To establish visibility and control over the workflow while embedding best practice and sustainable behaviours as a foundation to support the council’s long-term change ambitions.  

Working with three very different teams gave us unique challenges:

• A small inbound contact centre overwhelmed by current demand
• A small back office team handling specialist time-consuming activities 
• A larger, fragmented back office team located across seven different sites across Swindon, receiving a high volume of work

We invited all in-scope managers to an interactive ‘kick off’ event focused on ‘Mindset and Behaviours’ to help understand why we all behave differently and how to recognise our own and others preferences in any situation. 

The new skills learned in the workshop enabled managers to work together more effectively. This resulted in consistent set of hopes and expectations for the transformation programme, which they could confidently share with their teams.

To maintain momentum, we quickly followed this initial workshop with a second, in which we introduced a range of best practice operational management principles.

To create real visibility of workloads and performance in their teams, we used our Data Capture Tool in all the back office teams. 

For the contact centre, we implemented an inbound call forecasting tool to establish an understanding of interval demand trends and the optimum resource levels needed to service these customers in real time. We also implemented a discipline to better understand the reasons why customers were calling to help identify key opportunities for future demand reduction. 

• £76,000 – Through improved back office workflow management and optimisation of resources to best meet shifting demand, the Children’s Services Support function was able to realise £76,000 of benefits during the project.
• £347,000 – This capacity benefit does not include future benefits from the implementation of a range of opportunities identified during the project delivery and agreed as being achievable by key stakeholders. The benefits potential within the current year could ultimately rise to £347,000.
• Within the smaller, more specialist back office teams, improved understanding and visibility of demand has highlighted opportunities to be more agile in deploying these valuable resources and support customer demand levels.
• Improved awareness and clarity over demand levels facing the contact centre, and the unique dynamics that influence success in this environment, has resulted in a positive reassessment of the resource needs required, as well as a realisation of how this team can support the wider needs of the organisation.
• Every one of the teams and leaders involved in this change have not only managed to improve their day-to-day efficiency but have also improved team working and communication skills. We walked away leaving three unique teams with a common language and approach, an opportunity to build further relationships, and a common goal for further continuous improvement.