Insight 17: Culture change in the public sector
Barbara Davis, Practice Support Officer, Highland Council
I found this Insight very interesting in that it gave theoretical background to some of the experiences I have had of working through many changes in both private organisations and local authorities. It made me think about the changes that we went through in the introduction of GIRFEC in Highlands and how that felt at the time as well as seeing how it might be viewed from the writers point of view looking in from the outside and using the research knowledge and evidence from what has been produced.
In Highland we now face further cultural change, which for some people is much greater than others, across all services as we integrate our working under the Lead Agency Model. What this will look like on reflection in another six years would be very interesting.
When making a large scale organisational culture change of this type it is really important to 'get everyone on board' and not just to have a hierarchical instruction that says everyone has to do it 'this way'. I remember a number of years ago, before the phrase 'Getting it right for every child' was abbreviated to GIRFEC, being in meetings where consultation took place across all agencies for how we could begin to work in a more outcomes focussed way to make things better for children. Looking back I realise that this was the introduction of GIRFEC in it's early stages and yet we felt we were contributing to the idea of what it should look like. After reading this Insight I find myself asking, so what is my role in this latest culture change? How do I influence others to accept or reject the principles? What should I be doing to make things work better for the service user in the long term?
When the culture change came in Highland to introduce GIRFEC to practice change (we now refer to The Highland Practice Model) we were also having a 'developmental' change as we introduced a new computer system for information management by the use of CareFirst. In some instances the introduction of CareFirst almost became synonymous with the introduction of GIRFEC and could have confused the understanding of reasons for the changes taking place. It was important to convey to workers the value of improving the recording systems as well as introducing a new way of working and changing the style of reports. This also had to be introduced across agencies and not just within social work services as police, education and health as well as the Reporters service and other voluntary organisations were affected by the changes.
Looking at issues of culture change makes me think 'what are we asking families to do when we work with them?' Sometimes we are suggesting that they make such major changes to their lifestyle that it becomes a culture change, take for example placing a child in a foster family where lifestyle and values are so completely different. We expect them to be able to adapt but how do we adapt to changes in our work practices? It makes it more important to focus on the outcome that we aim to achieve - better life experience for all those we work with. We need to be aware of the impact on our work of our attitudes to the changes taking place within our service. If we don't embrace the changes then what do we convey to the public that we are working with? Our self-awareness is really important in our work practice.
At this point in our change process it might be quite helpful to make use of this Insight for team discussions and as a reference for people attending training who are struggling with the ideas around changes taking place.
The last paragraph stays with me as I put down the Insight - it is important for the leaders to walk the walk and not just to tell us to do it this way! Those leaders are not just the management but those of us at all levels who have an element of leadership within our skills and are able to influence our colleagues to make the service better for all.
Culture change in the public sector, Iriss Insights, no.17 by Michelle Drumm
