1. Presented by: Mike Younghusband Graham Barrow
The Whole Client Service – When Integration Gives the Flexibility to Meet the Changing Demands of the Highways Service
Presented by:
Mike Younghusband
Graham Barrow

2. Agenda
Why we designed a ‘Whole Client Service’
The Whole Client Service Model
Making the journey
Where we are now
Challenges for the future

3. Why the ‘whole client’ service?
Austerity agenda
Reduce the head count within HCC
More competition within the ‘contractor’ service
Move towards ‘design and build’ within the ‘contractor’ service
Drive savings
Drivers behind the Highway Service Model designed in 2010

4. Essential ingredients of the model
Whole Client Service
Risk management
Flexibility to accommodate changes
Marriage of cultures
Change to traditional client - consultant model

5. Highways and The whole client Service
An integrated Whole Client Service
An integrated ‘Whole Client’ Service:
We work as a single Business Unit with HCC
Branded as part of HCC
Our teams are integrated:
It’s not who we work for
It’s how we work together
Personal accountability, not organisational accountability
It’s not who we work for, it’s how we work together.

6. “ Coming together is a beginning, Keeping together is progress,
Making the journey
WORKING ALONGSIDE
CO-OPERATING
COLLABORATING
Collaboration enables people to work together to achieve a defined and common goal
“ Coming together is a beginning,
Keeping together is progress,
Working together is success”
Henry Ford
Making the journey from working along side each other to truly collaborating with each other
Service evolution not revolution
This is when each team member independently gets on with their work by taking action in his or her own area
Here again each person develops and implements his or her own plans, and shares what he or she is doing with the group.
Whilst there is some amount of joint discussion, the focus is still on individual actions rather than a collective strategy
COLLABORATION
Advocacy is balanced with inquiry
Maintaining a balance between advocating for your position and inquiring about the positions held by others further inculcates the ethos of a genuine collaboration
Assumption of positive intention
The assumption that members of other teams are acting from positive and constructive intention (however much we may disagree with their ideas) builds trust, promotes healthy debate and reduces the likelihood of misunderstanding and conflict

8. We agreed a joint vision
One Badge
One set of Golden Threads
Taking ownership and understanding the impact of what we do
One Common Culture
Aligning values & behaviours
One Training Regime
Co-ordinating training plans & joint training
One Co-ordinated Performance Appraisal Regime
All round appraisals; personal appraisals, project appraisals
One Business Management Approach
A common outcome focused management system

9. ESTABLISHED THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR SUCCESS
Senior Management Team
Working together to provide leadership and direction
Joint Working Practices
WCS Operating Procedures
Management Guidelines
Highways Information Management System
Golden Thread
Medium Term Plan
Annual Plan
Service Plan
Team Plan
Individual Objectives
5 year plan to put in place the building blocks to a success collaborative culture
In a very cheesy moment, I could start talking about a journey from a point where we were client/consultant (at the very beginning) to where we are colleagues genuinely working for the good of the service. A few things have enabled this to happen:
Organisational buy in (HCC/OA) – it’s made all our lives that bit easier. I get the freedom to do the right thing by the service, you get the freedom to push the integrated model
People buy in – staff at all levels in the WCS see the benefit from this – both in terms of their career and their impact on the service
Leadership – we have leadership structures that support the model and believe in it
This all leads to the tangible benefits and what has become a single team.
Underpinning Objectives For 2018/19•         Driving efficiency and effectiveness through improved asset management and collaboration
•         Improved resilience and reliability of operational and maintenance services so that they are seen and managed in the background as ‘business as usual’
•         More joined up and effective communication 
•         Embedding the new performance regime such that it helps drive improvements across the service
Ensuring the service has the right people in the right place, being able to both attract new talent and develop existing staff

10. ESTABLISHED A whole client Service culture
In response to the culture survey question ‘What is the best thing about working in WCS?’
The response was:
Working with great people
Within a supportive team
With good managers
All working together
Doing worthwhile and interesting work
Supported by flexible working patterns
229 of the WCS staff completed the Culture Survey (May 2017) representing 70% of the workforce, a slight increase on the 2015 survey respondent rates. Overall there was a positive improvement in the scores indicating a significant improvement in the culture across WCS. The key indicator of work culture showed that 88% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that ‘WCS is a great team to work in’.

11. Where we are now Diverse Workforce Proud to Belong WCS TEAM BRIEF
Recognising Collaboration
Vibrant Sports & Social

12. Doing the right thing for the Service
Even when the going get tough
Service before parent organisation
Challenge constructively
Take the best from both worlds

13. Key achievements
Meeting change and growth agenda without increasing the HCC headcount
Integrated Graduate & Apprentice schemes
Wot no ‘Bridgemaster’?
WCS Major Projects Capacity
All major projects funded
Band 3 Rating
Service wide performance regime
Backseat to front seat driving operational services
Design back in-house
When the proverbial ‘hits the fan’
OA – Who are they?

14. Challenges for the future