Culture - Round One Feedback


A summary from Round One. Really vibrant, honest and sometimes challenging sessions; great fun


Round One Feedback

Categories

All feedback and data from round one workshops were analysed and divided into the following themes:

·         Communications - anything people do in terms of how they and SCC communicate with others, so talking, e-mail, blogs etc.

·         Development - more personal and individual matters, such as learning and reward;

·         Environment - reflects comments and points about the system we operate within. This may include, for example, policies, processes, culture;

·         Style - working styles & behaviours, leadership, management, attitudes

·         Team.

What Determines Culture at Somerset County Council?

This section presented positive and negative feedback. The latter includes bureaucracy, meetings, risk-aversion, silos, hierarchies. These can all be seen as ‘stuff’ that gets in the way.

On the plus side, a theme that recurs in later sections is ‘Proud to be Local Government’, so colleagues are genuinely proud to be working here. Coupled with a comment on the passion that staff have for the services they deliver, there is something to say that in the face of financial cuts and the complex organisation that we work in, colleagues like the work that they do and the potential they have to make an impact.

We know from labour market research into the motivations of those relatively new to the workforce (‘millennials’) that being able to make a difference is of great importance when it comes to someone choosing who to work for. 
Communications
·         Reliance on e-mails
·         Visibility of senior managers
·         Trust & respect
·         Communications with stakeholders
·         Political
·         Reputation
Development
·         Need for time to think creatively and innovatively
·         Opportunities needed for personal development and using other skills
·         Lack of reward for good performance
·         Sharing learning and experience across the organisation
Environment
·         Bureaucracy & red tape;
·         Proud to be Local Government;
·         Slow pace of innovation;
·         Aversion to risk;
·         Workforce/People strategy;
·         Taunton-focus;
·         Age-profile/longevity of workforce;
·         National & local politics;
·         The potential for our impact – resources and breadth of remit;
·         Finance & funding
Style
·         Role modelling, empowerment, leadership;
·         Need for more collaboration, ownership, innovation and challenge;
·         Meetings culture;
·         Behaviours of managers & leaders;
·         Aversion to risk;
·         Staff passion;
·         People care about each other;
·         Silo-ed working;
·         Firefighting
Team
·         Hierarchical, top-down;
·         Silos;
·         Good culture in vision groups;
·         Friendly, inclusive atmosphere;
·         Some good leadership;
·         Team unity, supportive team spirit;
·         Opportunities for partnerships

            What Would Great Culture Look Like?

This section asked colleagues to envision what great culture would look like at SCC, what it would feel like to work within it and the impact this would have on services that we commission and deliver.

Key themes in this section include challenge, collaboration, openness, shared values and communities. There was also a strong sense of linking our work to outcomes, so continuing the theme of proud to be in local government and passion for services.

Communications
·         Collaboration
·         Openness
·         Shared values
·         Communities
·         Constructive debate and challenge;
·         Closer relationships with other departments;
·         Sharing learning;
·         Participation;
·         Knowing that our work matters.
Development
·         Innovation
·         Motivation
·         Support
·         Sharing
·         Positive feedback
·         CPD should include soft-skills;
·         Shared knowledge and learning;
·         Supportive – in difficult situations;
·         Learn from mistakes;
·         Organisational learning;
·         Great motivation – wanting to come into work every day;
·         Understanding other parts of the organisation;
·         Positive strokes – thank you-s
Environment
·         Supportive
·         Motivated
·         Innovative
·         Fun, happy, energised;
·         Welcoming, calm;
·         Fairness & respect;
·         Ambition;
·         Feeling valued and appreciated.
Style
·         Take risks
·         Fun
·         Innovative
·         Creative
·         Respect
·         Passion
·         Enthusiasm
·         Focus on the customer;
·         People wanting to make a difference;
·         Confidence;
·         Pride in where we work;
·         People at the centre of everything;
·         Inquisitive culture;
·         Great modelling from top down;
·         Values-based recruitment
Team
·         Feeling supported
·         Collaboration
·         Relationships across teams
·         Culture across SCC and districts;
·         Better relationships with members;
·         More laughter in teams;
·         Better understanding & respect between commissioning and delivery
·         Consistent management practices

What Do We Need To Do To Change at SCC?

Finally, colleagues were asked for their ideas on what we need to do to change things at Somerset County Council, so in effect how to bridge the gaps between what it feels like now and what it would be like to work within a great culture.

There was some really good thinking here and these are the ideas that will help to develop the people strategy.  
Communications
·         Employee engagement
·         Use of digital media for 2-way conversation
·         Strategic narrative
·         More informal feedback from managers.
·         Promote a positive culture of challenge;
·         Buy-in from all staff to promote SCC culture;
·         Celebrate the great stuff;
·         E-mail culture
Development
·         Shadowing opportunities
·         Working with and understand other teams
·         Technology & Culture Hacks
·         Innovation fund for great ideas
·         Using individual skills.
·         Everyone to go and explore;
·         Supervision;
·         Recognise ongoing support in annual appraisals;
·         Volunteering
Environment
·         The need for staff to buy into culture change (therefore feeling they own it);
·         Need for more organisational flexibility;
·         Sense that operational infrastructure holds up the organisation.
Style
·         Allowing managers to manage
·         Setting expectations
·         Encouraging positive feedback
·         Behaviours such as innovative, creative, respect, happier, dynamic, can-do;
·         Confident commissioning;
·         Making a difference to society.
Team
·         Strong sense of wanting to connect with others, across teams
·         Having fun
·         Getting over a ‘them & us’ culture

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Some rambling thoughts on leadership I presented to a group studying higher apprenticeships

Leadership Talk – Higher Apprentices I'm spending some time talking about leadership with you and I’m going to do this in the context of what makes me tick, my observations on leadership and how I’d like to see this work at Somerset County Council. You are absolutely free to agree or disagree with anything that I say… I’m going to start with the conclusion. I don’t believe you can be an effective leader in life until you’ve found something that matches your values. To be what we might call an ‘authentic’ leader, you have to be true to yourself. You will be found out at some point if you fake things. This might be in a meeting, in your dealings with residents or politicians or staff, it may even happen years after you started in a job; you will be found out if you try and fake leadership. When you get a new job, someone might tell you, “You’ve got big shoes to fill”. You haven’t. Good leaders wear their own shoes. I recognise that I’m in a privileged position. I’m in an...
Read more
I'm doing a lot of work on culture, at Somerset County Council. I'll post a couple of old articles, just to get things started on the blog, and then aim to keep things up-to-date Cultured Club I sent an invitation to colleagues in August and September last year, to join me in looking at culture at Somerset County Council. The response was great and resulted in a number of lively workshops across the county. We covered a number of subjects, defining what we think culture is, what determines it, culture at Somerset County Council and what great culture looks and feels like. Conversation was open, humorous but serious and there was a real sense of caring for colleagues and services. One person admitted in later feedback, “If I’m honest I was dreading it…”, but ended up by exclaiming that it had been “a joy to be part of.” And no, that wasn’t when someone else substituted for me. Participants were asked to take this work back to their teams, using a shorter presentat...
Read more