Agenda item
Improvement Areas: Customer Services & Organisational Culture
To receive a presentation.
Minutes:
The Divisional Directors for Customer Service and for HR & Transformation each gave a presentation.
Customer Services - The Divisional Director for Customer Services gave a presentation outlining the key themes, progress and challenges in achieving modern customer services and where the customer continues to remain at the centre of Council focus. Drivers of the programme are; customer needs, the changing world, corporate culture, demand and exploitation of new technologies
The Board heard:
- That customer access is a theme which is being investigated to develop better insight into customers’ preferred patterns of access in order to inform how Council services can be better offered to residents.
- That use of IT has expanded exponentially over the past 50 years and has influenced how the public wish to interact with Council.
- That the Council is required to change not just to meet in the new technological advances but also to meet the needs of a changing demographic (by 2030, over 50% of the borough will be aged under 30).
- That the residents’ survey indicated that 90% of residents in the borough have access to the Internet and engage with the digital world in their personal lives. Therefore they do not need intensive levels of Council support.
- That future customer service would provide a seamless customer journey by changes to back office functions, use of technologies, and building on best practice and expertise. Risks and challenges to achieving this are: literacy, digital skills, ICT infrastructure, poor data and a citizen centred staff.
Responding to the presentation:
- The Board felt assured that the customer would remain the focus of this service throughout the changes proposed and drive of the types of service to be provided. The Board noted also that the intended transformation of this service was large and would require staff levels and capability matters to be addressed. Members were informed that the Council’s ICT infrastructure was a factor which limited staff capability as they were unable to access tools necessary to properly deliver their role.
- It was acknowledged that changed culture was also needed and therefore the Council intended to explore how the Ideas Stores might form part of the ‘front door’ element of the provision. To achieve this it was necessary to progress these outlets from paper-based processes.
- The Board considered that although there would be risks, progress should not be impeded by these. It was necessary to adopt a ‘deliver and test’ approach rather than delay implementation to find first an optimal solution. It was noted that that computer literacy levels in the borough were approximately 70% therefore such skills should be utilised so that the Council might better target its resources to areas of greater need and devise better ways of engagement for the vulnerable and hard to reach. Delivery of digital interfaces with the customer would allow the Council to put more resources and thought into how it can deliver its face-to-face services and where these would be required. Members were informed that suitable IT infrastructure and web-based access for community safety matters would enable the Council to respond more quickly and effectively to issues raised in the community. This would enable the Council-community relationship to evolve.
- The Board observed that much could be achieved by better use of IT but it was necessary also to ensure that there is a human face for residents and that service quality is retained.
- The Board noted that there were very many different contact numbers across the Council and highlighted the potential consequences of the inadequate administration of customer contact numbers. Services such as the Police have experienced loss of intelligence as a consequence of a decline in the use of the nonemergency contact number. Members were informed that there was a managed programme to progressively terminate unused and surplus contact numbers which were not used or were not answered. Additionally the Council was researching arrangements at Councils such as Brent and Hackney which operated advanced IT arrangements.
- The Board was informed of activity in the following areas:
o Registrars -- directly responding to email requests
o Parking Permits -- will be online by March 2018
o Revenues and Benefits – an Web facility is being created which will allow online transactions.
To enable service delivery to be transformed in the above areas, the pages of the Council website for these services were presently being redesigned.
The Board asked that:
- Officers identify five beneficial (customer service) outcomes that are visible and can be quickly achieved and pursue their implementation.
- That progress on the delivery of these be reported to the Board.
Organisational Culture – The Divisional Director for Human Resources and Transformation gave a presentation. She informed the Board that:
- This area had been part of the original directions and had been identified as a key issue going forward.
- An action plan with key themes had been developed.
- The case for change, key themes and the action plan were informed by the desired outcomes that the Council had identified.
- It will be necessary to plan, act and deliver in all of the key areas; this will important in assessing the Council's impact.
Responding to the presentation, the Board:
- Noted that organisational culture was an important theme throughout the Council; Commissioners had previously identified Member behaviours and consistency of approach as two areas for attention within this theme.
- Was satisfied that outcomes incorporated tangible changes and the action plan incorporated targets around employee health and noted work done around the new Healthy Workplace Charter and to gather intelligence around staff views.
- Heard that Chief Executive’s Roadshows and staff engagements indicated concerns around leadership and future workforce uncertainty.
- Noted that there could be changes to established organisational structures which could require staff to engage with many service reviews.
- Noted that the experiences of encountering and engaging with change in Children’s Services Directorate might provide useful casework for the wider organisation. Additionally the organisation should take account of lessons learned from the amalgamation of Children’s and Adults Services in 2014, noting the role that Members performed at this time.
- Noted that there should be a mechanism for checking the fitness of work structures. The Divisional Director advised that this would be indicated by assessing whether outcomes had been achieved and by Member scrutiny.
- Noted that bringing in change was also a learning process. It was therefore necessary to be able to reflect on the choices made and learn from them.
The Board asked that:
- Feedback and themes arising out of the staff health survey be reported to Cabinet.
- Feedback on action being taken to address Member issues be reported to the Board
RESOLVED
1. That the presentations of the Divisional Directors for Customer Service and for HR & Transformation be noted
2. That the above actions identified as during the discussion be taken forward