99 – Value-led management in local government. Some further thoughts.

Posted on May 18, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by Colin Weatherby 670 words

Lancing Farrell recently posted on value-led management. There is increasing demand for improved performance in delivering local government services that are responsive, efficient and fair. Communities want change. Councils today operate in much the same way as they did 30 years ago, despite some radical legislative reforms, and it is time for a re-think of how council operations are designed to deliver value to communities. In this post I have added to the ideas introduced by Lancing Farrell.

Value is often mentioned in local government when talking about services, particularly ‘best value’. However, there is often inadequate understanding about the different types of value, the difference between private and public value, and how value is actually created. The concept of public value, as conceived by Professor Mark H. Moore, is extremely relevant in local government.

“Unless there is a clear understanding of the value to be produced, how can you design operations to produce it or measure performance in delivering it? “

Value-led management is a management approach to improving organisational systems and the value they produce. It focuses on the service recipient and value to be created in service delivery. In public services value is created along a continuum from essentially private value, similar to the concept of customer value, through to public value that reflects the aggregate desires of citizens. Continue reading →

95 – Making high performance happen through value-led management.

Posted on May 12, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by Lancing Farrell 850 words

Some time ago I posted on Frank Ostroff and the barriers that he believes prevent change in government . Ostroff makes a lot of sense – formulate a vision, be mindful of your present situation, seek the support of stakeholders, set a clear path, understand the complexity in what you are doing, and hold people accountable. However, I have found that sometimes you need a simple tool to take those ideas into practice. I was once asked by a CEO.

‘How do you get people to fundamentally re-think what they are doing instead of making incremental improvements to optimise what they are currently doing?’

Maybe this is the answer. Continue reading →

94 – ‘An interview with Wanksy, Penis Doodler and Pothole Avenger’, The Atlantic CITYLAB, 1 May 2015.

Posted on May 11, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by Colin Weatherby 430 words

Image from CITYLAB.

The sub title to this article says it all – ‘How an English construction worker is fighting for better road infrastructure by scribbling on the streets like a third-grader’. What is it that reduces people to this behavior? Why do they feel compelled to break the rules to get something done? There have been various articles on guerilla gardening, depaving and other aspects of DIY urbanism, but this is the first ‘guerilla maintenance’ article I have seen.

According to the article, Wanksy is a surveyor and professional artist who became fed up with the numerous potholes in his hometown, so he started drawing penises around them. And it seems to be working Continue reading →

78 – Organisational comfort zones in local government. Where is yours?

Posted on April 22, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by Colin Weatherby 730 words

The idea that people are often in their comfort zones and that learning and improvement occurs when you move out of it has currency in local government today. The concern is that when people find their comfort zone they settle in and thereafter resist change, even beneficial change. Individuals are regularly being asked to leave their comfort zone and accept challenges. Does an organisation also have a comfort zone?

I think many organisations do – and they stay in them. It will usually be the zone that the organisational leaders, the council or the CEO and Executive, allow it to be in. Frequently, it is a place that they understand and there will be a level of challenge and change activity that the leaders are comfortable to support. The question is what is that level at your organisation? Continue reading →

69 – Local government and milk. What do they have in common?

Posted on April 8, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by Colin Weatherby 660 words

I recently drove past a car sign-written with advertising for milk available direct from the farm. It promoted the virtues of buying milk from the producer. I had earlier heard a radio advertisement for milk available from an inner urban Melbourne dairy where I am sure there are no cows. The advertisement talked about local milk from local people.

There may be some difference in the milk each company is selling. And it is probably different from the milk I can buy at my supermarket. So what is happening with milk and why might it tell us something that is relevant to local government? Continue reading →

62 – “The way to make it in local government is to forget ambition and pigeon hole yourself before someone else does”.

Posted on March 31, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by S. Dogood 1000 words

This was the advice I received during a discussion with a colleague this week. Pigeon hole yourself he advised and local government becomes a good place to work. In some ways he is right. The discussion started me thinking about why that is the case and how it could be different.

The ambitious face a number of challenges. First and foremost they can’t be threatening to the Executive. Secondly, they need to be realistic about their skills and value. Lastly, regardless of their own role breadth or experience, they run the recruitment gamut as there is always a hierarchy of preferred candidates for any role. Hiring traditionally take the following hierarchy seeking to recruit someone who Continue reading →

46 – Labor’s rate cap to hurt services and infrastructure, ratings agency warns’. The Age, 27 February 2015.

Posted on March 7, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by Colin Weatherby 900 words

Image from http://www.that-is-good-crap.com

This article follows an earlier piece in The Age, ‘Plan to cap council rates at inflation could lead to service cuts and job losses in Victoria’ on 23 February 2015. Both articles are about the planned legislation in Victoria to restrict councils to rate increases at or below the Consumer Price Index from 2016 unless they seek an exemption from the Essential Service Commission. Some councils have already started to cut jobs to reduce expenditure ahead of rate capping. Others are forecasting cuts to their services and reduced maintenance or renewal of community infrastructure.

This is occurring at the same time that the State government is shifting more costs onto councils and national grants to councils are being frozen. I have previously posted on rate capping (see here , here and here). As you can imagine, rate capping is dominating talk within local government circles. Continue reading →

44 – The Executive. What exactly is its role?

Posted on March 3, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by Colin Weatherby 700 words

This seems to be a common question. You frequently hear people saying, ‘that decision will need to go to the Executive’, or ‘don’t do that until you have been to Exec’. If asked, the people saying this often can’t say why they have offered this advice and reviewing the terms of reference for the Executive will usually reveal that it is not a decision making body. It is individual members who have the authority to make decisions. So, what is its role? Continue reading →

42 – How do you listen to the ‘voice of the customer’ in local government? It can be done.

Posted on March 1, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by Lancing Farrell 740 words

This post follows an earlier post Customer, client, citizen, resident or ratepayer. Who are we dealing with? It takes the concept of value further by proposing some tools that can be used to understand what customers expect and whether those expectations have been met.

I will start with Peter R. Scholtes and his views on the ‘customer-in mentality’, which he says is characterised by ‘thoughtfulness, responsiveness, empathy and altruism’. Customer-in thinking increases the likelihood that customers will get what they need – and need what they get. Listening to the customer is the beginning. Scholtes says we can start to do this by paying attention to what customers say when they contact us to make complaints, ask questions, or request services. Councils typically count the number of resident contacts. Some differentiate between service requests and complaints. Few actively evaluate what customers are asking about or saying to obtain qualitative data to guide service improvement.

Alternatively, or in addition, we can initiate contact with the customer to solicit information through surveys, interview or focus groups. Continue reading →

37 – Risk delegation. Who has it at your council?

Posted on February 20, 2015 by lancingfarrell

Posted by Colin Weatherby 480 words

Have you ever wondered who has the formal delegation to accept risk on behalf of the organisation? I know that you probably spend most of your time dealing with systems that seek to reduce or eliminate risk, but what happens when risks must be taken? How do you assess and accept those risks?

My bet is that there is no system to accept risk and that your organisation has little understanding of the risks that are being taken by managers each day. I think that the absence of a system to formally assess and accept risks is the reason there are endless systems to get rid of it. I am not talking about the Risk Register and the big strategic or operational risks that are obvious to everyone. I am talking about the daily risks that arise when something hasn’t worked out the way you would like it to but work must go on. Continue reading →

Local Government Utopia

Two hundred and fifty (or so) opinions, essays and observations

Tag Archives: value