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Appendix 9.1: 50 Shared service risks – and what to do about them
10/03/2010
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 1. Lack of top
management support
Shared service developments involve a major
change to operating practice. Unless top
management – including elected members in the
case of councils – are fully supportive of the case
for change, achieving buy-in and access to
resources further down the organisation will be
virtually impossible.
� Ensure that top management understand the rationales for
sharing and the benefits that are likely to flow from it
� Choose partners that share a similar outlook and set of values to
those of the organisation and those of its leaders
2. Failure to collaborate
– no real cross-
departmental
organisational
sharing due to
entrenched
practices/vested
interests
For service sharing to succeed, there needs to be a
shared objective at the operational level and a
willingness to act in the collective interest. Where
service departments continue to focus on their
individual needs and resist common practices and
standards, the broader goals of collaboration are
unlikely to be realised.
� Involve service managers in the process of designing and
implementing the new Shared Service Arrangement (SSA) and
ensure they have opportunities to build relationships with their
counterparts in other bodies, as well as the SSA itself
� Seek to understand and address concerns where possible
� Put in place clear standards, targets, rewards and sanctions that
encourage collaborative behaviour, and take action where this
does not happen
3. Limited scope – not
extending the project
far enough to deliver
a sufficient level of
gains against the cost
of change
All change will involve investment of time and
resource. During the pre-implementation stages,
this will include analysis and business case work.
Once change happens, it could also include
spending on new technologies, facilities and
training. The get a sufficient payback, the benefits
need to outweigh these costs, which will partly be
determined by the number of services/processes –
and possibly organisations – that are taking part in
change.
� Ensure that the costs and benefits of change are fully understood
� Understand the dynamics around economies of scale, and whether
there is an optimum size for the services/processes within scope
� Check whether more services, processes and/or organisations
could be included as part of the change without creating
unnecessary complexity or delay
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 4. Lack of clarity – no
vision/big picture to
help stakeholders
understanding what
the change is about
and why it’s
happening
The make change successful and optimise the
benefits of it, all key stakeholders need to buy-in to
the rationale for change. Unless leaders can paint a
clear picture of why the change is necessary, what
benefits will flow and where individuals and groups
fit into it, this is less likely to occur.
� Ensure that change is led by capable leaders who understand how
to build and communicate a compelling vision
� Ensure that key stakeholder groups are identified and their
interests understood, and create a vision of change that they will
find motivational
5. Failure to address
redeployment and
redundancy issues
early on, leading to
uncertainty and
muted support
Sometimes change may have a potential downside,
such as redundancy, or create concerns about the
nature of redeployments. If these are not dealt with
early on they can create anxiety and resistance that
will negatively affect the course of the initiative.
� Try to understand the consequences as early as possible for
individuals and groups and communicate with them about it
� In the absence of clarity of consequences, explain to people the
process that will be gone through, the basis on which decisions
will be made, and how and when they will be informed
6. Failing to tackle the
role of the “leave
behind”/retained
organisation
In redesigning services and processes for an SSA,
roles and tasks in the retained organisation will also
be changed. Unless all people and parts of the
organisation are addressed, the change is unlikely
to deliver maximum benefits.
� Ensure that people and processes in both the SSA and retained
organisation are within scope as part of the redesign
� Devote appropriate resources to both sides in order that they have
the skills, systems, systems and tools needed to perform their
roles effectively in the new environment
7. Not realising the
benefits originally
set-out in the
business case or
failing to conduct a
post-implementation
review to understand
the gaps
Unless change in managed with a view to realising
the benefits set out in the business case, the
change is likely to fall short of expectations.
Equally, once change is ‘complete’, a review is
needed to check that benefits have been delivered,
and if not, identify what work is still needed.
� Ensure that an effective benefits realisation process is put in
place, backed up by benefits realisation plans agreed with in-
scope areas
� Ensure that benefits are reviewed post-change and lessons learnt
(of successes and failures) before other tranches of work are
attempted
� Make time and resources available to address critical gaps
between planned-for and realised benefits
8. Cost overruns and
delays – particularly
due to
unanticipated/hidden
costs
Where costs overrun original budgets, the whole
business case for change may be negated, with the
benefits that do occur taking longer to come
through than planned
� Ensure that baseline costs, together with the anticipated costs and
savings from change, are rigorously calculated – and ideally held
open to independent validation and benchmarking
� Ensure that implementation is rigorously managed, with close
attention to costs and early warnings of any overruns
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 9. Resistance to change
among staff and
other stakeholders
Where there is outright resistance to change it will
be difficult to realise anticipated benefits, with time
and resource needing to be devoted to dealing with
the causes and symptoms of opposition
� Ensure that the human and cultural parts of change are
understood and potential conflicts anticipated and planned for
� Make sure that change is led by capable leaders, who devote time
and energy to working with staff and other stakeholders to explain
the rationale for change and surfacing and resolving areas of
conflict
� Put in place a communications plan that keeps all staff and
stakeholders informed about why change is happening and what
will happen when
10. Partners withdraw
from the initiative,
imperilling the
business case
Where several partners are involved in the
collaboration, the business case may be based on
the assumption that all parties see the project
through to fruition. Where partners do withdraw,
the business case may no longer stack up.
� If possible, build a partnership – and business case – that allows
for the scenario of some parties backing out, before or after
launch
� Invest heavily early on in building the partnership and
understanding each organisation’s aims and interests. Check that
all parties are committed going forward, and that there are no
‘passengers’ once serious resource is being put into business case
building and procurement exercises
11. Threat to corporate
reputation,
particularly if service
performance is poor
or costs higher than
expected
If the service delivered post-change is poor, and/or
costs area greater than expected, the reputations
of the SSA will suffer - making new
partners/customers unlikely to join and existing
ones possibly consider leaving.
� Ensure that baseline costs and performance levels are properly
understood (not least to avoid unfair and subjective comparisons
post-change)
� Make sure the new service is designed in a way that meets
customers’ needs and is an improvement on the cost and
performance of baseline services
� Manage the change process effectively to ensure that the benefits
set out in the business case are delivered and the service’s
blueprint is realised
� Where problems do occur, make sure these are addressed quickly
and effectively, and back this up with good communications so
that negative perceptions do not spread
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 12. Increased supplier
dependency,
particularly on the
SSA itself
A shared service initiative may introduce a new
supplier, on which the organisation is increasingly
dependent. This may particularly be the case where
the supplier is a commercial partner to the SSA.
� Ensure that the procurement of suppliers is conducted rigorously,
with attention paid to getting the right fit in terms of outlook as
well as skills and services
� Put in place governance arrangements, including user groups, that
ensure the actions and decisions of suppliers are made in
agreement with client organisations
� Put in place contracts and service level agreements that protect
the position of customers, including penalty clauses and
opportunities to withdraw from the contract if service is poor
13. Knowledge and
expertise is lost to
the SSA
Where the client organisation passes
responsibility for tasks to a separate SSA,
there is the danger that they will lose the
experience and expertise needed to
understand key processes – and thus not be
able to perform them if they wanted to take
the work back in house.
� Assess how critical SSA activity is to the core business of
the client authority. If necessary, check whether it should
be retained
� Consider employment models, such as secondment, that
will enable the risk to be reviewed in the light of experience
� For activity that is shared, make sure that good records are
kept (and updated) of the processes undertaken, the
procedures involved, and the technology and information
that supports them 14. Failure to understand
and address the
added complexity
and new relationships
created by the
shared services
If relationships are formed with other
organisations without thoroughly understand
each party’s perspectives, interests and
underlying values, it will be difficult – and
perhaps expensive – to anticipate and resolve
problems and areas of disagreement further
down the line.
� Devote time and resources early on in the collaboration to
understanding the values and perspective of each
organisation or professional group
� Identify the goals and outcomes each side would like to see
from the collaboration, their priorities and perceived risks,
and the constraints (such as legal and governance
obligations) that may reduce their scope for manoeuvre 15. Lack of
understanding of
business processes
and service delivery
If change is attempted without understanding
the business processes to be shared and how
the service should be delivered, the quality of
the final service may be poor with cost and
time overruns occurring (for example, to
address variations in ways of doing things and
agreeing a standard approach).
� Ensure resources are devoted early on into understanding
‘as is’ processes and the consequences there may be for
bringing different units’ and organisations’ processes
together
� Agree a standard (simplified, efficient and effective) set of
process designs and delivery structures, as well as the
steps needed to bring these together
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 16. Cultural
misunderstandings
between the councils
and its partners and
the councils and
suppliers
If the different parties to the collaboration
have a different outlook or perspective, there
is scope for disagreement or conflict. If left
unchecked, this could erode trust and bring
about delays.
� Ensure that attention is paid to understanding each parties
motives for collaborating, how they will judge success and
what values will guide decision-making
� Ensure change is led by people with the authority and skills
necessary to surface potential problems and bring about
agreement 17. Data protection and
security breaches Client organisations – and the SSA itself –
have a legal duty to protect information.
Where data is lost, stolen or otherwise
misused, it can also have financial and
reputational costs.
� Ensure that legal obligations are understood early, perhaps
with the help of outside experts
� Build this into processes, procedures and governance
structures, so that access to information is carefully
controlled and reviewed over time
� Make data security a key element of any procurement or
technological change planning, and not an afterthought 18. Business disruption
during the process of
change
Business as usual will need to continue despite
the change taking place, as customers
(internal and external) will still need to be
served.
� Plan effectively for disruption to tasks involved in change –
such as by providing extra support or back-filling their roles
� Prepare a business continuity plan that will anticipate
potential interruptions to service and put in place measures
to address them 19. Poor communication
between partners
leads to
misunderstandings
If effective communication does not exist
between partners, expectations may become
misaligned, goals and plans may not be
properly understood, and trust may be
undermined.
� Ensure that effective communications plans and systems
are in place, which identify agreed channels, content,
timing and targets of communication
� Ensure that a range of media are employed and that skilled
communicators are used to convey important messages (for
example, at open meetings and consultations with staff) 20. Benefits are
overestimated and
over-promised
If the business case is based on unrealistic
returns, the rationale for change may be
flawed, leading to waste of time and money.
� Ensure that benefits are robustly calculated, perhaps using
reference sites and benchmarking
� Invite independent scrutiny of planned-for benefits (such as
through Internal Audit or 3rd parties)
� Work with those affected by change (such as SSA managers
and service managers) to agree and get commitment to
delivering of change outcomes
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 21. Inadequate training
and staff
development before
migration
If staff on both the client and SSA sides are
not properly prepared for change, the
processes and services will be difficult to
operate as planned, leading to delays and
lower than anticipated performance.
� Understand the skills needed to operate new processes,
systems and technology
� Conduct an audit of existing skills and prepare and deliver a
suitable training plan in line with the schedule for
implementation and go-live 22. Inadequate financial
planning and tax
exposures
Unless expert attention if paid to the financial
side of change, the price of investments and
timing of returns can lead to higher than
expected costs. Liabilities may also exist on
the tax side that were not anticipated in the
initial business case, undermining the financial
case for change.
� Ensure that expert financial input is made into the
development of the business case and that this is line with
the financial regulations of all parties to the change
� Ensure tax expertise is part of this, if necessary bringing in
external people. Make sure that the legal basis of the
collaboration minimises tax exposure (excepting that other
factors will also determine which vehicle is chosen) 23. Customer
expectations vary
from service to
service and partner
to partner, with
different assumptions
about what they’ll get
Where there is variability as to what the SSA
will deliver, it will be difficult to generate a
common sense of what the SSA is for and why
change is happening. Some people are likely
to be disappointed, with potential for
disillusionment spreading.
� Ensure that clear and consistent statements are put out
across all parties with a common vision and set of
messages about the nature of change
� Ensure that leaders of change get out and talk – and listen
– to different groups, and pick up and respond to different
signals
24. Lack of access to
skills and experience
needed to change
Because most organisations may not have
been through shared or collaborative
initiatives before, they may not have the
experience and expertise necessary to make a
success of it. This may cause them either to
avoid change, or not to make the most of the
opportunities presented.
� Understand the type of change being attempted, the skills
and experience demanded (which may involve desk
research, attendance at seminars, bringing in expert
trainers or consultants, and visit to reference sites)
� Identify the extent to which suitable people exist within the
organisation and its partners to make a success of change.
Where skilled and experienced people do exist, try to bring
them into the change team
� Identify skills gaps and train up internal people where
possible
� Work with external providers, or bring in outside expertise,
where necessary and if budgets allow (these should be
accounted for in the business case for change)
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 25. Systems capabilities
and platforms are
inadequate and
costly to upgrade
In order to operate the blueprint for change –
and allow for parties to work on common
systems – certain upgrades or technological
changes may be needed. These may be costly,
and for some partners could imperil the
business case for involvement.
� Understand what change is really necessary. For instance,
could application interfaces be created for existing systems,
which would not be unduly costly or technologically
complex?
� Understand the risks of not changing against the added cost
of upgrading or changing systems. Does the business case
still stack up?
� Check if there are opportunities to share upgrades or
technologies, such as by pooled procurement, use of a
shared managed service or ‘piggy-backing’ on a partner’s
system 26. There are too few
opportunities to
benefit from
economies of scale
The processes and services that are deemed
to be within scope may not present major
opportunities to realise savings by grouping
them together. This may mean that the
efficiency benefits from change are minimal or
non existent.
� Consider whether other processes/services or partners
could be included as part of the change – either now or in
an acceptable timeframe
� Check whether scale economies are really a key benefit. Is
the sharing of expertise to create a more rounded
competency centre, which can act more effectively, a
greater benefit?
� Check whether there are potential benefits – such as from
cooperation or pooled procurement – that might deliver
efficiencies sought after 27. Policies and
compliance
regulations frustrate
progress or create
unanticipated costs
Despite a strong business rationale for
change, the process that must be gone
through creates delays and costs that were
not anticipated at the start.
� Bring in legal experts, or talk to people at reference sites,
to check whether legal requirements have been properly
understood, if there are ‘smarter’ ways of dealing with
them, or whether there are different approaches (such as
alternative legal vehicles or procurement routes) that may
be better
� Whichever approach is adopted, make sure that legal and
procurement resource is invested early on to do this, so
that the full costs and time implications are understood and
can inform the business case
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 28. Employment and
TUPE regulate
present job mobility
constraints
Assumptions may be made about the ways
staff can be transferred to an SSA, including
what the costs will be. Where these in fact
start to create barriers to realising initial
ideas, the plans for change may need to be
rethought.
� Ensure early on that staff transfer and cost issues are
properly understood in terms of the different models for
sharing
� Be clear about the benefits that are sought after are
consider all options that will deliver this and what the staff
transfer issues are 29. Unique business or
operational
requirements in
particular partner
organisations create
added complexities
and costs
Some partners to collaboration may have – or
believe they have – certain requirements that
must be addressed in the design and
operation of the shared service. This may
mean that a standard approach is not possible
in all areas, with implications for costs and
returns.
� Check whether these requirements are real or just
perceived. Work with the parties involved to see if more
flexibility is possible
� Understand what the cost of catering for this requirement is
– and check with the party involved whether it outweighs
the benefits of a ‘tailored’ solution
� Try to find similar organisations that might have set up
shared arrangements and see whether they have been able
to resolve this issue (and create a standard approach) 30. Party politics, within
and between
councils, frustrates
the ability to build
consensus
Political manoeuvrings and election timetables
can make it difficult in some organisations to
deal with issues in an objective and non
partisan way.
� Start by identifying as much common ground as possible
between parties, focusing on agreed outcomes and
objectives
� Separate the ‘ends’ from the ‘means’ where possible
� Ensure that change is led by skilled politicians who have an
understanding of the personalities involved and can, if
necessary, appeal ‘over their heads’ to address the greater
good 31. Change threatens
individuals’ jobs and
career paths
Major change is likely to change the career routes
open to people. This may be including fewer
promotional opportunities or work experiences, or
even possible redundancy.
� In designing new jobs and roles, be conscious about responding to
people’s needs for variety and career progression
� As early as possible in the process of change, explain what the
new jobs structures and roles will be and highlight positive aspects
of change (e.g. new career routes and expanded job roles)
� Anticipate areas of conflict and put skilled managers in place to
explain the reasons for change and try to resolve negative
perceptions
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 32. Anomalies created by
differential terms and
conditions among
staff makes
harmonised working
practices difficult
When staff from different organisations are
brought together (and sometimes from
different departments too) there may be
differential term of employment, such as
salaries, holidays and pension entitlements.
These will lead to complications in terms of
human resource management, but may also
cause resentment and frustrate team working
and a sense of mutuality.
� Where possible (especially where staff have been TUPEd
and not just seconded), seek to negotiate common
contracts that preserve a balance of benefits
� If possible, try to bring employment terms ‘up’ to those of
transfers on preferential terms (this may pay off in terms of
improved motivation, perceived fairness and sense of
shared endeavour)
33. People lack the skills,
experience and
ability to adapt to the
new roles and
working practices
Without the skills and training, staff may not
be able to perform their new roles effectively,
leading to fewer than expected benefits from
change.
� Understand the skills needed of the new roles and audit the
skills of staff expected to fill them
� Ensure that suitable people are appointed to the new jobs,
where necessary providing additional training to help them
work effectively
� Ensure that people on both the retained (client) side and
the SSA side are included and that skills and training needs
are regularly reviewed 34. Customer service
attitudes and
behaviours are not
consistent with the
concept of an SSA
Where a new service culture and service
management arrangements are part of the
SSA vision, there is the danger that staff
transferred from jobs in more traditional
functions will not easily adopt the new
behaviours expected.
� Understand the behaviours and attitudes expected in the
new SSA roles and what the implications will be for staff
transferring
� Explain to staff why new behaviours are thought important
and how this fits into the bigger picture of change
� Create a behaviour framework and appraisal and reward
systems, and make sure these are clearly explained to and
discussed with staff
� Identify development needs and provide training, reviewing
this on a regular basis
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 35. Opportunities for
staff to enhance their
skills and broaden
their experience are
restricted
The change that takes place will not
necessarily lead to enhanced job roles and
career openings. This can be a cause of
resistance to ideas for change, as well as
frustration once it happens.
� Ensure that suitable attention is given to the design of jobs
(and broader work structures) to ensure work is sufficiently
stimulating and opens up possibilities for career progression
� Ensure employees are matched to the new jobs. This may
involve recruiting people directly to the SSA who would be
more suitable than existing staff (for whom more
appropriate work may be found elsewhere) 36. Quality of work is
below standard
and/or high levels of
rework are needed
(which may be
reflected in customer
complaints)
If performance is poor the SSA will not be
delivering the benefits anticipated, possibly
invalidating the case for change. Customers
will be dissatisfied, creating a negative
impression of the service, undermining any
hope for expansion and possibly causing poor
morale in the SSA.
� Ensure that the service is well designed in the first place,
with appropriate people/skills in post
� Check problem areas to diagnose and address causes. Do
processes need changing? Are more resources or extra
training needed? Are the wrong people in post?
� Put in place – or beef up - quality control procedures, to
ensure a better and more reliable service
� Explain to customers what actions and been taken, and
why, and what they can expect in the future
� Do not attempt to roll new processes or customers into the
SSA until underlying issues have been sorted 37. Productivity levels
are poor/below target If productivity is poor, this may cause a poor
service to customers and mean that costs are
higher than expected. This may invalidate the
case for change and/or make the SSA unviable
commercially.
� Check the design of work and the systems and skills
supporting it. Are there problems in design?
� Check whether new resources or different people are
needed
� Check whether targets set at the start are unrealistic. Can
these be changed?
� See whether management can be improved to get more out
of existing people/resources
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 38. Performance remains
below that of
groups/benchmarks
against which targets
have been set
The case for change may be predicated on the
performance of reference sites and external
benchmarks, which have also informed
operating targets.
� When putting together the business case, and later when
setting targets, make sure that benchmarks have been
realistically drawn
� Check whether the operating model for the service is likely
to emulate the external benchmarks. If not, produce a
design that will deliver similar outcomes or ensure that
targets are set that are more achievable
� Examine areas of underperformance to identify underlying
problems. Where necessary, redesign the work that is done,
provide additional resource, or change and train people to
enable work to be done better Technology
39. On the client side, IT
capabilities, training
and skills cannot fully
support the process
of change or working
with the new SSA
Because there may be a need for technological
changes on the client side to support shared
service change, hardware, software and
people resources can be a major barrier to
progress. These will need to be resolved if
implementation is to succeed.
� Ensure that an audit is carried out in the early stages of
visioning and analysis to understand where the organisation
is now and the gaps that exist in moving to the future state
� Robustly calculate the cost of change in terms of technology
and skills upgrades and how these will affect the timeline of
change
� Work with partners to see how these costs and actions
could be addressed collaboratively, for example by sharing
personnel and equipment and/or by involving a commercial
partner
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 40. Legacy systems are
fragmented and/or
bespoke and difficult
to integrate with any
new IT systems
Implementation of a shared service will often
involve moving to a common system (such as
an ERP system in the case of finance and HR).
Various systems in the retained organisation
may need to interface with this. Where several
partners are involved, there is potential for a
range of systems to have to be integrated,
creating complexity and expense.
� Understand the technical options in moving things forward.
Should ‘line-of-business systems’ systems on the client side
also be replaced, as well as investing in IT for the SSA? Can
costs be shared with partners? How will this affect the
business case? What additional benefits would this bring?
� Are there cost effective and technically straightforward
ways of integrating legacy systems, for example by
adopting interface standards
� Check whether there is a cost effective option of moving to
a single, managed IT system, where the complexity could
be passed onto the supplier 41. There are multiple
clients in the SSA
partnership,
operating different
systems and creating
problems in providing
a cost-effective and
standard solution
The more systems and variety that exists, the
more difficult it will be to produce a common
approach to service delivery. Complexity may
go up, not down, creating additional costs and
few benefits from collaborating.
� Check how important it is to move to common systems, and
if not, what the consequences are for cost and complexity
� Understand the issues involved in migrating to common
systems, how long this will take and what the costs would
be
� Set out the implications of the different routes (common
systems versus different ones) and what this will mean for
the business case 42. Decision-making for
IT investment is not
robust
The IT function may lack the skills and
capacity to produce rigorous business cases
for change, meaning false assumptions are
made about costs and savings.
� Ensure that additional internal support is provided to IT (for
example, from Finance) to enable robust cost and revenue
calculations
� Where necessary bring in additional skills, using outside
experts or by working with reference sites
� Provide training in business case and financial
management, so that a strong and consistent approach is
adopted across the organisation in identifying benefits,
measuring costs and calculating returns over time
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 43. A focus on cost
savings may mean
that the IT
infrastructure does
not provide a real
enabler for change
Where shared service change is driven by a
determination to cut costs, it may be difficult
to argue for investment in the enabling
infrastructure that supports collaborative
working.
� Understand the infrastructure that is needed to support
collaborative working, both for in-scope projects, as well as
more strategic enablement. How critical is this to realising
the blueprint for change? What are the implications if there
is not proper infrastructure in place?
� Calculate the costs of change and explore different models
under which these could be reduced and defrayed 44. Focus of IT is too
much on the ‘hard
savings’, thus failing
to realise many of
the ‘soft’ benefits
from new IT systems
In a cost saving environment there is the
danger that decisions will be driven purely by
saving money without considering how IT can
support service quality and desired customer
outcomes.
� Ensure that the case for IT change, and the procurement of
new skills, software and hardware, is also informed by
measures of ‘effectiveness’
� Build a balanced profile of change benefits, highlighting how
these depend on different types technology and support
45. Lack of ownership
from critical
stakeholders to
execute agreed
actions
For collaboration projects to succeed a range
of stakeholders will need to play their part.
Unless all are committed and willing to
contribute along agreed lines, the objectives
may not be achieved.
� Invest time at the outset to ensure that all stakeholders are
signed up to shared goals and committed to taking action
required
� Where individuals change, make sure new people are
committed to carry through agreed actions; if not, revisit
plans and assumptions to understand the implications for
the partnership
� Ensure that those involved in discussions and decision-
making are in a position to take action 46. The governance
arrangements for
change includes
people with different
agendas and is not
united towards a
common goal
Where people governing change have different
agendas, the possibilities of agreeing common
goals and priorities may be undermined, with
the partnership under threat - particularly
when difficult decisions to be made or when
problems occur.
� Ensure and open and honest discussion about goals
happens early on in the partnership, which also surfaces
different values and criteria for success
� Work to identify and accommodate differences, being open
and honest about these and what their implications might
be going forward
� Ensure a high trust environment exists at all times,
deepening this across organisational representatives so the
partnership is not dependent on a few key individuals
Risk factor Why this is a risk Steps to mitigate 47. There are delays in
finding solutions to
problems and
barriers that make
progress along the
project lifecycle
dangerously slow
Problems are always likely to crop up during
projects, which can derail them unless they
are addressed quickly and vigorously. In some
cases, those against change may even engage
in delaying tactics, hoping to wear down
enthusiasm for change.
� Invest early on in anticipating potential barriers to
progress. Do not attempt change where these are
insurmountable
� Put effort into removing obstacles before they happen; or
have plans in place to take action if they do
� Quickly escalate problems so that senior decision-makers
can resolve issues/conflicts before they become major
concerns 48. There is a lack of
willingness to
collaborate and share
ideas as a
partnership or team
For shared services to work, people in
different departments and (possibly)
organisations will need to work together,
sharing views on problems, opportunities and
solutions.
� Invest in team building and communications to ensure that
all staff affected understand the reasons for change, what it
is intended to achieve and how they can/are expected to
contribute to it
� Ensure appropriate leadership is in place, at all levels of
change, and that team and project meeting are facilitated
in such a way as to generate openness and consensus 49. There is a lack of
willingness to take
tough decisions or
change direction if
aspects of the project
are not going to plan
External events and other facts can require
change to original courses of action. Leaders
must be willing to take unpopular decisions,
possibly curtailing or cancelling change
programmes if it proves necessary.
� Be clear about the drivers for change and assumptions that
underpin the business case for it
� Ensure ongoing monitoring of events and progress and
continually check that the business case remains valid
� Where the necessity for change is identified, ensure the
rationales for it are fully explained and that clear plans are
put in place – and communicated – for a change of course
50. Risk of not acting/
the opportunity
cost
There will be an opportunity cost associated
with not taking steps towards collaborative
working and shared services.
� Understand the broader drivers for change and the range of
responses (projects, programmes etc) that the organisation
is making to them
� Understand the potential role that forms of sharing and
collaborating have to play and what the missed opportunity
might be if they are not part of the portfolio of change
© CIPFA 2010. For more information, visit www.cipfa.org.uk/sharingthegain