At the beginning of 2018 we set out our enterprising council approach to the way we deliver services. Our aim is to provide the modern services local people want and need by thinking and doing things differently, by not shirking bold decisions and by making the most of new opportunities – an approach which is bold, ambitious and enterprising.
It's more important than ever that we put value for money at the heart of everything we do. But it's not all about saving money. For any large organisation it is important to change as the world changes, to modernise and take advantage of new technology and better ways of doing things both for our residents and our employees.
In short, we need to be enterprising in everything we do.
Being an enterprising council means:
- value for money is at the heart of everything we do
- we are efficient and effective
- we focus on getting the best results for our residents whether that's by delivering a service ourselves or by using an external organisation - there is no one size fits all
- we have a bold, innovative and commercial mind-set
- we do things 'with' local people rather than 'to' them and we value fairness, openness and partnership
- we are proud of Derbyshire and ambitious for our public services
And for our employees it means:
- you are empowered to think and do things differently
- we will support you to embrace change and the new opportunities it brings
- we want our employees to be enterprising and come forward with ideas - you will be listened to and we will promote a 'no blame' culture
- we are one council − we work as a team across all departments
Progress so far has been significant and fast paced resulting in a change to the culture of the organisation and the way in which we undertake reviews, explore new and innovative service models and commission and deliver services. All this is helping to secure better outcomes and value for money services for local people.
The coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly led to a significant shift in the way that we operate and the challenges and opportunities that this has presented will also need to be embedded into our Enterprising Council approach.
Going forward, we will continue to focus our activity on each of the 5 outcomes:
- a creative and confident workforce
- forward thinking, collaborative and ambitious leadership
- improved outcomes and value for money services
- strong, resilient and self-sufficient communities
- a flexible, agile and financially sustainable organisation
To achieve our ambitions, the programme will be delivered through 5 enterprising council ‘pillars’:
- Modern ways of working
- Programme Management Office review
- Demand management
- Workforce and Leadership Behaviour
- Organisations Recovery and Renewal
Each of these pillars will involve a cross council project team featuring a range of staff from different levels of the organisation who will be involved in developing, shaping and taking forward each project from start to finish. Overseen by a member of the enterprising council board, this approach will provide the opportunity for us to think and do things differently, be innovative and creative, and drive change throughout the organisation.
Watch our video to hear more from the Council Leader Barry Lewis and our approach to being an Enterprising Council.