Active Management | Transparent Consulting - London

Active Management in the Public Sector

This implementation focused on professionalizing operations management at all levels on site and prepared the way for a wider change throughout the operations hierarchy.

The background

A public sector agency had undergone an enormous programme of transformation. Service to customers had been radically improved; agents were working in new modern contact centre environments. The organisation was still aware of opportunities to improve, specifically:

• New managers were taking over their new areas without any specific training in the management method
• Operations management was still a mixed bag of rules to be complied with, budgets to be worked with and targets to be achieved
• The organisation wanted to establish a rigorous and professional approach to operations management as 'the way we do business.'

The implementation

Transparent Consulting initially worked with the agency on two sites. On the first, it delivered a 3 month pilot to prove the method and establish the level of gains. Team and department managers went on a simulation training course, then worked alongside TCL consultants to implement the right measures and a professional operations management approach in their sections. On the second site, Transparent Consulting refined the approach, implementing Active Management alongside new MI tools developed by the organisation.

One of the most satisfying parts of the implementation was that some of the greatest benefits were achieved through ideas and tools generated by managers themselves. Client managers took existing materials from their areas, adapted them using Active Management principles and produced solutions that generated real benefits on their own sites and beyond.

The results

The first implementation delivered a benchmarked 10% improvement in productivity in four months. Managers felt more in control, and understood and enjoyed the work. One manager said: "You told me that this would change my life. It hasn't! But it has made me a better operations manager, and it has made my team leaders better team leaders."

The managers on the second site (managing some 100 people) found the methods and the training highly effective:

"Got more from the training than anything else - it helped with the visuals, resources, staff, planning ahead, head of work. Helped set up for all the new tools that are being used - enjoyed this."

"The best training I've had since joining."

The lessons from the second site helped the organisation define how it will 'transform the way we manage operations.' Those conclusions, achieved in joint work between internal and external teams, prepared the organisation for the wider roll-out.

The roll-out

The final step is to roll out professional management of service operations across multiple sites. Transparent Consulting's role is to provide programme design, senior management coaching, train-the-trainer and onsite delivery.