Traditional approaches to managing delivery are inadequate in a devolved world
The UK government's strategy for public sector reform requires a major step change in the way services are implemented, at the same time as devolving more power and autonomy to those responsible for the local delivery of service. These two requirements pull in different directions.
Firstly, faced with the challenge of delivery major change, the natural tendency is to rely on a centrally driven command and control structure. In the right circumstances, this type of delivery structure is very effective and is easily established.
Secondly, the requirement to devolve power is leading to the need to assure delivery through a much more remote and complex chain of command. Those responsible for driving change in these environments realise very quickly that it is much more difficult to assure effective delivery - the command and control option no longer exists in the same form.
So how do you overcome the challenges created in devolved organisations that get in the way of delivering change successfully?
Our experience is that three key misconceptions commonly get in the way of effective management of change:
- 'we are all working to a common agenda'
- 'trust us, we will deliver'
- 'it is not our job to support delivery'.
Overturning these misconceptions is the first key step to successful delivery in this type of environment.
