Owen Buckwell is describing the award-winning work as Head of Housing at Portsmouth Council. Here are a selection of key points<\/p>\n
Things they used to pay attention to now take care of themselves. For example there is no more training events for morale. We don\u2019t manage sickness, but sickness leave has gone down. 65% of all sickness is with 20% of the people (grounds maintenance) and the cause of their issues was back pain. So we\u2019ve given them training on how to lift and sicknesses have gone down! Cleaners were eating without washing their hands and getting stomach issues, so now we\u2019ve given them hand gels. Awesome example of studying the system and going to find root causes, rather than working on the symptoms!<\/p>\n
They no longer spend with Vanguard, they lead the change themselves now.<\/p>\n
A control chart(!) shows that formal complaints about housing repairs have fallen (80% reduction).<\/p>\n
Ian Gilson, from Comserve, a contractor to Porstmouth Council is on the stage. He speaks about the Vanguard intervention in October 2008. Multi-trade Supplies was invented after this intervention. Owen used \u201cbrute force\u201d on Comserve to force the contractors to look at their service from outside-in. The measures that they used showed they were doing well. Owen took them to the tenants and walk through the jobs to identify the issues, which \u2018opened their eyes\u2019 and \u2018made them curious\u2019 about what they saw. Ian mentions that they realised they had \u2018management filters\u2019 which prevented them from seeing the problems of the work.<\/p>\n
In \u2018Check\u2019 they realised they had no effective measures of the work, or to understand the purpose (above \u2018make money and provide a decent service\u2019). They found a lot of waste \u2013 replacing a wooden front door took four visits! They used to go at times that were not convenient to the tenants and surprise, the tenants weren\u2019t there. The people wanted to do a good job but the system wasn\u2019t letting them. Check is very difficult for a leader of a business to go through, since the leaders have created the systems that cause the problem (not enough stock in the van because they weren\u2019t trusted to have the stock). They had to go through an un-learning about the fact that what you were doing that you thought was effective is not.<\/p>\n
In \u2018Redesign\u2019 they talked about the \u2018art of the possible\u2019 and started with a \u2018blank slate\u2019. They worked with John Little from Vanguard. They started to run experiments and identified the purpose (\u2018Do the right work at the right time\u2019). The tenants want a first-time fix, in one visit. The right time for a tenant meant the specific (not time boxed or choosing a slot) time. It is there job to resource against demand.<\/p>\n
They developed an IT package (sadly, it didn\u2019t take much programming \u2013 will Systems Thinking mean less work for software developers? I say, \u2018probably\u2019). There are two columns, essentially Demand and Capacity.<\/p>\n
Creating a trade supplies company (in the middle of a financial crisis!)<\/strong><\/p>\n [Comserve set up MTS \u2013 multi-trade supply in 2008 in the middle of the financial crisis after the issues around trade supply they found when they studied the work during \u2018Check\u2019]<\/p>\n They found major problems with operatives having the right stock at the right time to finish the job. Often the stock wasn\u2019t in the van. Many times the tradesmen had to go to a trade supply. Intriguingly there is often a burger van outside the trade supply store \u2013 showing how much time tradesman were waiting there! (1.8 hours a day per operative going to the trade counter – \u00a3560,000 a year!)<\/p>\n End to end cost \u2013 how much does it cost to supply a replacement bath? The focus was on getting on the cheapest bath, but often this meant the operative going past 2 or 3 stores, to go to a place to get a bath \u00a35 cheaper! (a unit cost focus), not factoring in the \u00a320 an hour the operative wasted driving past the stores to save the \u00a35 <\/p>\n Comserve tried to get another supplier to deliver stock to the operatives on site. They had to set up their own database about what was used, by who and when. They then went back to the vans to review the stock that they had in. Previously they\u2019d had meetings about \u2018what stock do we need in a van\u2019 (without checking). After 13 weeks of data, they realised that 75% of the stock in the vans wasn\u2019t used. Of the top 20 items, they didn\u2019t have 10 of them in the van! By studying and collecting data they were able to improve it to 85% of the van contents being used.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t practical to have every piece of stock in the van. They realised that big items, such as baths, had a lead time (about 30 minutes), so they could get someone to deliver it, leaving the operative on site to keep doing useful work. The operative rings ahead of time and says \u201cI need a batch in 20 minutes\u201d and the trade supply group deliver it.<\/p>\n They have capability measures. An example of how often MTS were on time \u2013 how long do operatives have to wait? Sometimes a door can be taken off quicker than it can be delivered. They know that people are waiting 256 minutes a day waiting for supplies. They believe that they are now saving \u00a3245,000 a year even factoring in the costs of the delivery group.<\/p>\n Customer satisfaction wasn\u2019t in a control chart because \u2018it was a flat line\u2019 at 9.93 \/ 10. If it wasn\u2019t rated a 10 we ask \u201cwhy wasn\u2019t it a 10?\u201d this lets us look for trends that allow us to improve the service.<\/p>\n For the leaders, they have happy customers and an engaged workforce. Management decisions are based on fact. Without taking on more staff they have increased turnover 66% in 18 months. They have new clients.<\/p>\n Seddon\u2019s Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n If you told repair organisations they shouldn\u2019t work to standard times, people would say \u2018that would be tricky!\u2019 but Portsmouth shows it can be done. When an operative gets to a house they phone in \u2018how long it will take\u2019. Most managers don\u2019t trust operatives to make this decision \u2013 \u201cthey\u2019d just bugger off if we let them do that”!\u201d. Portsmouth have \u2018designed for perfect\u2019 around \u2018optimising the system to fix the problem first time when we visit a house\u2019. The audit commission have downrated it because there are no benchmarking and schedule of rates \u2013 but would they have done this if they\u2019d visit other people? Deming said \u2018don\u2019t copy without knowledge\u2019. Benchmarking is the fastest way to mediocrity and being like everyone else.<\/p>\n Question Session<\/strong><\/p>\n Owen answered a question about how to introduce this with managers:<\/p>\n Managers thought that it was mad, because it didn\u2019t fit with their MBA, so we had to help them with a \u2018normative experience\u2019. They did start by looking at Toyota, Virgin and Tesco who described themselves as \u2018Systems Thinking\u2019. We put people through a 3 day crash course on \u2018Lean fundamentals\u2019 from Vanguard to build knowledge and learning. But it became clear that training wasn\u2019t going to be as effective as doing; we needed to improve something. So we started with something that involved customer focus, so that we could start measure or learn. It wasn\u2019t easy \u2013 you are trying to make this normal. It can\u2019t collapse if a leader leaves the organisation. It took me a long time to work out that I needed to work out how to work on people\u2019s thinking, not on what they do. It took 2 interventions to do this. Even today, at Portsmouth, there are people who don\u2019t think this is the right thing to do. Sometimes you just have to be tough and say \u2018this isn\u2019t an option, this isn\u2019t a democracy, this is what we\u2019re going to do!\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n More from Owen:<\/p>\n The management are very focussed on reducing unit costs of phone calls, but they aren\u2019t looking at why people are having those calls!<\/p>\n People in the organisation now want to know about Systems Thinking because they need to start saving, but they are 5 years too late to start achieving in-year savings.<\/p>\n In focussing on traffic wardens the focus was on reducing the number of people walking the street, because they \u2018seemed to be doing the same thing\u2019. But now, for example, if someone sees fly tipping they have to ring a call centre, that then have to send it out to another person on the street \u2013 all of this is activity that doesn\u2019t related to helping the public, but what managers are focussing on is on reducing the cost of the call! <\/p>\n We aren\u2019t trying to make services more efficient \u2013 we are trying to redesign them”!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Ian on how they collect data for their database:<\/p>\n Our data comes from the on-site operatives. We\u2019ve done away with PDA\u2019s because we found they didn\u2019t work. When they go to site, the time they are sent is logged. They assess the repair on site and ring back to the call handlers to say they are on site and how long it will take (we\u2019ve captured travel time automatically). When they are finished they say \u2018this is what I did and what parts I used from the van stock\u2019 (giving times for completion, parts used, number of operatives, number of visits to complete the repair). All of the data goes straight into the database without using any paper forms. We use these data (real data as Seddon says, not arbitrary things like targets). The database is custom developed. It took 3 weeks to write and cost \u00a33,500! and this was with a 1,500 bonus to do it in 3 weeks rather than 4!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Owen on regulations in housing:<\/p>\n We asked users what they wanted, and they said they didn\u2019t want the measure that the Minister wanted. It was the same with choice-based lettings. Choice ended up discounting those most in need because they weren\u2019t savvy enough to handle the bidding process, so we told the minister we weren\u2019t going to do it. It got to a sessions where we said \u201cAre you going to make it the law? If not, we\u2019re not we\u2019re going to do\u201d. Sometime you need to have the fortitude to stand up to the minister to say \u201cno, our residents don\u2019t want this, were not going to do this\u201d. Sometimes you just have to do what is right.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Did the efficiency savings reduce the oeprative\u2019s pay. Ian answered:<\/p>\n All of our operatives are on salary so it\u2019s had no impact.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Question: \u201cIf I said we\u2019d do repairs when the customers want them, the manager would say we need a buffer of repairs to deal with peaks and the troughs\u201d. Ian answered:<\/p>\n When we started doing repairs when customers wanted, there were peaks at 10am and 2pm with troughs in-between. This was a challenge for the first month or two, and we missed many promised times. We found that we had two teams \u2013 repairs and voids (where one tenant leaves and it has to be fixed for the next tenant). The void work now gives us this buffer. We have strict void times, and we make sure we get them done, but by blending them together. All operatives do repairs in the morning and then switch to voids in the afternoon, allowing us to meet customer demand on voids and repairs. Also, block repairs help with buffering. As an example, we used to take doors to site \u2018unprimed\u2019, but now in the downtime we have for painters and decorators we prime the wood up so that they go to site already (which takes out the peaks and trough for painters and decorators). It takes 3 \u2013 4 months to get a good enough picture of demand to be able to resource against it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n What happened to the managers? Owen answers:<\/p>\n None of the managers have left. The ones who had the locks on their doors changed are still there. One said \u201cif you think that I\u2019ll give up this office that took me 30 years to get, you\u2019re dreaming\u201d (Owen got the carpenter in). Now that manager says they now love being out in the work. We\u2019ve placed our managers to go through a normative experience to do interventions with Ian\u2019s team (their outsourced supplier!). Lots of people say \u2018how can you resource this?\u2019 but when you look at what their current job is they waste their time on meetings and e-mail.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Question about self-contained teams or clusters who are resistant? Owen answers:<\/p>\n We believe most people want to do a good job. You didn\u2019t advertise for \u2018negative, recalcitrant people\u2019 \u2013 they turned up as good positive people. What\u2019s happened in the mean time? We have, giving them a system that didn\u2019t allow them to do their job. We\u2019ve found working on the system works. When you start, you think it\u2019s \u201cpeople problems\u201d, but after you realised<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Owen Buckwell is describing the award-winning work as Head of Housing at Portsmouth Council. Here are a selection of key points Things they used to pay attention to now take care of themselves. For example there is no more training events for morale. We don\u2019t manage sickness, but sickness leave has gone down. 65% of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techpeoplethrivi-i2tkeoduos.live-website.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techpeoplethrivi-i2tkeoduos.live-website.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techpeoplethrivi-i2tkeoduos.live-website.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techpeoplethrivi-i2tkeoduos.live-website.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techpeoplethrivi-i2tkeoduos.live-website.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techpeoplethrivi-i2tkeoduos.live-website.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techpeoplethrivi-i2tkeoduos.live-website.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techpeoplethrivi-i2tkeoduos.live-website.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techpeoplethrivi-i2tkeoduos.live-website.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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