Scepticism was high within Social Services around Transformation due to the prior failure to deliver of several external consultancies. They'd left a lot of reports but no actual change. Meanwhile, the Council was suffering from:
- poor system performance (ICS and Carefirst)
- poor contractual and support arrangements
- cultural challenges (silo working and staff retention)
- workforce development issues
To put it mildly, the situation was poor and, as a result, the authority was at risk of receiving negative performance reports at JAR, CPA and CSCI levels and censure by the DCSF. It also risked losing grants accumulating to approximately £620k.
The most important task for Martyn was to engage with staff and management as he knew internal buy-in was critical. He needed to show them that what he had to offer was very different to the approach taken by the consultancies. Core to winning their support was providing a formal and pragmatic approach to transformational management.
Martyn developed and implemented a robust methodology to provide structure and governance to the Council’s change programme. He established a cross-directorate Programme Board to remove petty boundaries and the silo mentality that had become prevalent between the Adult, Children’s and ICT directorates. Martyn's impact was immediate and the Head of Adult Services noted how different his approach had been to those of the consultants that preceded him.
Martyn’s programme was delivered on-time and to the reviewed budget of £600k. His Transformation Programme is considered best in class, and it is likely to be adopted by the Department of Health’s initiative around ECAF Demonstrator sites for the North East.
Other achievements include:
- JAR Inspection was passed with no issues
- Delivery of a Mobile Working trial for 60 Social Workers – initial reports highlight a 30% increase in productivity and potential savings of £250k per annum
- ESAP - engaged OLM for their Easycare system against considerable commercial resistance to ensure connectivity to the NHS Spine and the sharing of information
- Contact Point remains on track and is best in class in the UK, enabling systems to be joined between Education and Social Services and then later into Health by 2011
- Culture Audit involving 140 people within the Directorate which has created job families, communities of practice, talent programmes and succession planning
- Provided 60 internal employees with formal Project Management and Stakeholder Management training, saving the Authority £40k in PRINCE2 training costs.
The Assistant Chief Executive said: “Martyn has developed a clear vision of the way forward that builds on the vision and strategy that already existed within the Council and Social Care services specifically.”
The Strategy and Performance Manager said: “He generates a terrific working spirit for all people concerned and ensures they are pulling in the same direction. He has a positive ‘can do’ attitude and empowers people to achieve their potential. He is not afraid to tackle issues that arise rather than let them fester in hope that they disappear.”
