Workstream boards are helping deliver transformation across the Council with a number of significant project milestones hit since the five boards first met in June.

Speaking at the Make it Happen Board on October 29^th, Stuart Ritchie, Senior Responsible Owner of the Council of the Future programme of change, said the cross-cutting nature of the boards was helping to embed a one council approach to change.

He said: “Our customers see us as one organisation, so it is important that we think and act like one – and our workstream boards are helping make that happen. Each board brings together colleagues from different services, providing them with an easy way to share knowledge and expertise and make the right connections to deliver change as one council.”

Some of the Council of the Future workstream successes over the past six months include:

Enabled communities

• Closer to Home: Children’s, Housing and Development Services have worked together to transform a block of Council flats into supported accommodation that will help care leavers successfully make the transition from care to independent living.
• Change your mind(set): over 40 employees attended a two day workshop to learn about the  mind-set of a social entrepreneur and the techniques they use to solve shared problems. The learning will help the group approach challenges in a new way at a series of hackathons to be held with the local community in the New Year.

Transformation Enablers

• Strategic Property Review: through better utilisation of space in Carronbank House, we’ve more than trebled the number of employees working in the building, helping teams work side-by-side in a more mobile and flexible way.
• Smart Working Smart Travel: 91 petrol and 34 electric pool cars are now in place across the Council estate helping to reduce mileage claims and generating net savings of £117,649 (2018/19) and a further £65k so far this financial year.

Digital

• Sparkathon: bringing together over 100 digital innovators from across Council Services, the event inspired new ways to bring our Digital Strategy to life. These ideas are being assessed and could be incorporated into existing workstream projects or become new projects in their own right.
• Delivering Modern & Digital Services - MyFalkirk: over the past six months, 68k transactions have been made and £4.6m collected via MyFalkirk. Almost 6,800 new accounts have also been created taking the number of users to 32k and a further eight services added taking the number of services offered online to 64.

Entrepreneurial

• Entrepreneurial Sprint: 25 employees completed a training programme to help them think more entrepreneurially and bring about behaviour change across the Council.  
• Commercialisation & Transformation of Roads & Grounds Service: using money secured through our Change Fund, work has begun with APSE to review the Service and identify opportunities for improvement and commercialisation.

Services of the Future

• Investing in inclusive growth: a funding bid for £240m has been submitted to Westminster and Holyrood that could see 6000 new jobs created and an additional £400m brought every year into the local economy.
• Transformation of Business Support: by bringing our Customer & Business support teams together, which resulted in savings of almost £500k (2018/2019), a further £25k has been saved since May.