A new way of working
The new Strategy Service part of the Managing Director’s
Department
The Managing Director’s Department and the new Strategy Service was born out of
the independent review of the Resources directorate, which was completed in
November 2016. Many of its recommendations were incorporated into the managing
Director’s report on Senior Management Arrangements, which was approved by Full
Council on 12 December (page 178).
The Managing Director set
out her vision for the new
service:
“We all know that structures by themselves do not
deliver improvement. What really matters is
developing a more effective organisation, with an
integrated set of central functions that have the right
capacity, new ways of working, and the smart
processes that we need. An important first principle
is recognising that the professional services located
in the central core of the council fulfil different
functions, and need to be differentiated in the way
they operate and the focus of their advice and
support. The functions include strategic direction,
resource stewardship as well as support to services,
managers and staff.”
•
A strategic focus - to advise and support the political and managerial
leadership of the Council in their strategic approach, and ensure effective
governance and stewardship/control. The shared services approach
introduced in 2010 did not include sufficient recognition of the importance of
this function, and experience has shown examples of where there have been
consequences. The new central organisation is founded on tight-loose
principles, and will require us to put these principles into practice.
•
A support service focus – to support and enable transformation change, as
well as operations at departmental and service level. This function will
continue, similar to the previous shared services model but, as there is a
much reduced resource, these functions will require a streamlining of policies,
procedures and processes.
•
A transactions focus - to provide more responsive internal services to
managers and staff, while achieving lower costs. This will be achieved
through greater use of technology, and simpler and more streamlined
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processes. There is scope for more self-service and automation than is
currently a feature of central operations.
In the current resource climate, we need to be clear about overall priorities across
the council as a whole, control and align resources in support of their delivery, and
manage competing demands responsively.
The Managing Director’s Department
Since November 2016 Legal and Democratic Services and Strategic Services have
been grouped together to form the Managing Director’s Department.
Legal and Democratic Services
The Council’s governance is important; we need to be sure that we are operating
within the fast changing legislative context associated with Brexit, devolution, and a
wide range of our statutory duties. We need to not only be doing things right, but also
be seen to be doing so by our residents and stakeholders. For these reasons, the
Council recently changed its structure to create the new post of Chief Legal Officer to
be its dedicated legal counsel and Monitoring Officer, distinct from NpLaw, its trading
arm and separate from the post of NpLaw Practice Director.
Managing Director
Strategy Director
Chief Legal Officer
Chief Legal
Officer
Strategy Director
Director
Children’s Service
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Strategy Service
The previous structure did not provide the focus
required to develop the Council’s capacity to lead and
manage change, and a recent external review
supported the need to locate responsibility for
authority-wide forward planning, change management
and performance management in a senior post,
bringing together the strategic levers for change. The
new post of Strategic Director has been created to
address that need and is now accountable for driving
change, innovation and performance improvement
across the organisation, including bringing together
and sharpening the focus of the following strategic
functions:
Fiona McDiarmid, Strategy Director
•
Communications – Following the re-modelling of this service last year, the
revised priorities and delivery plan for Communications are to be delivered in
a new way, focused on: forward communications planning, media
management and monitoring, corporate communications, stakeholder
relations and campaign management.
•
Intelligence and Analytics: to ensure that the council can harness the
potential of our data and utilise the latest evidence and emerging best
practice to inform our strategy, plans and financial forecasts. The function
will bring together the current functions of Business Intelligence and
Performance and Public Health Intelligence. A review of the interface with
Information Management is also required. This function will be re-designed
with a new organisation structure and roles. This will also be managed as a
separate review and consultation exercise within the scope of this overall
review. Establishing and recruiting to a Head of Intelligence and Analytics
to lead a new Unit is essential to ensure the function can harness the
potential of our data and utilise the latest evidence and emerging best
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practice. This will support us to achieve our priorities and tackle our
challenges effectively, along with supporting the statutory data requirements
of our social care functions. It is proposed that a revised service will be refocused to best support:
• The Strategy and Delivery Unit is responsible for four main activities:
Strategy and Planning, support and co-ordination for public service reform
activity, Delivery assurance and challenge, Corporate Programme governance
and delivery monitoring. This unit has recently been created to help the
council improve its ability to develop strategy and then deliver on its plans and
budgets. The unit will include support to whole system leadership across the
County’s public service partnerships, as well as equipping the council to
develop strategies and plans, and secure delivery on high profile areas of
change. Its methodology will be similar to the Delivery Units operating in other
local authorities and central government.
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•
Human Resources, including organisational development, HR Business
Partners and services to departments. Transactional HR and payroll
services will transfer to Finance to support the streamlining of processes
and enable HR to focus on adding value strategically. Educator solutions
is now responsible for HR support to schools. Additionally we are currently
recruiting to the Head of HR post, following a national search and
advertisement, to ensure the council secures the best professional
leadership and expertise to equip it for the challenges we face for the
workforce and the service going forward.
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