News Summary of Collaboration and Shared Services from 14th May 2014

Thank you to all those who fed back on Alasdair’s analysis of the LGA Shared Services Map last week. If you missed it, click here to look at what the LGA map is really saying.

One of our students on the Postgraduate Certificate in Shared Services, who is based in a Kent Council, quite rightly corrected me for my error when I wrote that, “Where we have not taught the SS(PRAC) programme, for example in the South East, South West and North East, there are much smaller numbers of collaborations on the LGA map” . It should have read, “Where we have not taught the SS(PRAC) programme to hundreds of students, for example…”. Kent Connects has funded over 20 people through the programme in Kent, so to them I apologise.

However, my apology is a good way to promote the free, Friday 27^th June, Collaborative Transformation Conference in Kent, hosted by Canterbury Christ Church University Business School in collaboration with Kent Connects and ourselves. The conference is highly practitioner focused and the majority of speakers are recognised Shared Service Architects and graduates of the postgraduate certificate who have been delivering on the frontline of collaborative working. So why not come down to beautiful Canterbury on the Friday for the conference, and stay in the city for the rest of the weekend?

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Private Sector Collaborations

One of the most quoted stats in collaborative working is that in the private sector, between 50 to 70% of mergers and shared services fail to deliver on the promise of the business case, or promised shareholder value. The BBC pick this theme up in this article…

When firms get together: The secret of success

When two people decide to get married, they vow to stick together - "for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer". Basically, as those vows acknowledge, marriage is tough and it takes two to make a partnership work. When it comes to company mergers it's no different. Read more >>>

It evidences that the collaboration skills we teach in the public sector are just as applicable in the private sector too.

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Further/Higher Education

This is a helpful Guardian article, from a firm of solicitors punting for work in the world of HE shared services. But what grabbed my attention was the statement, “In 2014, with institutions having to respond to a further 3% reduction in funding…” – Only 3%?  Don’t bother going through the trauma of sharing if you only want to save 3%. However, don’t let that put you off the article, it is still a good scan...

Shared services: a brave new world?

Shared services are high up the agenda across the higher education sector. In 2013, Universities UK's modernisation task force identified "millions" of possible savings. Read more >>>

 

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Local Government

The LGA review of Forest Heath and St. Edmundsbury councils’ collaborative working makes good reading for Shared Service Architects working at a strategic level. We follow Forest & St. Eds. work closely as they put almost 50 of their senior staff through the SS(PRAC) programme in 2011/12 and have been using the SSA toolboxes as part of the success of their collaborative working…

Shared services working in West Suffolk says peer review

The shared service arrangement between Forest Heath District Council and St Edmundsbury Borough Council has put the two authorities in a better financial position than most, according to a peer review. Read more >>>

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Blue Light Services

Kent and Essex Police are one of the leading exponents of collaborative activity in the emergency services and here they are again, blurring the boundaries of regional policing…

ACC appointed to lead joint organised crime directorate

One of the largest specialist organisations for dealing with serious and organised crime in the country will come under new leadership, it has been announced. Read more >>>

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Collaborative Leadership

The US public sector is leading on the application of collaborative leadership to solve their budget cut problems. This next article very much reflects the content of our new Harnessing Collaborative Leadership Across Communities session that is being adopted widely across the UK public sector….

Only collaborative leadership can make communities succeed

Strong political leadership and good managerial leadership do not have to be mutually exclusive aims. Read more >>>

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