Change and Complexity gets thrust upon local council services #2

The man in need

So, there was a guy wandering outside the closed building, and reading the various messages on the front door. Someone in reception said to themselves “Can’t he go away and call one of the numbers?”

I saw him and went out the back to talk to him. This guy, looked like a builder, the UC number he was trying did not work. I helped him to realise that his mobile was not working right. He said that he was waiting from a call from UC, as he has just claimed for the very first time.

He kept crying, then apologising. He said that he was waiting for UC because he had no money, and I said that it would take at least 6 weeks. He then said that he did not know what to do, and he said that he did not know what he was going to eat.

He does not know what to do. I could see that him mind, usually sharp, had dissolved into an inability to think straight. He was in crisis. A crisis is often characterised by people acting very differently and illogically. He was searching for something, anything…

I asked him if he wanted a food bag, and his eyes said it all… I went in and got him a good food bag and came out to give it to him. It was one of the rare occasions when someone just helped someone in need, and he had visibly changed, he was more relaxed, and had stopped crying. I asked him to ring the council customer service and they will help him survive over the next few days.

He greabbed the food bag, and his etyes said it all. No paperwork, just the right action at the right time.

Progress

The main flow of demand in from those who need, and those who need it is now flowing. We have constipation in that there is no-one to store and transport the food. The delay is organisational at senior level. But what can we do in the team? Good ol’ Richard does not see why we cannot open our store and keep the food there. Then we can get the volunteers who have already stepped forward to deliver to those who the team have triaged.

Solution! We were not meant to do this ourselves, but the main volunteer group are just not going to be ready. Many of their drivers are not the youngest, and decided to withdraw. So, we designed a Plan B and we just did it. It felt good.

Principle 1 — if you think it is the right thing to do, but there is a barrier in the way what seems not to be lifting, you can decide to solve it yourself. It may be better to ask forgiveness than to seek permission.

The complexity of day 1 & 2 has cleared in the new flow. The flow is clunky. We let into the building a homeless person to make a call, and we suspect that that he had the virus. Panic! It is about learning to become comfortable with making mistakes and learning from them.

They dont think that they need a conference call with their staff… What do I do? I let them have a day without talking to their staff who are working from home, and wait for the feedback. Ouch, tomorrow we are having a conference call! Dont forget I am only a facilitator in this role, so people have to be convinced themselves before they will accept new ways.

The home workers feel isolated and they are not sure what they are doing during the day, or if it is even effective. A great case study demonstrating the need for connection and feedback to remain a happy worker. I am helping them to reject Taylorism as we are not simply cogs in a machine.

Strategy from my perspective is to first get the cogs in place, then to oil those cogs and help make it work.

The strategy is:

1. Form a purpose, from the demand.
2. Form a team and create a basic process prototype.
3. Adjust the prototype and create a flow.
4. Ensure the end to end flow is now operational and work with each function to join them up with one single purpose.
5. Identify the main elements of the work; community groups, ‘help me’ flow, food supply chain, and volunteers. And I am looking for a senior manager to make someone lead each section. Thats the Hub.
6. Link the leads to those home-workers behind them doing the work.

We have people working from home sorting out the referrals. No-one thinks that we have to keep them in the loop of communication and team working. So, we begin to now define the groups, and realise that the Hub needs a lead for each group.

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Where we are now is that the main aspects of this work hace settled down into a ncie flow. The key elements are:

1. Keep those at home happy by connecting to them regularly and creating psychological safety.
2. Everyone int he room can organise and talk to each other. There are now 10 in the Hub.
3. Prepare for an increas in demands, and record the key demands from day one.

4. Create an end to end flow with Customer services and any other related servcices.

5. Always do the right thing, regardless of what the process says.