HARLOW DISTRICT COUNCIL

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HARLOW DISTRICT COUNCIL

• MEMBER INDUCTION
• MENTORING SCHEME

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BACKGROUND

• Harlow Councils CPA assessment in June 2004
  classified the authority as poor
• The CPA report highlighted a number of critical
  people issues that the Council needed to
  address

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PEOPLE ISSUES

• Lack of clarity around the roles of officers and
  Members
• Political Leadership was not strategic
• A general lack of trust between Members and
  officers
• Poor conduct of Council business
• Blame Culture

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RECOVERY PLAN

• The Council initiated a number of key projects to
  address the issues raised in the CPA Report
• All projects were sponsored by a member of the
  Corporate Management Team and project managed by
  a Head of Service

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PEOPLE ISSUES PROJECT AIMS

• Members with the knowledge to undertake their
  representative and strategic/leadership roles
• A Member/staff relationship which enables the
  requirements of both Members and staff to be
  realised in the form of an effective local
  democratic process and sustainable performance
  improvement

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MEMBER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

• Induction / briefing sessions
• Member Personal Development Plans (PDPs)
• Joint Member / Officer sessions
• Mentoring

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INDUCTION / BRIEFING SESSIONS

• Initial session targeted specifically at the new
  Members, to occur immediately after the election
• Further sessions directly relevant to new
  Members, but also open to existing Members who
  may have wanted a refresher

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INITIAL INDUCTION SESSION

• New Members only
• Covered a variety of housekeeping matters such as
  the issue of laptop and introductions to key
  politicians and officers within the Council
• Taken on a tour of Harlow so that they were
  brought straight up to speed on the significant
  growth and regeneration agendas the town is facing

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FURTHER BRIEFING SESSIONS

• Open to all Members
• Covers a diverse range of topics such as
  Corporate Governance, Standing Orders, Local
  Government Finance, Growth Area Funding, Equality
  and Diversity, Choice Based Lettings and
  Community Safety Consultation
• Commenced in May 2006 and is continuing to March
  2007

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MEMBER PDPs

• Personal Development Plans were introduced in
  2005 and continued in 2006
• Members discussed their development needs with
  IDeA and summary of anonymous needs was provided
  to Council Officers

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TRAINING FROM PDPs

• Available to all Members
• Questioning and Chairing skills
• Effective Officer/Member relationships
• IT skills
• Tailored programmes
• Leadership Academy Fastrack Programme (IDeA)

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JOINT MEMBER / OFFICER SESSIONS

• A number of events open to both Members and
  senior managers
• Intended to increase learning and develop
  improved Officer / Member relationships
• Encouraged to debate issues in open and non
  political environment

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EXAMPLES OF JOINT SESSIONS

• INLOGOV presentation on Officer / Member
  relationships
• Chief Executive of South Tyneside Council
  speaking on Culture Change. Followed-up by an
  in-depth visit of Members and Officers to South
  Tyneside
• Cabinet Member from Essex County Council speaking
  on the local impact of Every Child Matters

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MENTORING SUPPORT

• Introduction of officer mentoring support given
  by Heads of Service in May 2006
• Aim was to help newly-elected Members become
  effective quickly by providing Officers to
  support, advise and guide the Member on the work
  of the Council and its services

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OTHER MENTOR SUPPORT

• This Officer support was in addition to the
  political mentoring which had previously been
  initiated within the Councils three political
  groups
• 2006 saw also the continuation of peer support
  given to Members within all political parties via
  the IDeA.

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LESSONS FROM OFFICER MENTORS

• Length of the relationship
• Danger of relationship becoming too close
• Adapt the scheme to the differing needs of the
  Members

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IMPACT OF PROGRAMME

• People Issues project was able to close in
  December 06, three months ahead of the planned
  date
• Responsibility for Councillor development has
  been mainstreamed within the Councils HR service.

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EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS

• Positive Member feedback
• Well-attended and can regularly attract a third
  to a half of all Members
• Mentoring Scheme
• X has given me an excellent introduction to the
  Council, its structure and the way it works. I
  have found our sessions extremely interesting and
  informative and, whilst our formal sessions are
  now complete, I look forward to my future as a
  Councillor knowing that X will be there for me if
  I need any help in the future.

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INDEPENDENT FEEDBACK

• Solace Peer Challenge Feedback November 2006
• There is clear evidence that there is strong
  political and managerial leadership there is a
  climate of openness, support and respect the
  roles and responsibilities of officers and
  members for decision-making are clear
  relationships between officers and members have
  improved strongly and there is mutual respect
  the scrutiny process is effective and members
  and officers work within a positive ethical
  framework.

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CPA REPORT 2004

• There are constant political battles, played out
  very publicly in meetings and in the local media,
  which do not allow important decisions to receive
  sensible debate. There is little trust between
  officers and members and overall there is a poor
  relationship between them. There is a strong
  blame culture and both sides have become
  entrenched and frustrated. There is a danger that
  the Council will not be able to deliver the
  ambitions it has for its local community
• What a difference in two years!

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IMPROVED COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

• The Solace peer challenge in November 2006
  identified the Councils strength in providing
  community leadership in its work with a range of
  partners and stakeholders and highlighted the
  recent Scrutiny review of flooding in the town.

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IMPROVED COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

• This review showed Members of the Scrutiny
  Committee to
• be outwardlooking community leaders,
• hold other agencies to account,
• demonstrate questioning and chairing skills
  (training delivered in January 06),
• further develop effective working across the
  three political groups,
• and most importantly make a real difference to
  the lives of Harlow residents who had suffered
  from flash flooding in 2006

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IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

• Enhanced capacity at both officer and member
  level has led to real improvements in Harlow
  Councils performance management and service
  delivery.
• For example, in 2006 the number of best value
  performance indicators achieving their target has
  improved to 81 from 40 in the previous year and
  improved performance has been achieved for 70 of
  BVPIs

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SUMMARY

• Harlow has been on an amazing journey over the
  last two years
• There is still more work to do, but the Member
  Development Programme has made a significant
  contribution to the improvements in the
  leadership provided by the Council