Gaining staff buy-in in Crawley
Crawley Borough Council is developing a new working culture. All staff in the benefits service are now involved in identifying problems and opportunities, as well as developing solutions. The team is actively involved in operational decisions through weekly performance meetings.
Staff are kept informed of performance against internal targets and other similar councils’ performance. The information forms the basis for discussion about best practice and new ways of working.
Reported benefits include:
- the team are open about problems and work together to find solutions
- staff are committed to locally developed ‘end to end’ performance indicators
- service to customers has improved, for example end to end claims processing times reduced from 40 to 13 days
- fully trained assessors work in the contact centre so customers receive a more effective and efficient service
- customer satisfaction has increased (by 10 percentage points)
- staff morale and motivation has improved
Some staff and managers found this approach difficult at first. However, staff have developed confidence and this approach is the accepted way of working.