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We have plenty of experience to share with private-sector counterparts, says award-winning county council
Local government personnel departments started the new millennium with an enhanced reputation delivering quality services.
New evidence available from the drive to introduce the sort of quality improvement methods which were pioneered by the large blue chips, into local government will bury the myth that it is private sector personnel people who are sharper, more business focussed and provide better value for money than the bureaucrats at County Hall.
In fact, many local authority personnel teams had already got their act together long ago and had ensured that their services were demand-led and their agendas closely reflected organisational needs.
In my authority, Worcestershire County Council, the team is structured to maximise customer service.
Our business plan is tightly aligned to organisational objectives and we have service agreements with our primary customers. Performance against business plan objectives is closely monitored and reported in a public arena.
We are high-profile strategic partners in the shaping of the organisation and have been instrumental in developing and assisting the authority to implement the sort of culture change initiatives which are imperative to keep up with the changing social and economic agenda we face.
Our team has a very high proportion of qualified staff who provide excellent services to their customers (in our case, on a shoestring).
Finally, we have a structured approach to reviewing the continued effectiveness and relevance of what we do and we are not afraid of making big changes where necessary. This is a description of a modern personnel department which probably everyone who reads this article would recognise.
What has changed for us is the opportunity presented by the new local government modernisation agenda to measure, publish and benchmark our services not only with other local authorities but with leading private sector companies.
This is great for both our local communities (they can see what they are getting) and our profession.
At the Socpo annual conference held in March, EP-Saratoga, an international benchmarking company, presented the first Best Value Awards to four local authorities. Worcestershire County Council received one of these awards.
While my team was absolute
