Lakhasly

No redundancies
The impact of the restructuring on jobs had not involved
any staff redundancies. This influenced the way in
which staff responded to the changes that had been
implemented so far. Many had witnessed several waves
of restructuring and cost-saving exercises within the
organisation, which had resulted in many redundancies
over a number of years. For these staff, the experience
of major change was not something that was necessarily
received with enthusiasm. However, as a result of there
not being redundancies, a number of staff indicated that
they had got involved in shaping the new service, and
others in supporting the changes, because they believed
that senior managers were authentic in saying that they
wanted to cut waste before losing jobs. This was a very
powerful message for staff.
What was the impact of the culture change
activities?
The London Borough of Barnet Housing Department
measured the impact of the culture change in terms of
cost savings, the effect on employees’, team leaders’
and managers’ job roles, and the benefits of the new
team structures.
Cost savings
The restructuring of staff into teams of generic
housing officers has removed the reliance on
temporary agency workers, resulting in considerable
savings. Five posts were removed from the previous
structure, which had previously been filled by agency
workers. There has also been an immediate impact on
reducing the average time it takes to let regeneration
properties, resulting in cost savings from properties
not remaining vacant. Through a more personalised
relationship between housing officers and customers,
and the use of more holistic assessments of need, the
number of appeals against the housing decisions is
expected to decrease, with a resultant reduction in the
resources needed for appeals processes.
Housing support workers’ roles
There are housing workers who find their new roles far
more rewarding, with broadened responsibilities and
skills. Housing officers remain with the customer from
the start to the finish of their journey in the housing
service and therefore see the totality of the job
through. This provides a sense of completeness and
also offers them wider career options for taking jobs
within housing and related services.
The roles of team leaders and managers
Lean requires new behaviours of team leaders and
managers, away from a ‘command and control’ style
to a ‘participative and empowering’ style. Previously,
their role was to ensure the accountability of their
teams through monitoring, surveillance and signing
off decisions. Now, the team leaders are identifying
gaps in their skill sets and taking on more intensive
coaching roles within their teams, asking front-line
staff what they want from their leaders. The location
of team leaders physically sitting at desks among their
teams now means that problems are shared within the
team and not one to one with the team leader. Their
new role is about enabling and not controlling.
New team structures
The new team structures mean that individuals now
need to work together as a team in order to access
the knowledge that the team holds. It also means
that problem-solving in relation to a customer’s needs
and problems needs to be done far more collectively,
which has an impact on the quality of the solutions
and responses.
Continuing on the journey
Widening the scope of lean
The project is now widening its scope, looking
for ways to increase the supply of housing, such
as building new relationships with private sector
landlords. Lean is also being introduced within other
areas of the local authority and is currently being
looked at within social care services.