A case study of ‘planning for the future’ in Dorset
We’ve used a multi-disciplinary team to deliver our ‘Planning for the Future’ work to create and transform our new Dorset Planning Authority from six legacy councils, following the creation of Dorset Council.
Over the last two years we’ve restructured and invested in our service. We’ve converged 5 legacy software systems onto a new system, with only one more to go this month. We’ve moved 285 people onto the system and transferred 4.3 million documents, that’s 47 years of data. We’ve harmonised templates and processes. We’ve cleared our validation backlog and are reducing our planning application and land searches backlogs. We’re not done yet. There’s still more to do.
We’ve done this work at speed, while working remotely, to get our new Planning Authority up and running as quickly as possible, giving us a solid base from which to transform. One of the reasons we’ve been able to do this so quickly is because we’ve used a multi-disciplinary team approach.
Our multi-disciplinary team
Our portfolio holder and corporate director drive the change and are part of our steering group and are regular attendees and presenters at our show and tells, briefings and workshops. Our multi-disciplinary team members came from different professions and different authorities, all with different ways of working. We’ve brought together colleagues from our planning, enforcement, building control, conservation and trees, spatial planning, highways and land charges teams, alongside colleagues from digital and change, ICT and GIS, DEF Software Ltd our supplier, HR, finance and communications to make our multi-disciplinary team. We’ve put energy into connecting and building our team.
Understanding each team member’s background and meeting them where they are is key. This is even more important in our virtual world. The whole team have yet to meet face to face. We take time at the beginning of our stand ups to check in with each other. At the height of the pandemic when many of us were juggling childcare, home schooling and work, our children often joined the call to wave or to see how close they could stand behind you before they ‘crashed’ your background. The first few minutes of our stand-ups have become a ‘connecting’ space that we all look forward to.
Much of our success comes from integrating our supplier DEF’s project management and technical leads into our project team, they attend daily stand ups and collaborate via Teams. Having seen how a multi-disciplinary team can accelerate change, DEF now recommend this way of working to their clients. We’ve also met with other planning authorities to share our experiences.
Working in the open
People are at the heart of our work. We’re open and honest and prioritise collaboration and team working across both our project team and our services. We encourage people to think differently, to be creative, experiment and explore how many right answers there are to a problem.
We’ve focused on creating the right environment for change, where everyone feels comfortable talking openly, where issues can be raised knowing that there is no blame, just a team ready to solve it together. We have a clear purpose and everybody understands their ‘why’ how that fits with our aims. We have clear responsibilities, but muck in together when needed. It’s a real team effort.
I attend the stand-up meetings and I must say I have found these absolutely fascinating and just wanted to say thank you for letting me be a part of it. In previous jobs I have been a part of a number of projects but none have been ran in such an organised, structured, inclusive and interactive way and feel that I have learnt so much from it already and genuinely has blown me away and it all starts with you!
We collaborate and work openly and honestly. For us this means sharing our work widely across the team and the services to ensure we’re bringing everyone along with us. Our work is visible in the team site and team chat. The entire team are welcome at stand-ups and majority of the team are regular attendees. That can mean up to 20 people all with their own specialist knowledge. If the conversation is technical or relevant to just one area, then we’ll briefly summarise (or translate 😉) the main points, the impact and why its relevant, so that everyone in the stand-up is clear, regardless of their background. We also follow up with a weekly stand-up summary in the team chat.
Good resourcing and team ethic really do make a difference.
Good committed people will achieve anything given enough time
Experimental thinking
We encourage experimental thinking and trying things differently. When we’re faced with an issue/problem we don’t think ‘what’s the right answer’, we think how many right answers are there? The beauty of using this in a multi-disciplinary team is that you’ve covered all the bases. Quickly.
For example, in our Weymouth go live, we needed to find a way to take the systems and website down and go live, whilst keeping the details of the planning applications going to the committee available to the public. A quick brainstorm in a stand-up provided multiple options and a decision on the way forward. All this in the space of about 20 minutes. This would have taken days, maybe weeks in our previous ways of working, and may even have resulted in us delaying the go live.
Experimenting can sometimes mean things won’t always go as planned. We held a virtual service wide ‘Kick on to Transformation’ session with about 100 staff and experimented with virtual breakout rooms. On returning from a breakout room, lots of people were unable to unmute, resulting a quick game of charades and some instant team building!
Support
The team support each other. As we move onto the next go live area, new colleagues join us. It’s great to hear colleagues from one service area welcome new colleagues and reassure them that although it all sounds like a foreign language and there’s lots of work to do, the work is so worth the benefits.
Celebrations
We celebrate our wins. Our go live after parties are becoming legendary. Some of the team even got together for an early bonfire night celebration too.
Key take away messages
Change can be accelerated working as a multi-disciplinary team
We need to work on creating the right environment for change
You can do this in the virtual world too – many of our team have never met in real life
– Sarah Dackham, Digital Business Partner
