OCS CULTURE CHANGE IN THE COURTS AND TRIBUNALS SERVICE
How do you facilitate culture change with a private sector partner in the HM Courts and Tribunals Service… at the start of a global pandemic?
The challenge
The Court Security Service in the UK is delivered by a private sector partner to HM Courts and Tribunals Service. Prior to the pandemic, OCS were successful in winning the contract to provide this service from two incumbent providers, with a key commitment being their focus on improving the Culture of the Courts Security Service during the initial 2-3 years of the contract. As the new provider, mobilising a new leadership team during the pandemic, whilst court security services were run by staff working from home and with few staff on site, the challenge of simply maintaining ‘business’ was significant. Well North Enterprises and Prospect were asked to support OCS in achieving this culture transformation, despite the significant delay caused by COVID, and with the challenges of working still largely online.
The approach
We began by co-creating an ‘Aim’ with the OCS project leaders:
“To create a workforce culture which enhances both customer and employee experience based on the 4 OCS values: Care, Safety, Trustworthy and Expert.”
Well North Enterprises and Prospect then created an action plan for year one, focussing on five key strands.
Design of a bespoke Culture Framework based on a range of best practice sources tailored to the business and the context of the service.
Diagnostic work in the Manchester courts cluster, to assess the culture and identify issues and recommendations.
Design of a Culture Survey based on the Culture Framework and findings of the Manchester Diagnostic, to gather feedback across 350 courts, to enable OCS to understand the varying cultures across the courts and identify issues and actions to begin to transform the culture.
A bespoke Leadership Development Programme for the ‘SRM’ Leadership Team, focussing on the transition from a new team managing through a crisis to a team leading through transformation.
A virtual workshop to share Well North Enterprises’ Model of Change, examples of how this has been implemented in practice by a range of organisations across public and private sectors, and to inspire ideas in the OCS Government Sector team.
Through these strands, a work plan for Year 2 was also developed:
Support to the Leadership Team in the development and communication of their Strategic Objectives to the organisation.
A Leadership Development Programme for representatives of the team of over 100 Area Managers reporting to the Leadership Team.
Detailed analysis of multiple data sources to identify any trends and recommendations around diversity, discrimination and inclusion.
A Leadership Development Programme for the wider team linking into the Leadership Team.
Recruitment and Induction of a group of Culture Change Champions.
Training for the Culture Change Champions in Design and Delivery of Listening Events and understanding of key aspects of culture, diversity and inclusion.
Outcomes
The OCS leader's visit to the Bromley by Bow Centre enabled them to see and hear what’s possible in bringing top, middle and frontline staff together and connecting the dots. The team enjoyed the day, and seeing the work that has been undertaken to transform the area, with good feedback from leaders and plans to reflect this learning into future OCS work.
Feedback from the Manchester pilot assessment was developed into a detailed action plan with actions delivered within the year. Actions included:, supervisor role changes, strengthening understanding of team roles and areas of responsibility and escalation routes and work to strengthen Career Progression paths, training and appraisals.
A process to work jointly on complaints with OCS’s client was co-designed between the two organisations. The new process feels very different to the way it was, creating a more harmonious culture and relieving some of the pressure on OCS staff to respond to queries and multiple requests.
The Culture Survey gave a rich source of analysis for action planning and enabled the OCS team to communicate an action plan to all staff, the start of a ‘you said, we did’ strategy to enable feedback to staff ideas and suggestions. The survey will be used as a baseline and repeated in future years.
18 Volunteer Culture Champions were successfully recruited and listening events training events have been completed, with the sessions evaluated well.
The data analysis relating to diversity, discrimination and inclusion identified key themes and quick wins which have now been implemented, such as:
Culture Champions trained in diversity, discrimination and inclusion elements of listening techniques.
OCS have delivered re-training on behaviours, supported by documentation to all staff.
Training and process focus on continuing to robustly manage poor behaviour through HR processes.
The Leadership Development diagnostic for the SRM Leadership Team identified the importance of spending time together and building the team and the SRM Leadership programme design and delivery reflected this. The team were very positive about the outputs created in the sessions, clarity on ways of working and understanding of each other. Feedback reflected the value of having dedicated time to work on doing things differently and the SRMs have become a more cohesive team.
Each of the 3 Leadership Development Programmes evaluated very strongly. 100% of the Leadership Team agreed that the sessions deepened their understanding of self as a leader, and specific outputs included benefits such as the creation of vision and strategy statement, and 360 feedback.
100% of Area Manager Attendees agreed that over the two Masterclasses, they have developed actions that they will implement personally and with their teams.
Client/funder
OCS Group UK - A Facilities Management group providing services for private healthcare and public (NHS) Trusts across the breadth of the UK across acute, mental health and community settings.