Discussions at a recent CSW seminar on efficiency savings, sponsored by business services company Steria, highlighted a number of important success factors for public sector organisations looking to make significant cost savings. The most important of these, and perhaps the most challenging, pivoted around keeping a keen focus on the longer term, strategic outcomes whilst at the same time exploiting the more immediate quick wins. Laser-sharp clarity around what you want to achieve as an organisation provides an all-important context for discussions with customers, partners and suppliers. Focusing on the bigger picture also avoids the danger of short-term tactical efficiency gains undermining important, longer range initiatives.

A second key area is collaboration. One of the delegates pointed out that the civil service is quick to look to the outside world for help when in fact other public sector organisations have had to address similar challenges and will have valuable learning points. So a key point is‘re-use’: recycle ideas, re-use assets and share experience. This collaborative approach requires organisations to be open and challenge existing ways of working – talking to a much wider range of government departments, (as well as the third sector and local government), asking customers for ideas and engaging suppliers in workshops to address specific efficiency challenges.

Finally, an all-important enabler is to ensure that the corporate vehicles, governance and performance metrics support this attainment of strategic outcomes and collaboration. We heard from delegates that all-too-often organisations start with the contractual approach (e.g. outsourcing) and then shoe-horn the efficiency initiative into this structure. Much better to start with what the key outcomes are, clarify who needs to be involved and then select a contractual mechanism to enable this partnership. Payment by results is an excellent approach provided that there is an appropriate balance between achieving outcomes that are easy to measure and more qualitative metrics that are key drivers of a good quality service.

CSW and Steria are running a second seminar on 14 October which will continue these discussions, looking specifically at how public sector partnerships and commercial organisations can truly and practically deliver ‘better with less’.  For details email sharing@civilserviceworld.com

Last updated 603 days ago by Civil Service Live