Colin Mair Chief Executive

Improvement Service

COSLA / IS Conference

‘Mobilising and Supporting Change’

Colin Mair, Chief Executive, Improvement Service

Starting Points

• Powerful and consensual ambitions for change: Christie Commission; ‘Renewing Scotland’; local government

• Strong awareness of contextual challenges: demography, the economy and the public finances

• Substantial programmes of innovation and reform already underway: health and care; GIRFEC; regeneration, etc.

• 3 ‘P’s’: precision, priorities and performance

Key Elements

• An articulate and agreed story

• Focus on key ‘pay off’ areas: short, medium, long term ‘gain’

• Programme design and management: ‘design for gain’

Key Questions

• Why do we need to change?

• What do we need to change?

• How do we need to change?

• How will change be resourced & supported?

We’re doomed

Everything

In every way

Who knows?

Why We Need To Change

• The way we are just now is unsustainable• The way we are now does not deliver the results

(outcomes) we want• We can and must protect and improve peoples lives

and opportunities• What we are heading into• What we want to be Pragmatism and ambition

Why We Need To Change

• The way we are just now is unsustainable• The way we are now does not deliver the results

(outcomes) we want• We can and must protect and improve peoples lives

and opportunities• What we are heading into• What we want to be Pragmatism and ambition

Outcomes for Most and Least Deprived Areas: 2010

Average for 100 most deprived areas

Average for 100 least deprived areas

S4 Tariff 84 295

Emergency Admissions per 100,000

28,200 4,015

Crimes per 10,000 1,673 216

% income deprived 57 2

Why We Need To Change

• The way we are just now is unsustainable• The way we are now does not deliver the results

(outcomes) we want• We can and must protect and improve peoples lives

and opportunities• What we are heading into• What we want to be Pragmatism and ambition

Points

• Very general narrative: particular people, places and services?

• The ongoing and the new need reconciled• Development and transformation

What Needs To Change

• The business we do: prevention; early intervention; outcomes

• The way we do business: collaboration; co-production; localisation

• Leadership culture and attitudes• Performance management and accountability• System design: legal framework; governance; external

scrutiny

Localisation; integration/collaboration; co-production

But….

• Everyone, all the time, everywhere?• The ‘gain’ principle: prioritisation of key ‘pay off’ areas• Precision: performance requirements• Medium and long term planning: improvement towards

final outcomes

So…Next 3 Years

• Maximising economic and financial opportunities for families and communities (unemployment, welfare reform, etc.)

• Reducing inequality in development at primary school entry

• Reducing inequality in learning outcomes and destinations (16 – 19)

• Reducing the number of older people who require to be hospitalised

• Reducing costs: improving productivity

How Do We Need To Change

• Commitment to families and communities: not structures, processes and practices: ‘beyond boundaries’

• Working with and building up communities: co-production in planning, design and resourcing

• Being empowering and being empowered: decentralisation; discretion and responsibility

• Living creatively with risk: outcome based risk management; risk of the status quo

Again

• Everyone, all the time, everywhere?• Precision, priorities and ‘gain’• System redesign: duties, powers, scrutiny

Resourcing and Supporting Change

• Creating a precise, prioritised and manageable agenda• Clarity about purpose and short, medium and long term

performance commitments• Redesign of system to support change and enable

resource flexibility• Planning, phasing and supporting change itself

External Support for Local Change

• Range of improvement services, change support resources and capacity

• Brigading and programming: shared services• Fully exploiting capacity: e.g. Khub

Knowledge Hub

End Points

• Ambition requires focus• Leadership and culture matters: so does design• Communities are partners in outcomes