Q. Learning is working with Gloucester City council on a Change Management programme ‘Driving Gloucester Forward’, To help inspire others, one of Gloucester’s employees who was nominated to be a change agent ‘Driver’ wrote the ode below. It explains what has been done so far in Gloucester and what is coming up next - what a great way to get the message across to everyone in the organisation.

Our Journey first started when Julian came,
To make Gloucester Great was his aim,
He identified our work ethics were very dated,
With Q Learning’s help a change programme was created.

To deliver the changes help was sought,
Realising new skills would need to be taught,
From this the “Drivers” programme came to fruition,
And 18 Drivers underwent their tuition.

Training completed Drivers were raring to go,
But needed to keep staff in the know,
Drop in sessions were arranged and posters created,
And what we were delivering was related.

15 Measures were identified by GLT,
To help us get to where we need to be,
Services were asked to self assess and rate where they sit,
And to identify 3 improvements they would work at to hit.

Introducing these interventions was no easy ride,
We hit pockets of resistance Council wide,
Comments like “God not another thing we have to do”,
To “we’ve been here before this is nothing new.

Resistance aside the sessions were well received,
With some services top scores were achieved,
Some sessions created real team debate,
Some services found out they weren’t actually that great!

Team time and Boards was the next intervention,
To improve communication was their intention,
Teams were asked to spend 10 minutes a day,
So interesting information the teams could relay.

Some teams have embraced creating interesting boards,
And teams gather round them in their hordes,
There’s an Octopus on one to one that is “Green”,
And creating team names staff have been keen.

From Planners to Admin staff from cleaners to PA’s,
Everyone should make this part of their day,
Whether at trolley time or at 10 at 10,
Teams should gather round to get the latest gen.

These interventions are now for the services to run,
And managers need to make sure that they are done,
This was only the start of what’s in store,
So listen carefully and we will tell you more.

The next intervention is all down to you,
“1,000 Ideas” is about improving what you do,
Think of improvement’s, suggest off the wall ideas,
And present them to the Dragons Den made up of your peers.

The Drivers will help you with your Den preparation,
And give you the structure for your Den presentation,
We’ll look at the stakeholders, your savings and spend,
So awkward questions your ready and able to fend.

We want you to deliver from the customer’s perspective,
To help make what you do more effective,
Find out “What Matters” to customer’s who contact you,
To inform your delivery and change what you do.

Does it really matter to the customer if 3 visits are made,
As long as their benefits are eventually paid?
Or that they sit in a phone queue to report a fault,
As long as we answer and they get a result.

Can we increase Customer satisfaction & improve customer relations,
By giving them what they want and exceed expectation,
Ask your customers “What Matters” and hear what they say,
And start looking at your processes a different way.

We want you to review your processes and rework the flow,
To hi-light those additional tasks that need to go,
Look at unnecessary processes where the value is lost,
And failure is being worked on at additional cost.

Follow that piece of paper map the journey it makes,
Seeing the hands that it passes and the time that it takes,
Follow a job request from booking on the phone,
To the back office receiving it and the job being done.

As a council we need to step up a gear,
And imbed these new interventions early next year,
Help your Council move to where we ought to be,
A top performing Authority.