Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service: Change management Cultural change A change in the culture at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) has led to an environment in which staff feel comfortable suggesting and developing changes in working practice that can dramatically increase efficiency and effectiveness. Peter Dartford became Chief Fire Officer (CFO) and Chief Executive in 2008 and was keen to expand the “pockets of brilliance” he had seen in his previous role as deputy CFO. He explains: “There were some pockets of excellent practice in terms of what people were doing and the outcomes, demonstrating real innovation and creativity. I was intrigued as to why that was only happening in pockets. There was a clear risk-aversion culture across most of the organisation.” He identified that change would only be successful if there was real involvement and engagement of the workforce. Staffordshire used a product called the ‘Leadership Message’, developed by the change management experts SFL and more often used in the private sector, to engage staff in the process of change.
Organisational vision Members of staff from every level and department were involved in developing the leadership message, which would articulate the values of the service. The first stage was a series of workshops involving 120 people which created eight versions of the message. A consolidation day involving 60 people created the final version, and this is now championed by about 50 leadership message champions across the organisation. The Leadership Message has a focus on people and communities and has helped to ensure that everyone is signed up to the ambition to make Staffordshire the safest place. It has given staff a greater feeling of influence in decision-making and ownership of the organisational culture.
The culture within Staffordshire FRS is now far less risk averse and more innovative, and as a result managers were able to implement the Vanguard approach to systems thinking. This is a process that engages the people operating systems in critically reviewing them and coming up with ideas for change. Against a backdrop of budget cuts, it has led to staff identifying some significant cost savings.
Cost efficiencies In one example, the service looked at the crewing system that was used – a system similar to that used by many other fire services. Evaluating crewing levels over 10 months revealed that they had only been right 17 per cent of the time. At all other times there were either too many firefighters on duty or not enough. Front-line staff were involved in looking at how things could be improved. They visited other services and identified Nottinghamshire as having a good system on which a new Staffordshire system could be based. It was trialled at two stations, which provided an opportunity for fine-tuning, then implemented across the county, with predicted savings of £500,000 a year. Another example involved fire control. When a 999 call was taken, information was entered into the computer system which identified what the level of attendance should be. Operators did not feel empowered to override this decision, which meant that too many engines could be dispatched. For example, if someone reported a grill pan fire that appeared to have gone out, the system would log that as a house fire and send two engines. Working with staff in the control room using the systems thinking model let to a new approach in which operators were encouraged to use information intelligently, sending out fewer engines when they were confident this was right. This led to a saving of about £100,000 over the first year of implementation.
Locality working Staffordshire FRS is involved in the locality working project, a multi-agency approach to services being trialled in Stoke-on-Trent. It combines the effort and resources of fire and rescue, the local authority, police, health and the voluntary sector to examine ways in which they can help individuals, families and communities to “live their lives well”. There is recognition that many problems are not being successfully addressed by singleagency interventions, and that a multi-agency approach could prevent needs from escalating into more complex (and costly) circumstances. From the point of view of the fire and rescue service it involves recognising that the factors contributing to fire risk (smoking, drinking, poor diet) are linked to a range of other negative outcomes in health, education, housing and so on.
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The partners are using and creating opportunities to encourage people to make positive life choices. Firefighters are embracing a community role that uses their trusted status to share these messages and act as role models. For example, they go into the community to engage young people in sports and fitness activities; and home fire safety checks are used to advise older people on issues around slips, trips and falls. Fire service staff are also being trained to be aware of the signs and symptoms of early onset dementia. Once it is developed, the system will be rolled out and could positively transform commissioning and procurement arrangements, budget setting and service provision for all agencies in the city.
Empowering front-line staff A peer challenge in February 2013 identified Staffordshire FRS as a very high performing service. The team concluded: “The senior leadership have invested heavily and worked hard to engage staff across the organisation to develop a truly open and honest culture which, supported by effective processes and underpinned by the cultural framework and leadership message, is driving significant change and improvement.” Peter Dartford says: “Changing the culture and removing the sense of risk aversion has been the foundation on which we have built these achievements. The fundamental component of our success is the empowerment and trust placed in people working on the front-line. We have made it clear what we are seeking to achieve and have allowed people at the local level to do what they see needs to be done.” For further information please contact Peter Dartford, Chief Fire Officer, Staffordshire FRS: peter.dartford@staffordshire.gov.uk.
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© Local Government Association June 2011
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