Discussion to take place with the Chief Executive regarding management issues within the Council.
Minutes:
The Committee had requested at its previous meeting that the Chief Executive be invited to attend the meeting to discuss some of the concerns it had regarding management issues within the Council. The Chairman explained the background to these concerns to the new and substitute Members present. Concerns had largely related to absenteeism and the fact that HR had raised issues with managers but in some areas there had been an inability to accept responsibility for the management of this.
The Chief Executive stated that he did understand the committee’s frustration but it went deeper than simply dealing with absenteeism. It was an unavoidable fact that people did get ill but there also needed to be a culture change whereby managers were held to be accountable and to take actions where necessary to address issues within their teams.
Discussion took place regarding:
· Whether it was necessary to have officers within a service area physically present within Phoenix House in order to deal with a Member’s query. One Member had reported that following a spate of issues within his Ward he had sought help from the service area in question to find that all the officers were ‘off’ on the same day. The Chief Executive responded to this by stating that there was a difference between managerial oversight, contactability and responsiveness. The issue was more about receiving a timely response from an officer and whether that was whilst working from home or in person at Phoenix House was not significant. He and his leadership team were working very hard to reinforce the message that providing a timely response was paramount.
· A programme of external training had been put in place to upskill the entire management co-hort. This was being driven through the Directors who were setting the necessary standards going forwards. Managers would be supported and existing procedures used to tackle issues when these standards were not met. The Committee felt that it had already started to see improvements.
· The Chairman, as a member of the Partnership Working Group, had visited West Devon Borough Council and South Hams District Council where they had made radical changes regarding the way officers worked. He explained that they only had 6 desks for every 10 employees and the assumption was that, when possible, an officer would work from home. Despite this type of disparate working arrangement the atmosphere within the Council building had appeared to be exceptionally upbeat.
· Following his arrival the Chief Executive had been tasked with securing an expert productivity assessment for the planning area. This had now been completed and initial results had indicated that Mid Devon District Council had entered a period of cultural adjustment. The supporting structures to allow and encourage this change were being put in place and whilst it would take some time to progress the process had started in a positive fashion.
The Committee concluded by stating that the discussion had been very useful, that there was every reason to be optimistic for the future and they had been reassured by the passion of the leadership team to drive through change and to specifically address previous areas concerns.