Transformation within the public sector has gone through phases – in the early days cuts were identified and budgets trimmed to meet the financial targets, but as time went on it became apparent that the cuts would continue, change was now constant and a new operating model was needed.

Local Government organisations have been facing similar challenges - increased pressure on services and reduced budgets – delivering ‘more for less’ has become the new normal – however, it is clear that the cuts will continue and frugality alone will not be enough to deliver quality services for people in a sustainable way.

Change projects were created and engagement programmes started with aims to create ‘new ways of working’ and more ‘customer centric’ approaches – and we saw some great successes. Many of these programmes address specific problems or have time-limited aims, but a more holistic and future-proof solution is necessary – and this can be achieved by engaging people through a structured programme of communication and engagement.

A better, more strategic approach is necessary to facilitate long-term, sustainable change. The Macleod report 2010 identified 4 key enablers to increase employee engagement and can be used as a framework for planning engagement activity.

Our story or the strategic narrative is the core of the process - this tell the story of where we have come from and where we are heading, engaging hearts and minds with stories that illustrate the journey in an accessible way. Humans are hard-wired to tell stories going back to drawings on cave walls in prehistoric times right up to modern day social media eg. Snapchat story – a series of pictures to tell others about ourselves or an organisation – illustrating what we value and what we stand for

Story phase – work with senior leaders and stakeholders to summarise the strategy and desired change journey as a simple narrative or story that everyone can read, understand and engage in.

Connection phase – equip leaders and influencers to tell the story in their own words and lead the onward engagement of their people. Leadership development and supporting resources ensure quality standards are consistently met but give leaders the flexibility to tailor the messages and delivery to the needs of their teams.

Action phase – employees throughout the organisation begin to understand and engage with new ways of working, suggesting and getting involved in making changes that position ways to achieve its aspirations.

Reinforcement phase - top down changes to organisational and people practices and bottom up examples of behavioural change build commitment and belief in new ways of behaving and working.

Living story phase – culture change has no end point; innovation, new ways of working and behaviours become ‘the way we do things round here’ by continuing to promote positive examples and seeking out and addressing barriers to desired behaviours and outcomes.
 

The EAST framework is a simple way to make the most impact from messaging. The process works well to support an outcome based project or initiative – by having clearly defined outcomes, an understanding of the behaviour and the context of the challenge an almost scientific approach can be taken with an agile ‘test, learn, adapt’ methodology. The EAST intervention is built and impacts measured using pre-defined metrics.

In my experience this works well with a design-led approach using a clear identity which resonates with people and facilitates nudges in behaviour.

The activities that support the communications should fully reflect and support the fundamental ethos of the programme.

Simple, attractive and fun activities that cause as little disruption to the working day should be the bread and butter of the project – big bang initiatives and activities should be reserved for critical points in the programme. On the whole local, personalised recognition-based schemes have the most impact and provide a steady feed for the wider corporate communications.

People are generally very easily pleased! Simple thank-you notes and team recognition are always very well received – disproportionate rewards make people feel awkward and can cause resentment – little and often tokens of a job well done have a huge impact on culture change, much more so that grand, complicated schemes or disruptive activities that interrupt the working day.

In my experience my time is better spent collecting a series of stories which can be used to reinforce desirable behaviours and illustrate what good looks like. Change is hard for many people so bringing in an extra layer of something else new (even a celebration) can be a step too far. Building gradually is easier for people to accept and engage with.

Awards (internal or external) are a good way to bring the organisation together once or twice a year and celebrate how far we have come and to look back and forwards to continue building on the good work already underway.

The strategic narrative methodology has two clear work streams that work alongside one and other

The cascade is leader-led and starts from the top with a clear and compelling call to action, which is then cascaded through the organisation via senior managers, line managers and champions – most of which is face-to-face, with built-in feedback opportunities and chances to ask questions of senior staff and make suggestions (which must be acted upon or explained why not).

The supporting corporate campaign is a constant pre-planned calendar of activity building into existing processes (induction, recruitment, performance, talent management, L&D, Leadership development etc..) and a distinct, easy to recognise identity (that ideally is created by staff)

The intranet is a repository for the information to support other messages and activity. Case studies and stories can be used in many ways to create a constant background narrative and as a platform for the employee voice.

A cultural calendar is a useful tool to create initiatives linking the programme to seasonal or local events (Valentines Day, Halloween, festivals, celebration dates, anniversaries etc.)

Social media provides an excellent way for people to comment or start conversations, share ideas and recognise each other. They can also provide simple ways to ‘gamify’ actions that you want people to undertake – creating an element of fun and competition.

Mobile apps are seemingly endless and can be used to quickly create and share communications in a fun way that people recognise. I spoke recently at the LG Comms conference about ‘Wonky Comms’ a concept first coined by Rachel Miller ( a well-respected leader in Internal communications) which is a new direction we can take to keep a fresh and engaging style. I have used this to create competitions and showcase work to great effect – people generally appreciate others effort and creativity.

Employee awareness and understanding – supplementary questions within the employee survey delivered quarterly to a representative cross section of employees and annually to all employees.

 Employees are aware of the goals arising from the strategic narrative
 A leader has spoken to them about the strategic narrative
 Employees understand what the strategic narrative means for their part of the organisation

Behavioural change – supplementary questions within employee survey delivered quarterly to a representative cross section of employees and annually to all employees. Employees could also be invited to comment on positive examples of and/or barriers to behavioural change.

 Employees believe that Newham is changing for the better
 Employees believe that Leaders role model the desired culture and behaviours
 Employees have seen positive changes in the way that their team behaves as a result of Newham’s culture work

Behavioural change could also be assessed by harnessing Newham’s existing behavioural frameworks and measures, adapting and supplementing them as required

Newham recruits people who demonstrate desired behaviours – assessment data
Newham promotes people who demonstrate desired behaviours – alignment between talent and assessment data
Newham’s leaders role model the desired culture and behaviours – 360 or similar performance data
Newham recognises and rewards the desired culture and behaviours – alignment between behavioural data, performance ratings and reward
Newham’s learning and development interventions reinforce and develop desired behaviours – review of curriculum content and delivery
 Observation of leadership meetings and decision making committees
 Employee focus groups
 Monitoring involuntary turnover
 Monitoring grievance and disciplinary data
 Monitoring exit interviews to identify any behavioural issues

Performance Outcomes - likely to include existing performance measures and/or transformation programme outcomes. Examples may include:

 Citizen feedback measures
 Citizen complaint measures
 Incidents and error rates
 Compliance measures
 Feedback from supervisory/regulatory bodies/ombudsman
 Stakeholder trust and reputation measures
 Cost targets