Making successful change happen: council organisational development in action

The Local Government Workforce strategy 2007 identified organisational development and change management as one of the biggest skills gaps in the sector. If councils are to improve their services and become more efficient, change will be inevitable. Therefore steps need to be taken to respond more quickly to external demands.

This report explores the change management experience of senior managers in five different councils. It outlinines  their advice to others with the following:

• Do whatever works for you – there is no one solution
• Work with your political opposition – it’s important that they support change
• Make sure you have a really good understanding of the benefits that you want to see
• It is sometimes better to create a sense of urgency and make changes quickly
• Focus on the changes that you know will be quick successes – it will help win people over
• Make the pace of change challenging, but don’t push things too hard.

Also highlighted is the importance of leadership, the need for people to understand why change is happening and for everyone to be able to understand how they can be part of it.

'Making Successful Change Happen: Council Organisational Development in Action' (PDF, 22 pages, 285KB)

Page published September 2008.