Background and Challenges
We worked with the metropolitan borough of Walsall in the West Midlands with a workforce of approximately 3,500 staff to develop an organisation-wide transformation programme. The workforce had reduced by approximately 25% in the previous six-year period and the organisation was undergoing periods of constant and significant change in terms of the leadership and direction, which had resulted in significant difficulties in long term planning.
The key challenges were:
- Due to the historical and frequent changes in political leadership, the council had developed a reactive culture rather than one that planned for long term change.
- There was also a change in political leadership and Chief Executive during our time with them. This required us to be highly adaptable in our approach and to work in an environment with a high degree of uncertainty.
- Considerable work was required to secure buy-in from members to strengthen the internal resources around project and change management.
- Staff morale was low, resulting in difficulties effecting sustainable change.
- There was a lack of corporate governance structure in place around change and transformation.
Trueman Change Involvement
Trueman Change designed and developed a comprehensive, council-wide transformation programme with the council, covering:
- Digitalisation
- Work with voluntary section partners
- Demand management in Social Care
- Asset management
- Workforce transformation
Outcomes and Solutions
- Developed and successfully launched a new organisation-wide programme of transformation.
- Developed, recruited to, and implemented a new corporate PMO function providing discipline and rigour to the transformation programme.
- Introduced and embedded newly designed ways of working, bringing in best practice around project and change management.
- Mapped out the culture change associated with the transformation programme, including developing a workforce transformation strategy with HR and re-designing the role of the manager.
- Run a range of engagement events were run for members, leadership team, managers and staff, giving them a genuine opportunity to meaningfully feed into the change programme.
