An overview of the Entrepreneurial Services Workstream was given by Senior Responsible Owner, Carl Bullough, Head of Environmental Services.
Key points made include:
- Although the workstream is looking to maximise income, it isn't just about commercialisation – it’s about embedding a new way of thinking across all of the Council.
- The Entrepreneurial Sprint programme has been organised to help 25 employees enhance their skill, use new tools and adopt a growth mind-set, then inspire others to do the same.
- What the Board is looking to do is investigate how to expand the scope and ambition of projects so they aren’t just 'business as usual’.
- The Board will is also looking beyond 2024 to identify other opportunities to take forward.
- There is an understanding that any commercial activity undertaken has to be legal and fair.
- The Board is aware of concerns re competing with local businesses for customers ,so the focus is to find opportunities that provide the Council with a unique selling proposition.
- Always have to remember, the more income the Council generates the fewer jobs need to go.
- The Board is responsible for managing that risk and looking at market demand.
Transformation & Commercialisation of Environmental Services
An overview of the Transformation of Environmental Services was given by Project Manager, Douglas Gardiner, Waste Services Manager.
- Central to change is the need to bring employees on board and with you.
- Face-to-face communication has been undertaken to ensure teams understand the need for change and want to be involved.
- A staff suggestion scheme will shortly be launched to provide teams with an easy way to give their views.
- Better use of data and technology will also help the project realise £1.19m savings by 2024 and increase efficiencies. This includes:
- Refuse collections: using current in-cab technology to help reduce the number of missed bins.
- Street Cleansing: installing in-cab technology that links to our website that allows people to see on a map, in real-time, when streets have been swept.
- Fly tipping: work is underway to use MyFalkirk so that members of the public can drop pins on fly tip locations allowing people to see if a report has already been made.
- The roll out of 70k burgundy has gone relatively smoothly.
- Card and cardboard is now of a very high quality and is immediately being bailed.
- This frees up capacity to offer space to other local authorities.
- Confidence that new technology and an engaged workforce will help the project succeed and shape the future of the Service.
New projects and quick wins
- Hydrotherapy pool: idea to commercialise hydrotherapy pool when not in use put forward by an employee now being taken forward as a project.
- Clackmannanshire Council: now undertaking contaminated land work for Clacks after their officer left their organisation.
- Anticipate three educational projects will be green by next meeting; Digital is amber due to resource requirement.
- The Board was reminded of the linkages between the top ten projects and the need for accurate reporting to enable progress.
- As reporting is a new skill for many Project Managers, support is being provided to help them develop a better understanding of what is required.
Vision & measures of success
- Both discussed at Leadership Forum and Employee Listening Events in September, and at each Workstream Board.
- Aim is to produce a vision and measures of success that describe what the Council will look like over the coming years.
- Making it easier when trying to communicate our goals to customers, communities and businesses.
- Ideas have been generated. Meat now being put on the bones by each Board.
- There were no bids to discuss.
- £350k left in the fund.
- A range of options to be considered are expected to be brought to the next Board.
Risk Register
- Meeting with Glasgow City Council and ALARM, the Risk Manager’s Group for Scotland.
- Using information from those meetings – and input from Project Managers - a review of our risk register was undertaken.
- Potential risk of failure re partnership added – as it is so important to the success of many of our projects
- Reduced the risk on information due to new governance structure and on people , due to the range of work and engagement being undertaken around culture change – this will take time to bed-in.
AOB
The employee newsfeed and the Council of the Future pages were highlighted to members of the Board as good sources of additional information.