Organisational Development Program, Concord City Council,
California (US)
Client Issue: Concord is one of the fastest growing counties in California. Synergy was engaged to assist the implementation of Community Oriented Government (COG) - a new approach to delivering services.
It was a different philosophy regarding the specific way that customer-focused services could be delivered to the community, emphasising collaboration. Internally, it meant breaking down organisational barriers to enhance service provision. Externally, it meant much higher quality & responsive governmental services, while maximising all of the community's resources. The focus was on building partnerships to ‘work smarter not harder’.
Solution: Synergy worked with the Executive Team for a year to develop more thoroughly the conceptual framework for COG including operational planning & design; formal plan introduction, performance measurement development, & implementation of the new Organisational Development Program. Key to COG’s success was effective communication of the expanded operating philosophy to every employee within the organisation, as well as to the community, plus agreement on values & vision relating to COG & how best to communicate them throughout the organisation & community. Building a foundation for values-driven change, describing the fundamental behaviours required for the change to take place & gaining ownership for these to be institutionalised.
Outcome: An organisational change to decentralised civic decision-making, creating performance standards that delegated broader decision accountability to lower management levels. An introduction to more collaborative problem solving using 12 new Liaison Teams with direct links at a leadership level, partnering with City Hall & the community to resolve issues faster. The commitment to establish, develop & maintain more intimate & fruitful partnerships with businesses, neighbourhood associations & individual residents (e.g. parking & street cleaning). Sustaining momentum for the change was crucial & we established executive coaching sessions to underpin the program & help to embed behavioural change across the leadership team - acting as executive sounding boards & change catalysts. Concord has since become known for leading edge innovation & has won numerous awards. It now has visitors from across the US & Canada coming to learn from its achievements.