Hounslow Council: How Staff and Residents Remoulded the Council to Make a New, Happy Hounslow.

Steve: Well, thank you. It's so nice to see you all this afternoon and thank you so much for inviting Tracy and myself to speak at the conference; it's a real pleasure and I feel very humbled that we ever received an invitation, frankly. So, I'm Steve Walker-Whitehead, sorry I'm just getting used to using that name as it's my married name and it's only been three weeks, it's usually just Steve Whitehead but now I'm Walker-Whitehead. And what we want to give you this afternoon is an exposition of a piece of work on culture change. It was acknowledged, by the local government Chronicle Awards judging panel, as the foundation piece for Hounslow's success in achieving that award, and, as well as that really exciting stuff, Hounslow won the Public Services People Managers Association Award for Work Towards Transformation. I hope you enjoy it. It's going to be a real quick canter through, there’s going to be a little bit of storytelling later as well, so we'll look forward to that massively. I'm going to try and share my screen now, I've never done this on Zoom so do bare with me. Right? Is that visible? 

Henry: Yep

Tracy: It is Steve but you've got the slides down the side so..? 

Steve: Yeah, I'm just trying to put it on slideshow.

Tracy: Perfect.

Steve: That's better I think. So just a little description of where we were: I think it's fair to say that prior to our current Chief Executive’s arrival in 2018 Hounslow had an incredibly traditional and very stayed approach to people management and development and, just in terms of the teams that were there to enable that, there was no OD function; transactional HR services had been outsourced and all that remained was a very small team that, exclusively really, provided advice on individual employee relations cases and redundancy driven people change. And, through no fault of their own, that team tended to hide very much behind a whole suite of policies and procedures, of which there were in excess of 60, so you can only imagine how that felt for people. So, all of this was something that Niall wanted to change and he very quickly set out, Niall's our chief exec by the way, he very quickly set out his vision to our cabinet on his arrival and he wanted Hounslow to become very clearly an outstanding Council serving an outstanding borough; and that thought piece that he took the cabinet could not have been clearer: if we are to produce the very best outcomes for our residents then we have to start with our own people. Everything starts with our own people through investment. An engagement with our people, which had been broadly absent before was, and remains, absolutely critical. There had been no previous expression of the kind of culture that we wanted to see across the place, that we wanted people to experience, and neither the kind of climate either. So that's when I joined Hounslow, and when I did there was an unrelenting desire for that not to be so. When I joined it was a privilege, it's been a privilege, it remains a privilege, to work at Hounslow; to really lead this workforce transformation programme. I know that you're all aware of the Happy Manifesto and it's principles, and specifically the practice of pre-approval, but I wanted to just tell my own story a little bit here: where people are given, of course, freedom within clear guidelines. That's what Niall did for me, with this project, and his parameters were very clear: this was to be a whole organisation conversation, that's the first thing. The ambition was to engage with everyone of our 2400 strong workforce community, and I use that word very deliberately, and that this was to represent change from the ground up, and lastly that everyone's voice was to be equal. So, as long as those goals were met, and of course as long as we landed the product: that was a new set of values and behaviours, that was it. I was given absolute freedom in terms of how to implement that, develop, engage. So slightly daunting but hugely exciting. How did we do it? How did we get there? I think it's really important to say that this point at the process, with which we developed the set of values and behaviours, was just as important as the development of the product itself. In fact that process, which I'm about to describe, has become a product in itself because we've replicated some of the models and delivery that we used to engage people since then, in a very big way as we have continued to have big conversations across the organisation. We wanted to signal a big change. And how we engaged, involved and enabled our people to participate in the stuff that really matters to them, and that matters to our residents. This was a never seen before in Hounslow approach; I know there's some colleagues on the call today who will recognise that and it what was to be, as I've already said, an ambitious whole organisation conversation. And it was. And it's one that continues, as I have indicated.

Our people, and the trade unions that represent them, were involved every step of the way. This was, after all, change from the ground up. We were determined to reach everyone, and for that reason we developed and trained a cohort of Culture Change Champions; so 60 people volunteered, or were approached, to undertake that role. And the role was very clear: it was to reach into the organisation and spread the word. Start, and continue, the culture conversation through both formal and informal networks and bringing the data, importantly, so that we can hear everyone's voice. And we achieved that in a number of ways: we had conversation hubs, we had roadshows for front-line staff, we had World Cafe style events and also a, kind of more traditional, survey approach which was with building questions such as: How do we behave when we have achieved our best outcomes? And then to building questions: What do we want to become in the future? We had really good engagement, we ensured that the Champions were prepared for all of that so they participated in a first class learning programme and were provided with a range of tools, and materials, to support their conversations with our people. Our champions and the determined, and clear sighted, leadership message that went alongside their activity together really developed momentum that I've never experienced before. 90% of our people were aware of how they could contribute to the conversation, we learnt, and, in fact, 80% actually did. So that was beyond our high expectations and was simply nothing like I've ever experienced in my career before. So there was lots of data, you can imagine, to synthesise and understand but that was by no means the end of it, of course. Having distilled that data we played it back to our people. It was a list of, I think then, 9 prototype values, all of which reflected the really exciting language that we’d heard throughout the whole organisation conversation but we had wanted to discover, and really understand, whether the values helped us to achieve better outcomes for our residents. And that was the purpose of a second engagement sprint that we delivered and we worked with our leadership community to, kind of, define a number of issues, kind of real life issues, and problems that we wanted to test our values against to see if they helped us to work in a better way. And the areas that we tested the prototype values against were, for example, childhood obesity, social isolation, how we reach our frontline in terms of engagement- we had already experienced some of that through this process, and also how we can manage internal change brilliantly. The prototype values did the job really well but through the sprint we also got some feedback that: one, there were too many and two that they needed to be a little further refined. So, including leadership in that conversation, we did refine them further and we landed with the final set, as well as the behaviours that bring them to life, which was also something that we developed through that second sprint. So as well as setting the tone and high expectations on how we intended to engage going forward, in a very bold way, we had developed our very bold values; and I'll share those with you in just a few moments. But, of course, what's next? Continued engagement beyond the change, making it stick, keeping the values alive is, of course, deeply important, but we don't have time today to explain how we formally landed them across our strategic and operational people management and development approaches; that's for another day. But what I will say is that we very deliberately sought to work with partners in this whose approaches and philosophies really resonate with our values; so the likes of Beverley Alloway-Metcalfe, Juliet Orwell Metcalfe, May Andran-Judge and Andy Swann immediately gravitated to the kind of intuitive, but as well as intuitive, practical power of our values and we continue to work with all of those people; and then Happy Limited and Hounslow found each other, which I am delighted about. 

As you will see when I go through the values, the principles in the (Happy) Manifesto and the leadership learning that we've engaged in really help us to breathe new fresh life into our values and keep them alive; things like trusting people, making people feel good, giving freedom within clear guidelines, as I was by Niall with this whole programme of work, values-based recruitment, celebrating mistakes, all of the things that you've been talking about today, they are really important for loving work, so absolutely it aligns with our values and the organisation that we want to become.

So I'm just going to share the top line of our values with you: in Hounslow we lead with heart, we do new, we pass on the power and we harness the mix. So that's the five values that we developed and we are bringing to life from very much embedding across the whole organisation. Now, for outside of today's session, there is some narrative that sits underneath this which is using, again, the language we heard through the conversations; and there are the three behaviours against each of the values too. I'm really happy to share those but what we really want to do next is: one ask you a question and then we want to tell some stories about how the values and the Happy principles have come together and really changed, really changed, how we work in Hounslow.

So, the question I put you is: Where are you on your organisational journey in relation to this stuff?

Steve: I hope that was an invigorating conversation for you, it was a pleasure to share our stuff. And I hope you found it interesting, but now I'm going to hand over to Tracy. She's going to give us some testimonials really, in terms of how we're bringing all of this stuff to life at Hounslow and what our experience of that has been. So, Tracy, over to you.

Tracy: Thanks Steve. Good afternoon everyone. So, I joined Hounslow Council after all of the great ‘values work’, but it was totally aligned with my thinking, so: perfect fit! And I knew Henry, and Happy, of old so when I saw a level 7 programme I was really keen to commission it. Hounslow were the first local authority, and I believe the first single organisation, to have a dedicated internal level 7 senior leadership programme cohort. So, we absolutely went all in, we've got 15 senior leaders from a range of departments across the council, and both enabling and resident facing services are taking part. And it's still early days in the programme but I asked our cohort to describe the impact the learning was having on their role as leaders so far. And I've got just 4 of the stories to share with you now.

Now, I've got the most beautiful storytelling voice, I'm mindful it's the pudding hour, so I'm really hoping I don't send you to sleep; but the stories are very interesting in themselves.

[Henry laughs]

Tracy: Apologies in advance if it's just me. First narrative I've got is from a Senior Project Manager who's in a resident facing team and they said: “Community Solutions is the council's new approach to early intervention and prevention. It's about working in partnership with the voluntary and community sector to help residents to access support and advice, as early as possible to minimise the risk of their needs escalating, enabling them to achieve positive sustainable outcomes. Taking the old approach to designing processes and measuring performance didn't feel like the right fit, so to ‘do new’ and create community solutions capability was a conscious choice. The team were not given specific instructions of when and how to structure their time; instead, to increase the sense of ownership, autonomy and meaning the intention behind the work was communicated, so: what's the aim? What's to be achieved? And then the team were encouraged to follow their instincts, manage their own time and experiment with different locations and methods of interacting with residents. Formal targets were replaced with more sophisticated, mature and holistic ways of defining success. For both the residents and the council full support guidance and check-ins, as well as mechanisms for peer support and sharing experiences, were put in place and the team were given the freedom to allow them to bring their ideas and personalities to the job. People were encouraged to experiment, and psychological safety was built by saying it was ok to make mistakes as the learning will help to refine and improve the offer for residents. 

In the early stages some members of the team found the uncertainty uncomfortable and wanted clearer processes, instructions and targets so that they would know if they were doing a good job but over time, and with support, development and reassurance, they all came to appreciate the benefits of working in this way and took up the challenge of designing their own approaches to the role which brought out the best in them. The result was: that the community of solutions operates in a very different way from if it had been drawn up in a strategy workshop; but it's all the better for it!” 

The next story is from a senior HR leader, and they said: “We found that many of our people quickly adapted to working from home during the pandemic. We are now looking for ways to return to council buildings with purpose; and to develop a new world of work where we have evolved from our experiences over the past 2 years. As Head of People: Business Partnering I've been thinking of ways that our team can harness our shared values, and strength in culture, and act as effective role models for the world of work programme. Since doing the culture workshop, as part of the Happy level 7 programme I've been inspired by Frederic Laloux’s model of reinventing organisations where he describes different levels of organisational maturity. In the context of culture, having considered how we could approach our world of work programme in a way that reflects Laloux's mature organisational culture, our plan is to take HR on tour, as a way of reconnecting with the borough, the different Council services and our stakeholders and residents. We will work with purpose from different Council locations, throughout the borough, and so seek to drive the culture of working flexibly while maximising our connection with Hounslow; and therefore developed further as place leaders. It's also going to be loads of fun getting together, in person, as a team again!” 

Next one is from the head of one of our Resident Services and they said: “The Happy course aligns nicely with the Hounslow values. Who would have thought the leadership course could be so forward-thinking and happy? Certainly not your typical leadership course! Which makes you think about a different way of doing things. Even simple changes matter; a few weeks ago I was introduced in the first face-to-face staff team meeting as ‘the big boss’. I recalled reading about the company Pizza Pilgrims who are arguably one of the leading pizza companies, who use a lot of sustainable resources and allow their staff autonomy to be creative. This includes their stance on not using the term ‘boss’, but rather everyone has a part to play in the team. I lightheartedly asked the team not to think of me as ‘the big boss’ but rather someone who works in partnership with them all, and stressed that we all matter to our residents. That simple statement brought their smiling engagement throughout the meeting. While Hounslow Council will never operate like Pizza Pilgrims because of the laws and governance rules in place, you can be a kind and humble leader which will result in happier, motivated staff.” 

And the last story is from me, because I said that we went all in. And although I commissioned the course, I was so taken with what it could do for us, I signed up to be a delegate on it. As did Steve, as did one of our senior leader colleagues in HR. So, this is my story. The OD Leadership and Learning Team were really keen to ‘pass on the power’ and ‘harness the mix’ by tapping into the strengths and talents of all of our people. So when we first thought about forming a cohort, to achieve our ambition of creating a flourishing workplace, it would have been easy to do something like a skills audit to find out what qualifications and experience people had. But I wanted to make it more about engaging the whole person. So, I used Daniel Pink's Theory of Motivation that says the three elements that make a difference are: autonomy, mastery and purpose; to inform my thinking about what was really important which is: to give our people the opportunity to choose to do something which gives them influence over, not only their development, but that of others. To provide a platform for them to use and develop their existing skills, and support them to learn new ones. And, to let them know that the contribution they make as a cohort member has a direct and meaningful impact on the residents of Hounslow. There was no selection process or long forms to fill out. The invitation was for people to say simply what drew them to be part of the cohort and what strength, talents and skills they could bring. And, yes, we got responses from qualified coaches and mentors and teachers, which was fantastic, but what we also had was people tell us that they wanted to inspire and be an advocate for others, that they could bring energy and humour, that they were good at arts and crafts and enjoyed walking and that they had lived experience of challenging life issues. And to be totally honest with you, and I share this with the people that showed an interest, I found reading their responses surprisingly emotional; because it showed that not only do our colleagues believe in our organisational wellness strategy that says we want everyone in Hounslow to connect, belong, grow and flourish. But they felt that they were being seen for bringing their whole selves to work and that they wanted to model that for others. 

So, just lastly for me, the morals for the stories: so the first one is ‘look for the opportunities’. And what we do, as a Level 7 cohort, is we have informal cohort hangouts to discuss work based issues together, and for me those conversations, those informal conversations, are where the real learning lies. And, as you've heard from what people have said, it can be about small every day shifts. So the potential to do the big cultural interventions is really exciting but don't underestimate the impact of the more gradual, exponential progress that we can all make. The next one is: it can be cheap and cheerful. Our level 7 programme is fully funded through our apprenticeship levy; and so many of the resources Happy shares such as articles, videos and podcasts are accessible on intranet for free. But I have to say, although it might be cheap and cheerful, it's not always easy. Especially in more traditional, hierarchical organisations. And, as Happy say themselves, it's not for the faint hearted, so it does take effort. This works anywhere and everywhere: I've used these kinds of approaches in the public, private, not-for-profit, and education sectors. The key is making it relevant to your environment and using what works for you. And also, importantly, you do need support from the top and we're very lucky that we've had our chief exec come to the induction day for the level 7; so he always shows his support. And lastly, it might sound a bit corny but it's true: happy people does equal happy numbers, and starting with your people first to create a flourishing workplace makes all the difference to the bottom line of how well you perform as an organisation. 

Henry: Excellent!

Tracy: And the question, Steve, was going to be?

Steve: Would the Happy level 7 programme work in your organisation? I'm not sure, Henry, how much time we've got left. 

[Henry laughs]

Henry: No we haven't! So, if people would just like to type into the chat: would it work in your organisation? Okay? And does anyone… we might have one quick question for you. So, again put it into Slido, your question. Mike, you've got a question?

Mike: I'm on the level 7 programme at the moment and I think it's great. Do you consider maybe doing level 5, level 3, across the organisation at the same time? So to bring a grade of different types of people on the journey at the same time or did you go more for trickle down?

Tracy: No, great question! It's the latter. So we're looking now to roll out a level 5 and then the level 3; and that was basically the theory behind that was that the 7s could support the 5s could support the 3s. So there'll be this kind of gradual movement, as it were. But I guess both would work, potentially. 

Henry: Okay. Question in the Slido: how do you measure success?

Tracy: Ooooh, good question! Can we set that as another exercise, Henry, so we can nick the answers please?

[Henry laughs]

Henry: That would be a good one! Okay: “some people must be resistant to change, someone who's worked in your council for years perhaps? How do you bring them along with you?

Steve: I think, certainly in terms of the culture conversation, everyone was engaged and we didn't find that such a challenge; and people welcomed the language we are using to describe our values because it reflected the words that they had used through the conversation. So that wasn't a challenge. I will say, perfectly honestly, we had some challenges with the senior leadership team. 

[Henry laughs]

Steve: The corporate leader team. That's just for us, Chatham House rules please! But yeah, people weren't so welcoming on that fresh language, they weren't so keen on how we were describing what we wanted to become; but when they saw, very quickly, that these words, these phrases, these ways of working importantly, really penetrated through the organisation it became inarguable really. And, similarly, we’re finding with the stuff, with learning with Happy and the new approaches we are taking, it becomes inarguable. So those challenges are quite straightforward to overcome, actually. And the engagement was, as I described, 80% of people contributed and saw their contribution in the products, so they're still with us in that sense.

Henry: Okay, excellent! One more: what do your informal sessions look like? How do you get people sharing? 

Tracy: The informal level 7 ones?

Henry: I'm not sure? Yes.

Tracy: Yes. Well, I've got the two hats on because I kind of commission the programme and I lead that strategically, but I'm on it as well. So I genuinely just say to people: last week, for example, I'm looking at how we select our local graduates and rather than do the interview, like we did last year, it was like: ‘who wants to do a drop-in, where we just hang out, have a cup of coffee online and just play about with some Happy ideas about how we could better recruit people?’. So it genuinely is just an informal invitation, people just put it out there, they say ‘I've got a bit of work, who wants to help me with it?’ and then we all put our collective thoughts and knowledge together to come up with something different and creative. 

Henry: Excellent! Well thank you very much Tracy and Steve for sharing that, and what's your chances of being ‘council of the year’ this year do you think? 

Steve: We haven't, we haven't applied, it seems a bit churlish.

[Henry exclaims]

Tracy: I'm thinking, Henry, ‘council of the century’ is next… that is my prediction!

[Laughter]

Henry: Absolutely! 

Steve: Thank you so much for having us, it's been a pleasure.