Bristol City Council and RedQuadrant
• Understanding the ‘politics’ and rivalries
• Really working on internal relationships
• Showing we could adapt – Benefits Realisation Boards, Hot-Housing
• Tenacity
• Not being precious about who gets the credit
• Creating real champions
• Real visible behaviour change
Show don’t tell!

12. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 12
The plan
• Programme of support and challenge for Service Managers
• Introduce and embed new skills, tools and techniques
• Tackle complex challenges and work in a different way – The Bristol Way
• Do things better and do better things
• Enable Service Managers to step up
• Deliver savings and continual improvement
• Do an alpha and a beta and then get on with it… NEVER… yet!
• Whole organisation would be behind it… EVENTUALLY
The journey continues…

13. Managing change – the
Bristol Applied Programme 13
Thanks for listening!
Sarah Johnston
077010 49836
sarah.johnston@redquadrant.com
www.redquadrant.com
Sally Mitchell
07766696920
sally.mitchell@bristol.gov.uk