Government and wider public sector organisations continually face new, complex, and challenging problems. The Capability Building Programme supports public servants tackling these, developing solutions whilst building capability. Over the past three years we have convened and facilitated the work of cross-sector teams to deliver specific projects, ranging from early policy thinking to frontline delivery. We offer an alternative to traditional consultancy, leveraging the best skills within the public sector to deliver our clients’ projects.

Who we are

We are a team of specialist change management and facilitation professionals that initiate collaboration between all partners involved in designing and delivering public services. We create the opportunity for public sector organisations to work alongside a specially assembled team of cross-public sector professionals, matching their skills and experience to a current challenge or problem.

We have experience in:

• Collaborative policy making
• Service Innovation
• Organisation Development
• Continuous Improvement
• Commissioning

Who we work with

From our case studies you will see that we involve everyone who forms part of the delivery chain – from central government to local delivery right through to the customer receiving the service. By connecting to the frontline we ensure success and longevity of the changes to be implemented leading to desired outcomes.

Our projects/clients include:

Public Service Delivery

• Joint commissioning of Children’s Services for Worcestershire County Council.
• GP commissioning of Children’s Services Commissioning for the Department of Health, Department for Education, and Peterborough City Council.
• Continuous Improvement across the criminal justice system for the Home Office, Crown Prosecution Service and Ministry of Justice.
• The risks of transition to Universal Credit and potential mitigating actions for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
• Addressing long term unemployment amongst women in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

Policy Development

• Decentralisation: Opportunities and Challenges for Local Leadership for Department for Communities and Local Government.
• Scaling up Innovation in the Public Sector. A joint project with Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Department for Communities and Local Government.

Organisation Development

• Improving employee engagement and morale in a prison for the Ministry of Justice.
• Innovation and Continuous Improvement in the work and welfare group in DWP.
• Introducing ‘Confident Policy Making’, a new approach to policy. Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (now BIS)

The challenges

Public sector challenges are complex and cut across sectors, departments and different parts of the delivery system. At this time of tighter resources and high public demands, more than ever we need to foster innovation, collaboration and a focus on transforming delivery: new approaches and solutions that when implemented help us deliver better, faster and cheaper.

To do this we need to draw on all the talent, skills and experience at our disposal. And in particular we need to actively link up frontline staff and service users.

We need to:

• Harness and apply the learning from what we already know
• Develop new approaches, test them and grow them
• Build the capability of our people to collaborate and engage
• Build the capability of our systems to stimulate and support innovation and collaboration to deliver more with less.

The capability building programme works with other departments and public bodies to provide the structures and processes to support these activities. We are all part of the solution.

Our Approach

We actively recruit public sector professionals for each project, enabling us to create a diverse team which brings breadth of skills and experience relevant to each challenge. The client is an integral part of the team to ensure solutions are practical and realistic. We also bring in external experts to challenge our work.

We have created a win-win approach – public sector professionals develop their experience outside of their day job whilst creating innovative solutions for the client.

Benefits

• For the client department/s: a better solution developed by experienced professionals
• For the team members: an intense learning experience, developing expert skills and knowledge to take back into their role
• For government: a cost effective model to drive innovation and collaboration; a viable alternative to consultancy
• For the public sector: nothing is lost! Unlike traditional consultancy, all learning and Intellectual Property stays with the sector, you only pay once.