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It might have felt slightly left field but, once explained, the first question posed to Project Managers at the inaugural meeting of the Digital Workstream Board made sense – were they a rhino or a cow?

Using the analogy attributed to serial entrepreneur, Martin Fischer, the board’s Chair, and Larbert High School Rector, Jon Reid, laid down the choices Project Managers had to make to ensure success of the Digital workstream.

He said: “Rhino’s are strong. They have endurance and go out and get what they want. They crash through barriers, ignore the naysayers and are always looking for opportunities to help them realise their goals. On the other hand, a cow just goes with the herd. It doesn’t do much. It eats and sleeps and watches as opportunity passes it by, and the cow is fine with that. In your role on this board you have to consider if you are a rhino or a cow – what are the characteristics you will adopt to drive your project forward? 

“I also want you to consider where you sit on the Ladder of Accountability, as each and every one of you will be, at some level, accountable for the project you are leading. Council employees, change leaders, you and I, we are all on that ladder, and part of your job as a Project Manager is to get yourself and the people you are working with up it.

“From my point of view as Chair, this board has to be ambitious, creative, persistent and resilient. We have to spot opportunity and support each other to achieve. We also need to look outwards to other organisations - public, private, third sector - and learn from best practice elsewhere to help bolster our Digital Strategy. By doing that we can make the changes that are needed, build capacity and help future-proof the Council.”

With a responsibility to deliver the Digital workstream projects laid down in the Council’s five-year business plan, the board is one of five newly established boards formed to ensure services work more closely together to speed up transformation.

At its first meeting on Friday, May 31st, it was also clear that the adoption of new technology to help the Council better meet the needs of its customers, communities and employees was critical to its transformation.

Caroline Binnie, Senior Responsible Owner of the Digital Workstream Board, and Communications & Participation Manager, said: “Services need to be more efficient, responsive and standardised, and we need to think about delivery from the customer’s perspective – how do they want to access services and how do they currently interact with us? How do we alter what we are doing to meet their needs?

“Digital transformation is no longer an option, it’s a necessity. That is why we now have a Digital Strategy and a lot of the projects in this workstream will help us realise the ambitions it sets down.”

The next meeting of the Digital Workstream Board will take place on June 27th.

Workstream Board Presentation (PDF, 1MB)