Reflections from our roadshows

I am covering for Penny this week as she is on annual leave, and that includes writing the Chief Executive’s weekly blog.

I thought I’d include some reflections from our staff roadshows. This week we had the last of four sessions for staff in Finance & Resources and Legal & Democratic Services and we have nearly completed them across all directorates. There’s been lots of positive feedback and people have particularly welcomed the opportunity to join in the Stop, Start, Change conversations and enjoyed hearing about service achievements.

The Stop, Start, Change conversations have been wide ranging but a common theme in our roadshows was people suggesting ways to cut down on bureaucracy, duplication and making decision making quicker and easier.

Another theme was suggestions for further income generation. This is being looked at as part of the Value for Money Phase 4 programme. The Life Events service for example has just done a comprehensive review of all its charges and some significant changes were approved by Policy & Resources Committee in October. There is however always a balancing act for new income generation or fee increases as it can create additional work and could be a distraction from the council’s core business – this is something we need to consider on a case by case basis.

Unfortunately the ongoing disruption within Cityclean was also a topic of disappointment and frustration for many. We are one council and it is important that we acknowledge that this impacts on all of us. I sincerely hope this situation is one that we can change so that we can all be proud of the services we provide to residents, businesses and visitors in our city.

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to hear from a wide number of staff about service achievements over the last year and I am really proud of the difference we’ve made. There were so many people who volunteered to speak that I can’t do justice to them all here but I thought I’d mention a few things that really stuck with me:

• Lucas Petrykow and Luke Chittenden from the Architecture and Design team showing a Meridian News bulletin about the new Holland Road site for West Hove Junior School where a child said he was giving a “two thumbs up” to the design which converted the former Police Station
• Hale Ucar, our Workstyles programme manager, showing a graphic of the paper in Kings House and Hove Town Hall and how it would stretch all the way from Hove to Beijing if it was laid out end to end
• Natasha Watson from Legal Services proudly describing how her team had won the prestigious Local Authority Family Law Team of the year award and had achieved something they had previously thought was impossible in terms of radically reducing the time for care proceedings
• Two of our ICT apprentices, Riley Blunt and Trevor Lee, talking very personally about the positive impact that the scheme was having on them – they definitely got the most resounding applause from the audience and Carla Butler in HR is always looking for areas willing to take on apprentices and work placements
• Trevor Love on behalf of the Registrars service introducing a video made by Debbie Reynolds about the first same sex marriages – it was incredibly emotional and uplifting

The senior team all got asked some challenging questions in the roadshows with a question time session and we are busy preparing written responses to all those we didn’t get a chance to cover in the sessions themselves. I think the best question we got asked was, 'what difference had the Living our Values Every Day management development training made to how we did our jobs and led our services?'. I talked about how it had made me recognise the importance of giving prompt and clear feedback to people on things they had done well and also where performance needed to be improved rather than storing up those conversations for a 121 or appraisal. Others talked about the collaboration that it had promoted and the open dialogue with colleagues across a range of different services. And there was also strong feedback about how eye-opening the visits out to services and community groups had been in understanding how difficult the council can be to engage with and what we can do to simplify that.

I hope people keep asking that question to all managers who attend the training and that we make sure everyone puts the learning into practice.

Catherine Vaughan

Executive Director of Finance & Resources

Never a dull moment

I’m covering for Penny this week in an allegedly quieter time of the year. 

 

Challenging work for a small team

So I found an all too rare opportunity to meet with a special team – the Traveller Liaison team. This small team has in my view some of the most challenging work in the council. For many, the romantic image of travelling communities is long gone and sadly too many times this nomadic lifestyle becomes the focus to community conflict and tension. 
 
The team has to tread the careful path of working with different communities – some increasingly desperate to find a place to stop and ensure their children are educated, others angry and upset with incursions on to environmentally sensitive sites. With much hard work, the team has had a terrific year keeping councillors and residents  informed and responding to their concerns; building a productive working relationship with our police colleagues; and, most recently opening up a far more practical and open dialogue with our neighbouring authorities in Greater Brighton.
 


Horsdean Traveller Transit site

 

Planning ahead

A frenzy of forward planning was in hand for the Staff Roadshows scheduled to take place this Autumn.  I took part in my department working group think through how we might engage, entertain and inspire you. It was really interesting to hear from different people at all levels of the organisation discuss with some passion what they would like to do. Obviously the content will remain a closely guarded secret until the first roadshow.
 

Colleagues planning the Environment, Development & Housing roadshows

 

Testing times

After recent floods and lightning strikes of biblical proportions which knocked out computers, phones and fire alarms in King’s House, a new fire alarm system was put to the test on Thursday. Thankfully in very pleasant weather, the system and evacuation worked well. Congratulations to all the team who have been working to install the new system and all the staff who work as wardens and keep us safe.
 

Lee Beckham, facilities and security manager, and colleagues during the test

 

Final set of results

School may be out for summer but this week saw many young people in the city getting their GCSE results. From the initial results it looks like our students, teachers and our schools have exceeded the national average in achieving A-C in English and Maths, and some schools are reporting their best ever haul of A and A* grades.
 

Samantha and Jamie opening their results at Patcham High

 

Ernest with his results at Patcham High

 

Maisie and Holly with their results at Patcham High

 

There are also some very encouraging results for pupils in receipt of free school meals – a recognised indicator of deprivation. Closing the gap in achievement between those in receipt of free school meals and those who aren’t is our secondary school partnership’s top priority, so this is great news. We’ve yet to establish the impact the wider impact of the huge changes nationally in GCSEs this year, but there is no doubt that educational success remains an important factor in the reputation of our city. The personal anxiety as pupil or parent can be quite something and I’m glad I’m through it!
 

Have a good weekend
 
Geoff  
Executive Director Environment, Development & Housing