Rewarding public service in Northern Ireland!

Went across to the Northern Ireland Local Government Association conference in Derry to launch a new awards scheme at their annual dinner.

The awards will be delivered in partnership between APSE, NILGA, the Local Government Staff Commission, the Local Government Training Group and hopefully the DoE will also get involved.

The idea is to celebrate best practice and promote a culture of continuous improvement and excellence amongst the local authorities. The President of NILGA, Arnold Hatch and myself did the launch accompanied by a short video clip about what we are trying to achieve.

A good night was had by all, especially as the after dinner entertainment, Tim McGarry, used his slot to poke fun at politics and life in Northern Ireland. I understood about 80% of the jokes although some were obviously based on very local issues. However he didn't miss any of the political parties or main public figures and whilst this made some individuals squirm a bit in their chairs at times, everyone had something to laugh about over the course of his set.

Rewarding public service in Northern Ireland!

Went across to the Northern Ireland Local Government Association conference in Derry to launch a new awards scheme at their annual dinner.

The awards will be delivered in partnership between APSE, NILGA, the Local Government Staff Commission, the Local Government Training Group and hopefully the DoE will also get involved.

The idea is to celebrate best practice and promote a culture of continuous improvement and excellence amongst the local authorities. The President of NILGA, Arnold Hatch and myself did the launch accompanied by a short video clip about what we are trying to achieve.

A good night was had by all, especially as the after dinner entertainment, Tim McGarry, used his slot to poke fun at politics and life in Northern Ireland. I understood about 80% of the jokes although some were obviously based on very local issues. However he didn't miss any of the political parties or main public figures and whilst this made some individuals squirm a bit in their chairs at times, everyone had something to laugh about over the course of his set.

Semi-concious in County Down!

Foolishly decided to be one of those super beings and did a 5.30am start today as speaking at the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives conference in Northern Ireland on the subject of 'Lessons of change and improvement'. (Note to myself go the night before in future!)

After doing the planes, trains and automobiles routine I got to Newcastle, County Down, just before 10.30am and my session started at midday. Despite having to neck copious amounts of caffeine to retain my focus the presentation appeared to go very well and my message seemed well received.

I gave some theory on change and improvement before talking about the 3 big change and improvement programmes I have been involved in during my career, reorganisation of local government in Scotland, the transformation of ADLO to APSE and as a highly interested observer and participant in the modernisation agenda for local government that has taken place over the past 10 years.

My 10 point change and improvement plan, based on my experiences, goes something like this:

Have a vision
Gather support
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Implement fast
Get quick wins and publicise them
Create solid foundations
Empower staff
Celebrate a culture of success
Show some humility
Don't flog a dead horse

Despite the sleep deprivation, the long journey gave me plenty of time for reflection on the subject and by thinking through the mixture of theory and experience on change and improvement I gained an awful lot of learning and fresh ideas that I intend to put to good use in coming months.