Engaging employees by

bringing values to life

Richard Billingham

Head of Organisation Development & Learning

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…

Results56% agree that “I have never experienced anything like the BEST programme during my

career”

BEST scores 2007

BEST scores 2008

BeliefExcellenceSuccessTrust

6.26.06.25.9

BeliefExcellenceSuccessTrust

7.27.27.36.9

Improved staff

morale and engageme

nt

Change in behaviour: a culture

of innovation

Improved services in Birmingha

m

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 2008

•76% 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!Chamberla

inAwards

Generation BEST

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