We have been engaged by a growing number of clients to assist them to change and transform how their organisations work and the impact they have in their communities. As shown by the examples here, the scale of the projects has varied from whole system interventions lasting a year or more to single day events designed to kick-start some changes to strategy or process.

Our work here involved creating and steering the change initiative know as One Council One Vision, including planning the large-scale change effort initiated by the then Chief Executive Katherine Kerswell (now CEO at Northants. County Council), organising and facilitating large-scale open space events and team-based activities, creating ‘reference point’ papers and reports and introducing new thinking around change and improvement.

This was perhaps one of the most high profile local authority stories of this decade. Engaged by the interim Chief Executive (Michael Frater, then CEO at Telford and Wrekin Council, now CEO at Nottingham City Council) to work as a member of an interim corporate team in what was then dubbed by the press as the “worst council in the country”, the collaborative effort to ‘rescue’ and then recover the corporate governance of the Council was a challenging piece of work.

 

Annie Shepperd followed as CEO and we assisted the Council with several important pieces of interim and consultancy work, including using Appreciative Inquiry to create an initiative for the Council and the Local Strategic Partnership that assisted its development of a Vision for Walsall 2021. 

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council

Project List

This was an intensive interim assignment where we worked with the IDeA to lead the creation of a new department for the Council, as part of its recovery and improvement. Our work included prompting innovative organisational development initiatives and introducing healthier leadership practices.

Our relationship with the City Council extends to over four years now and has included roles as the external adviser on the Council’s Gearing Up transformation programme; developing and leading the Council’s first corporate improvement programme, Serving Nottingham Better; assisting in the Council’s preparations for its 2007 Corporate Assessment and most recently introducing the Council to Appreciative Inquiry, which is now the tool it is using in its exciting vision creation initiative.

Swindon Borough Council

Nottingham City Council

This assignment lasted almost three years and involved being a member of a small team that supported the Ministerial Appointee, Anthony Allen, in his work to assist the Council to improve its corporate governance, which included allied work on organisational processes and structure, improving service performance and a host of important challenges to practice that supported the Council’s large-scale improvement efforts.

 

Our relationship directly with the Council then followed, assisting it to prepare for its Corporate Assessment in 2006, and carrying out executive coaching since then.   

We are active coaches and facilitators of learning sets for public sector executives. This dual role means we get to work with small groups and individual executives on their issues; guiding and supporting their reflection on practice and therefore learning about leadership, management and transformations.

OPDM / Hull City Council

Learning Sets and Coaching

Sharing learning from the forefront of fundamental change in local government. 

We have extensive links with other consultancies and agencies working in local government and the public sector more widely.

 

We fulfilled various senior roles in our professional careers and this has attracted consultancies who have engaged us to advise them on the local government market place; how to position or develop fresh offerings to contribute to the future health of local governance organisations and how interims can assist organisations to achieve step-change in performance. 

Event Facilitation

Sector Advice

A term more often used in the USA than the UK. It means free! And yes, we do that too on occasion for organisations with whom we share a particularly strong value set and where can assist them to progress. 

 

If any of the above assignments and projects have a particular resonance with you and you think we can assist you or your organisation, then do please get in touch – the first meeting we have is always at no charge.

Pro Bono Work