The Challenge

With 17 different local authorities involved, the challenge was to give senior management the ‘tools’ to re-think the way they approached service delivery by devising a collective ‘best practice’ method created from the customer’s perspective.

Why change was needed

Waiting times for loans were unacceptably long, making the service ‘expensive’ compared to its low success rate. There was a high drop-out rate from customers and a lot of duplication.

What we did

Using a Habanero method called ‘Garage Redesign’ we challenged senior management to imagine they were setting up in competition with themselves and design a cohesive new system through the ‘eyes’ of their customers that would outperform the existing way of doing business.

The resulting method was piloted in three authorities and then adopted across the partnership.

Some 90% of the redesign, and subsequent improvement, was in how support and services were provided to front-line staff.

The Results

Waiting times for loans have been cut by 70% and more than 50% more people were helped over a 12 month period than previously.

The Partnership now has a unified way of working, with a best practice manual and learning forums four times a year.

The Client Says

“Habanero provided expert advice and management coaching that enabled our managers and front-line staff to work more effectively together.

“This produced a unified way of working that has significantly improved the Kick Start experience for our customers by simplifying the scheme to produce the right service at the right time.”

Programme Director