Change and uncertainty

On a week of the Holocaust memorial day, the red poppy bought for my birthday from the Tower of London exhibition arrived at home.

A poppy from the Tower of London

It will soon join another poppy in our garden and will stand as a constant reminder of the horrors of war; the brutality of man’s inhumanity to man and the selfless humanity of those who stood up and were counted.

So the theme this week could be one of conflict and compassion but instead I want to talk about change and uncertainty. 

Changing times

In our  regular consultation meeting with the trade unions on Monday, these themes underpinned our discussion on the budget and the actions to change this organisation. Our drivers for change include: reduced finances resulting from austerity; the expectations of an increasingly tech savvy population; the needs of a minority of residents who are becoming poorer and more frail; and the opportunity to learn from best practice. 

Change is coming. And we are treating this as an opportunity to reconsider our purpose as a local authority and to focus on our core principles, values and priorities. These will be set out at a high level in our Corporate Plan when it is agreed in March and in the budget when it is set by councillors at the end of February. 

This is where uncertainty comes in. The work on budget options is underway and until decisions are taken, there cannot be certainty. All I can say to all of you is that I empathise with those who are under notice of redundancy or who are managing one of the number of service redesigns currently underway. 

I can’t take the uncertainty away but I can acknowledge it. Senior trade union colleagues understand the position very well and are doing their job representing their members and voicing concern regarding changes. I want to record here the importance of the work of the trade unions and to also reiterate my request that they work in partnership with us in coming up with the best approach to achieve a more modern, smaller and effective Brighton & Hove City Council in the future. 

Leading the change

Change and uncertainty needs to be led and well managed. And this is one of the reasons for the introduction of our management development programme part of our culture change programme, Living our values, every day.

I met with a number of managers who were completing the programme this week. I wanted to hear their feedback and to support and encourage them in their development. The focus of the programme is the management of self, others and service, with the best outcomes for citizens as its result. 

Meeting managers on the development course

At the heart of the programme is the importance of behaviour which are authentic and consistent with our values. I heard positive examples of new collaboration within the organisation. I also heard of challenges in terms of us being open and efficient. The benefits of such a development programme are often a slow burn rather than an immediate hit.

There was general appreciation that this investment in managers is really crucial at a time that when the demands of public service are changing and becoming more complicated and diverse. I very much hope that this programme will assist managers in leading through change in a time of uncertainty. 

Briefing potential election candidates

Change and uncertainty must certainly have been key themes for potential election candidates when they came to our briefing this week. We had a number of people who are considering standing for election and want to find out what the role of the local authority councillor will be. 

Prospective councillor briefing

It was a very positive session; and benefited from hearing from three current councillors who joined us. Their overwhelming theme was one of living our values and putting the city and its citizens first and foremost when conducting the business of the council. They all agreed that, once elected, the place for campaigning is not the council offices and committees. Their commitment and respectful preparedness to collaborate was impressive. I hope we left prospective candidates with a realistic view of the important role of councillors and the challenging circumstances that are faced both in term of resources and responsibilities.

Our purpose and ambition

So although we do not know who will be in government or indeed in administration of the council in May, we do know that our purpose and ambition will be to provide civic leadership, supporting the wellbeing and aspiration of our citizens and our city and its economy. We do know that we will need to be better managing the opportunities provided by our digital age, to enable citizens to connect and contact us remotely. And we will ensure that those who need face to face communication and support can access that easily. 

Our draft Corporate Plan

We do know that we will need to be sharing more services with other organisations including other councils, building on examples that already exist here. We do know that we need to be working openly with our citizens enabling them to do more for themselves and their communities. We know that we need to sustain our vibrant economy and continue to have an attractive offer for our 11 million visitors a year. And we do know that we have to do the things that prepare the ground for setting a sustainable budget for the next four years. 

That sustainable budget will require us to change, reduce, reimagine and manage uncertainly. For some of us change is exciting, for others it is daunting. I know many of you that work in this organisation would like there to be more certainty and I am only being open with you when I say there are some things that will remain uncertain for some time.

Let’s hold on to that which is certain, namely that we are here as public servants to work in the best interest of the city and all its citizens, particularly to those most vulnerable. Our purpose and our values of openness, respect, collaboration, creativity, efficiency and customer (citizen) focus must guide us.

Our apprentices

And now for a completely different take on change and uncertainty. A group of our current apprentices have made a film explaining why they took this route and what they are getting out of the experience. 

                  
                      Apprentices at Brighton & Hove City Council from SeeThat on Vimeo

All of them have made a change and all are enthusiastic and committed. I have worked with Ellie when she filmed me, and I have met some of the others. I think they are great ambassadors for apprenticeships and for Brighton & Hove City Council. So watch the film and feel the energy, it's less than three minutes long. 

Thank you, as always, for all you do.

Best wishes

Penny

Final paragraph edited Friday 30 January 3pm

Good news during a busy week

I start this blog with some trepidation because last week one of my local twitter followers took me to task for the use of jargon. What I did say in response is that this blog is primarily written for people who work for Brighton & Hove City Council. It's very gratifying that it's of interest to local people and other followers from across the country and even a few abroad. So, I will try to ensure that it’s equally understandable but forgive me if I slip into a little jargon in the pursuit of pithiness and a recognition that colleagues will know what I am talking about!

Top ranked council

In a week of big skies, wet and windy days and nights and distressing international news, it was good to have something to celebrate mid-week. 

Big sky in Hove

On Wednesday we found out that we had come 12th in the Stonewall Employers Index and indeed first amongst local authorities. This is testament to years of commitment and hard work. I am pleased and proud for all our LGB staff, citizens and those colleagues who worked hard to demonstrate to Stonewall how we do things around here. I am doubly pleased that we have achieved this recognition this year after the disappointment and consternation of last year when we didn’t make it into the 100. Next week I am meeting Ruth Hunt (chief executive of Stonewall). I hope the focus of our conversation will be very much on making sure that our Trans colleagues and citizens get a fair deal. I will be re-emphasising the importance for us of equality for all and having a fair and equal approach to all protected groups, age, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality and disability.

Ruth Hunt with Richard Butcher Tuset

Management development

I began Tuesday by meeting the 10th cohort of our management development programme. Our development programme focuses on how managers address the performance of themselves, others and their service. It was interesting, as it always is, to hear from colleagues about the benefits of the programme.  I was pleased to learn how our managers have been challenging one another in the interest of improving services to our citizens.

Cohort 10 of the management training

Audit and Standards committee

I explained the importance of management and leadership development later this week, when I was reporting to our Audit and Standards committee on our modernisation programme. This is our agenda for improving the Value for Money of our services, changing how we do things and reducing costs, while improving what we do for citizens. Change is scary. It can be difficult for some and exciting and stimulating for others. As I have often said, change is not optional when we are facing rising demand together with reducing resources. And we need to make the most of key opportunities that are provided by the digital age in which we live.

South East 7

Also, on Tuesday I also attended the meeting of the SE7 (South East 7) chief executives and leaders. One agreed outcome was that we would write a joint letter to the Secretary of State and Local Government Association and others. We will try to re-address some of the misinformation in the press about the ‘crisis’ in A & E and where responsibility and solutions lie. We want to explain that the whole system of Health and Social care (from GPs to A & E) is having to manage increasing expectations, and increasing frailty of our ageing population. We are responding by working hard together in a joined up, planned and committed way, and blaming parts of the system doesn't help.

Wednesday leadership meeting

On Wednesday, the focus of my meetings were the budget and forthcoming agenda for the Health & Wellbeing board. In the afternoon, it was the weekly meeting of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). We agreed reports for Policy & Resources next month and reviewed progress. After a heavy day of meetings it was a joy to go and relax and listen to some jazz at Smalls Jazz club. It takes place underneath the Caxton Arms and Scott Hamilton and the Smalls House band were playing.

Scott Hamilton at the Caxton Arms

A heady mix

Thursday’s activities ranged from meeting with trade unions, The Arts Council, a former colleague who specialises in digital and democracy and a Health and Wellbeing meeting and ending with preparation for the Staff Consultation Forum next week.

Today began with our regular council and health chief executive’s meeting, followed by the first monthly meeting of this year with the three political leaders of the council. Now I'm off to visit our Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) where the council and the police work together to manage our child protection concerns and seek to keep our most vulnerable children safe from harm.

That’s it for a snapshot of the life of a local authority chief executive this week. As you see I move from the big strategic issues like planning the future purpose and functions of the organisation to important individual issues such as complaints that come into my office.

Once again, well done to everyone who worked on our Stonewall submission and have a good weekend.

All the best
Penny