Fostering Innovation in Local CouncilsJoan MunroInnovation Researcher 27th April 2012

InnovationInnovations are changes to services, products, organisational arrangements or democratic approaches that are both: New to the council Deliver additional value for service users & citizens

Innovation continuum ranges from small scale improvements to radical disruptive, game changing, breakthrough changes.

Successful organisations have a healthy mix of innovations at different points on the continuum.

Given current challenges local councils probably need to achieve more radical innovations.

Accelerating Innovation in Local Government ResearchKey Aims Identify what chief executives can do to encourage innovation. Promote this learning to local councils. Contribute to research evidence on innovation in public

services.

Process Building on NESTA’s Everyday Innovation research Discussion with group of 8 Chief Executives July 2011 Interviewed 12 Chief Executives, July to December 2011:

Bexley, Kingston upon Thames, Lewisham, Lambeth Buckinghamshire, Somerset, Rutland, Norfolk South Tyneside, Gateshead, Bristol, Redcar & Cleveland

Between April to October 2012 testing with councils

Key findings so far Very few councils have comprehensive

approach to innovation Many doing some of the things that

contribute to achieving innovations In some, haphazard & limited approach Few have expertise in innovation nor

understanding of latest technology Private sector contracts don’t

necessarily bring innovation

Local Councils’ Innovation Framework

Service user & citizen focus

Most successful innovations are at the service interface, between operational managers and leading edge service users. Barry Quirk, LB Lewisham

I challenge our whole team from the perspective of a resident. “If you were a resident, would you want your money spent on that?” Martin Swales, South Tyneside

People on the front line doing the customer contact day in day out and the senior people supporting them should always be thinking about the customer. David White, Norfolk County Council.

It is important to let customers drive innovation. Are our services still relevant to the changing needs of the public? Are we sufficiently paranoid, or are we just carrying on doing what we decided on doing three years ago? Barry Quirk, LB Lewisham

Questions: Are your operational managers ‘walking

in service users’ shoes’? Are they involving ‘leading edge’ service

users in innovations? Is the council doing enough to unlock

and develop community capacity for innovation?

Vision & Priorities

The key thing is having a really clear idea about what you are trying to do; have absolute clarity. It is essential to have the support of the majority of people: residents, staff, partners and, especially, local politicians. Amanda Skelton, Redcar and Cleveland

We agreed that the core business of the council is to protect the most vulnerable members of the community. Then we looked at the things of most concern to our residents. The stuff in the middle is where we are focusing innovation. Chris Williams, Buckinghamshire

Questions: Is the vision ambitious and inspiring, but

attainable? Are politicians clear about the most

important areas for innovation in the medium and long-term?

Are politicians prepared for experimentation, considered risk taking and necessary failures in these areas?

Leadership

Bringing together the right top team is really really important if you want to achieve innovative change. Derrick Anderson, LB Lambeth

Communicating, explaining why,

convincing, inspiring

Listening

Telling a story –giving meaning

Being open & honest,

sharing issues

Having the answers to

difficult questions

Doing it face to face

Saying it again & again

We can’t rule by command and control. My job is to ensure that the managers create the space, and promote the right set of behaviours for that creativity to flourish, as long as it is meeting the corporate goals. David White, Norfolk County Council.

Sometime I ask the question ‘and what is stopping you?’ Frequently managers perceive barriers that aren’t necessarily there. Jan Ormondroyd, Bristol City Council.

It is important to get the trajectory right. You can’t be at the depth of your restructuring because of austerity all the time. You have got to show some light. And you can’t be too far ahead. You need to keep growing the proportion of the longer term and moving the horizons out a bit. Will Tuckley, LB Bexley.

People have different models of leadership: Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill or Rudy Giuliani in 9/11. The picture I put up is Alan Titchmarsh. It’s about nurturing and sticking with things. Bruce McDonald, LB Kingston upon Thames.

Questions? Is the top team of politicians and

managers focusing enough time and effort on innovation?

Do leaders and managers fully understand and operate innovation processes and techniques?

Do they persist until innovations work?

Strategic Approach

 

When we are doing the exploratory, complex, ground breaking stuff, you can set some objectives at the outset but you can’t say to everybody ‘this is how it is’. Bruce McDonald, LB Kingston upon Thames.

We operate in the goldfish bowl of public accountability. Which can easily mean blame when people make an error. Every innovation has a long line of failures until it becomes a success. Barry Quirk, LB Lewisham

What is a bright idea depends on the context. You can have all sorts of bright ideas, but it is never going to happen because you don’t recognise the barriers or you don’t chime with the aspirations with other players you are not going to get there. Will Tuckley, LB Bexley.

Questions:Do you have: Sufficient resources and time devoted to

innovations? Major innovation processes protected from

organisational norms and pressures? Policies that support intelligent, well-

managed, appropriate risk taking? The expertise to fully exploit the latest

new technologies?

Organisational culture

Developing a culture that expects managers to try new things is probably the most important thing for chief executives to do. Barry Quirk, LB Lewisham

Is innovation promoted through: Leaders’ and managers’ everyday behaviours? Values, norms and working practices? Safeguarding time for reflection? Involving people with diverse views? Encouraging healthy debates? Looking elsewhere for fresh ideas? Celebrating innovations? A no-blame approach, when well planned

experiments fail?

Cross boundary working

Increasingly it is some cross-boundary innovations that are going to produce more. Jan Ormondroyd, Bristol City Council.

Bringing partners on board, particularly ‘funky’ people outside of our own background has helped tremendously. Roger Kelly, Gateshead.

Questions:Are you successfully delivering innovations through: Cross-council working? Positive partnerships with external

organisations? Your commissioning, procurement and

contract management arrangements?

Employees

Getting talented people in the right bits of the organisation is absolutely crucial. We have very cumbersome structural and HR arrangements that don’t help you in putting the right people where you need them. Jan Ormondroyd, Bristol City Council.

There is something, not just about younger people, but also newer members of staff, who think differently. And encouraging that, not having them completely constrained by organisational boundaries, is going to be even more important in the future. Jan Ormondroyd, Bristol City Council.

We are living in a different world in terms of how people communicate and respond to information. We need people in the organisation who are tapped into that, because that is how it is going to be in the future. Jan Ormondroyd, Bristol City Council.

Questions:Do you: Have enough employees, in the right

positions, with: Fresh perspectives and ideas? The determination and drive to make

innovations happen? Encourage all employees to come up with

and develop better ways of doing things? Involve frontline employees in innovation

processes?

Delivery

It is about getting the balance right between vision, process and outcomes. Project management is a really important tool. We want stuff to happen consistently. Bruce McDonald, LB Kingston upon Thames.

Questions:Do you have:  Effective ways of tracking and delivering

innovations? Sufficient innovation process experts? A systematic approach to evaluating

and learning from both successful and unsuccessful innovations?

“Ideas are a dime a dozen. What’s more important is the execution: the alignment of the right ideas, the right team, the right development process, the right leadership, the right level of risk management, the right target, the right time to market and so on.” Jones and Samlionis, IDEO

Keep in touchFramework & other materials available at:

http://creativity.city.ac.uk/accelerating_local_govt_innov.html

Chief executives’ self assessment questions Frontline staff focus groups formats Keep me informed about what you are learning:

joan.munro.1@city.ac.uk Tel: 0779 2952 498