Performance breakthrough

New Search

Purpose	The overall aim of the study is to support LCC's plans to adopt the Audit Commission's performance breakthrough model, by assessing how the model applies to LCC, and the county council's current position within the model, in terms of the barriers that are present and the degree of progress towards overcoming these barriers.
Subject	Working at the council
Commissioned by	Corporate Research and Intelligence

Geographic area	All staff
Method	Focus group In-depth interview
Consultation with	Staff
Date	01/09/2005 - 30/10/2005
Undertaken by	RBA Research Ltd

Results

Key findings	LCC is developing within the theme of leadership. The key issues within this theme are that decision-making needs to be devolved down the chain of command and that both honesty about performance and clarity of objectives need to be applied more consistently across the five directorates. LCC is showing tentative signs of 'developing' within three themes, these being learning, managing change and helping people perform. LCC is at the starting position in relation to two themes, these being priorities and performance frameworks. From the exploration of the barriers to excellent performance that was used to reach this diagnosis, a pattern of recurring barriers emerges: LCC tends to have a hierarchical structure, with highly regulated processes of checks and balances, and with budgets tending to be held at higher levels of the organisation. Directorates may bring together unrelated services due to the historical circumstances of the directorates' formation. Teams tend to operate in separate silos, meaning that employees whose work impacts on each other can be remote from each other. Similarly, employees can often feel remote from their senior managers. A lack of opportunities to engage socially with other teams, which limits the ability to build social relationships with other employees that may eventually facilitate work related networking and exchanges of information across teams.

Key findings

LCC is developing within the theme of leadership. The key issues within this theme are that decision-making needs to be devolved down the chain of command and that both honesty about performance and clarity of objectives need to be applied more consistently across the five directorates.

LCC is showing tentative signs of 'developing' within three themes, these being learning, managing change and helping people perform.

LCC is at the starting position in relation to two themes, these being priorities and performance frameworks.

From the exploration of the barriers to excellent performance that was used to reach this diagnosis, a pattern of recurring barriers emerges:

LCC tends to have a hierarchical structure, with highly regulated processes of checks and balances, and with budgets tending to be held at higher levels of the organisation.

Directorates may bring together unrelated services due to the historical circumstances of the directorates' formation.

Teams tend to operate in separate silos, meaning that employees whose work impacts on each other can be remote from each other. Similarly, employees can often feel remote from their senior managers.

A lack of opportunities to engage socially with other teams, which limits the ability to build social relationships with other employees that may eventually facilitate work related networking and exchanges of information across teams.

Project document(s)

Report(s)

Performance breakthrough report

Presentation(s)

Performance breakthrough presentation

Contact information

For more information about this research contact:

Mike Walker
01772 533445
mike.walker@lancashire.gov.uk

Rebecca Robinson
01772 537787
rebecca.robinson@lancashire.gov.uk

Mick Edwardson
01772 530290
mick.edwardson@lancashire.gov.uk

Email: haveyoursay@lancashire.gov.uk