#lgworkforce – Implementing a major organisational transformation

Melanie Wood and Catherine Griffiths from Birmingham City Council talk about how to take £450m out of the budget, addressing the workforce implications and creating new ways of working.

• Birmingham is the largest local authority in Europe – £3.4b revenue expenditure, 52,600 employees and has large funding cuts announced
• Excellence in people management – model which aims to improve performance, manage headcount and produce an org that is fit for purpose
• Strategic Workforce Planning – effective and aligned business strategy, drives innovation, influence Council planning in a volatile environment, creation of collaborative networks with partner orgs
• Four areas of team capability – people management intelligence, workforce planning, talent management and succession planning, innovation hubs
• Model: define plan, analyse demand, analyse supply, plan actions, implement and review
• Intranet content and e-learning are key tools
• Developing modelling tools with a local university to help understand the organisation and plan for change
• Org design function established after HR redesign at BCC
• Role is to help managers and leaders run an org capable of delivering excellent services in a time of cost-cutting
• Eliminating duplication, facilitating service innovation, removing barriers to collaboration, finding the ‘bright spots’ and replicating them
• Components of org design – model, methodology, principles, knowledge management, toolkit (by phase) and a development programme
• Systems thinking based approach.
• 4 phases – asses, design, implement, embed and revisit
• Regulatory studies case study – saved £3.5m over 4 years. Front line services maintained through technology investments. 300 staff affected.