Engaging employees by bringing values to life Richard Billingham Head of Organisation Development & Learning

Employee engagement programme built around bringing to life Birmingham’s values of Belief Excellence Success Trust Led by change agents called BEST leaders – bottom up approach Based on taking multiple small local actions to lead change Strong leadership from both CX & Cabinet Member The BEST programme is 2 + years into its journey What is BEST?

Birmingham City Council Birmingham has 60,000 employees Based at 600 locations in Birmingham Largest Local Authority in Europe 2006 Employee Census identified commitment and trust as an issue Employees did not feel change was well managed New Chief Executive in 2006 Embarking on business transformation programme – large financial investment

How culture change was seen in 2006 Changing processes and modern IT won’t deliver on their own It calls for change in the attitudes and behaviours of leaders, teams and individuals right across the Council Has to start from the top We need to trust each other to deliver, but take responsibility From Avoiding responsibility Focusing on activities Letting bureaucracy slow things down Waiting for instructions from above Working in silos Looking inward To Taking responsibility Focusing on outcomes Working at pace and driving out waste Taking initiative and feeling empowered Working across the Council Looking outward to customers and stakeholders

The core of BEST… Workshop (c 3 hours) Working teams Run by a team member – BEST Leader Values and behaviours tool Self-assessment and scoring Actions – impactful Follow up Every team in the Council Strong and imaginative programme management to transfer learning and benefits

Success of the programme to date… Over 2,500 BEST leaders trained (1,800 in first 2 months) Over 25,000 staff engaged in BEST workshops – Over 6,000 committed actions in 2008 alone Unlocked creativity, energy & innovation across the organisation

What do people say…

Results 56% agree that “I have never experienced anything like the BEST programme during my career” BEST scores 2007BEST scores 2008 Belief Excellence Success Trust Belief Excellence Success Trust Improved staff morale and engagement Change in behaviour: a culture of innovation Improved services in Birmingham

Improved staff morale and engagement Staff feeling ‘motivated in their current job’ increased from 56% in 2006 to 83% in 2008 Staff agreeing ‘I feel proud to work for Birmingham City Council’ increased from 50% in 2006 to 84% in 2008 Staff saying that Birmingham City Council was ‘all the way there’ or ‘within sight’ of embedding the BEST values increased from 42% in 2006 to 65% in 2008 Staff saying ‘I feel confident in the way that the senior management team is leading my directorate’ has increased from 29% in 2006 to 62% in % of employees are now strongly and frequently engaged (CIPD Kingston Business School assessment)

Change in behaviour: a culture of innovation BEST teams implemented an average of 2.7 initiatives that successfully improved the service provided by the council 41% agree that ‘BEST has improved the service delivered by my team to customers’ 60% believe that ‘BEST has improved teamwork’ with the proportion of those satisfied with levels of teamwork increasing from 62% to 87% Leadership skills have been built at all levels of the organisation

Improved services in Birmingham About 135,000 Birmingham residents have benefited directly from these initiatives. For example: a Christmas event for 200 Polish single parent families a sensory garden open to 60 disabled children, 120 rest home residents given a full library tour after enduring refurbishment noise BEST Managers reported that BEST improved productivity by an average of 20.5% 66% of people in Birmingham agreed that the Council was well run, compared to 53% before BEST (MORI Residents Tracker Survey)

Mini BEST workshop Excellence

Learning 1. Bottom up approach to change - Purpose 2. Energy and ‘stickiness’ - Passion 3. Innovation - Performance 4. Senior leadership commitment

What next for engagement in our organisations? What next for BEST?

Living It! Chamberlain Awards Generation BEST Facebook Youtube Open Space

Dragons’ Den