Orkney Shared Services – An ambitious approach to partnership
Key contact: Alistair Buchan
Address: Orkney Islands Council, School Place, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY
Telephone: 01856 873 535
Email: chief.executive@orkney.gov.uk
In a nutshell
Orkney Islands Council is working with NHS Orkney and Highlands and Islands Enterprise on a very ambitious programme of public service reform. We are now delivering a number of shared support services in partnership. This has enabled us to improve how we operate and run our organisations.
The issues
When we embarked on this journey with our partners there was a growing national debate about rationalisation of the public sector to generate efficiency savings. Based on past experience, we were concerned that services in Orkney may be vulnerable. We also all recognised that the shared services agenda being promoted by central government offered us a real opportunity. This model could be used to address a number of challenges for our organisations:
• By sharing services such as human resources, procurement and property management we could take advantage of economies of scale. This in turn could help improve the sustainability of our services.
• The partners in Orkney are keen to ensure services are delivered and managed locally in Orkney. By strengthening our partnerships and making better use of resources we hoped we could strengthen our position and that of the other partners.
• Staff recruitment and retention is challenging in the public sector in Orkney. Because the individual organisations are relatively small it can be difficult for staff to gain promotion opportunities and have the kinds of career options other areas might offer. By joining up to develop new, larger structures we hoped to improve this. In turn, we hoped to retain the knowledge and skills of our valuable public sector staff.
How we got started
Early work centred on a series of strategic meetings between the three partners. Through our discussions it was possible to develop a shared vision. This was relatively straight forward. As partners we are lucky to have the same geographical boundaries for service delivery, so relationships were already well established. In addition, we have a strong identity in Orkney and shared commitments across the public sector.
We established a Joint Programme Board to manage progress. We recognised the importance of managing change effectively with staff. We knew some people might worry that shared services mean job cuts or undesirable changes. To address concerns we kept everyone up-to-date with what was happening. We also brought in an experienced change management professional to support the process.
We consulted with front-line staff within each service area. This was important to explore how shared services might impact on them and communicate the changes happening. There were fears and suspicion from some quarters. We provided assurances where we could and were able to move forward with staff support.
How it works
We are moving ahead with plans to join up procurement, human resources, catering, property management and maintenance, information services and non-emergency patient transport across the three organisations. Human Resources, Communications and Civil Contingency Planning are already shared as are several health and social care services
In Orkney we have kept our traditional governance and administrative systems within each organisation. This means that formal decision making remains the same. We did this because these processes were already flexible enough to support the changes we wanted. For example, we continue to use Service Level Agreements between partner organisations for the services we have merged. So far, this works well.
The Joint Programme Board oversees the delivery of shared services. It is made up of the Chief Executive and Chairs of the partner organisations. Because there are a wide number of work strands to be managed, the Joint Programme Board uses project management principles to plan work and monitor progress.
There is also a Joint Project Team. Made up of the Council and health management teams this group supports the Joint Programme Board.
Our outcomes
By joining together our central services we have been able to make better use of resources. This has allowed each organisation to achieve savings. In particular, staff time has been released.
The new structures have enhanced the quality of our central services. This helps each organisation work more effectively. There are likely to be further improvements as the new structures become better established.
We believe that these new shared services provide many staff with better career development opportunities. Already we are seeing more internal promotions. Our shared services make Orkney a more attractive place for professionals to work in the public sector.
Ultimately, more effective public sector organisations benefit the public. By making better use of our resources we can deliver better outcomes. We have developed a shared approach to civil contingency planning. This means if there is a major incident or emergency we can respond more quickly and effectively.
Through this process we have strengthened the relationships between the partners. People within the organisations have really bought into shared services and we can continue to pursue this approach.
One great thing – getting it right
It is exciting to be part of a new structure that really works for a place like Orkney. Orkney is unique. Public sector organisations really need to work together in a consistent way. By working in partnership we have been able to adapt our structures to improve how we work. And we have got the structure right. We will continue to build on it, adapt our approach and promote shared working.
Lessons learnt
• You need to engage front-line staff – right from the beginning of the process and along the way. Keeping the momentum up is important. Looking back we could have been faster and better at this. But we have learned along the way.
• You need to have robust programme management in place. Our partnership realised this needed to be strengthened. The Joint Programme Board adopted project management tools and techniques based on simplified Prince 2 principles. This enabled us to maintain focus, ensure projects are delivered and benefits realised.
• Disagreement can be constructive. This is important to remember when developing a shared vision with partners. To make it work you need to be sensitive to the views of other people and organisations. You also need to respect that others may have different requirements. In Orkney the partners voiced their concerns and dealt with them.
• Change management takes expertise, time and resource. We were successful in securing central government funding to support our change management. We also employed an experienced professional to manage the process. Investment in this process really paid off.
What next?
We have had a very positive experience of shared services. We are now considering bringing non-internal audit, public health and corporate administration and a range of other activities into our shared services.
