Agenda item

A report of the Chief Operating Officer.

Members received a report of the Chief Operating Officer, following which several points were made.

Members noted, with some concern, the ‘Lessons learned’ on page 29 specifically in relation to the comments around the capacity of the Corporation itself to affect and manage change effectively, and the highlighting of a cultural resistance at the Corporation to new procedures.A question was raised as to what was in place to drive change and to ensure issues were addressed.

In response, the Chief Operating Officer advised that there would be a review of the Programme Board to ensure an external challenge was involved in programme delivery, and that each of the lead officers would also be involved. Members also heard, however, that behavioural change was a much broader topic than one specific ERP programme. Related issues would be dealt with, necessarily, via HR initially. Officers advised of the importance of adopting the ways of working which were inherent within the programme as opposed to altering the programme to fit current working methods and practices. Another change was the ‘Continuous Improvement’ project, which was a new resource within the Corporation and involved extensive process re-engineering prior to programme implementation.

Members’ attention was also drawn to a particular note of concern, which was the significant vacancies and the inherent risk in not having officers in place in those roles in order to lead on the transformation workstreams and to ensure that budget holders were taking responsibility. The Chamberlain agreed that the lack of resources to deliver change due of the level of vacancies was an area for concern, but emphasised that the senior leadership was committed to addressing this.

A member queried whether the lessons learned were Corporation-specific. In response, the Chamberlain confirmed that they were designed to address what the Corporation as a business needed to adapt to, as well as what it needed as a requirement in order to ensure that change could be facilitated.

RESOLVED, that:

the update be noted.