2. “Shared services,
given what we’ve
learned over the
last 18 months,
strikes us as Robin Gadd
almost a Project Director
no-brainer The Wessex Federation
3. Introduction
When the financial stability Just five years ago, such was the competition between the Colleges,
of your organisation depends some of the Principals involved in the Wessex Federation had yet
on the number of learners to meet, and others “barely talked to each other”, remembers Robin
you recruit, it makes sense Gadd, Project Director of the Wessex Federation. So when the idea
to keep your competitors of collaborating on the ambitious Wessex Shared Services Project
at arm’s length and your came along, the Principals began by “locking themselves away
sensitive information hidden. in a room for two days”, says Robin Gadd, “until the white smoke
Or at least it did. emerged”.
This case study details how five Colleges – Bournemouth and
Poole, Brockenhurst, Kingston Maurward, Yeovil, and Weymouth
– went from restrictive, suspicious competitors to collaborative
competitors.
The journey and the achievements
Robin recounts three distinct phases to the beginning of their project:
Can we do this?
Should we do this?
How are we going to do this?
Phase 1 – Can we do this?
For the first six to nine With many options for sharing on the table, this first phase drew
months the project was to a close with the decision to ‘hone the scope’ of the project, “We
focused on the Maslovian knew we couldn’t do everything at once”, says Robin Gadd. The
fundamentals of developing final areas chosen to go forward for consideration, though under
trust and friendship. constant review, were: finance, human resources, payroll, exams,
Building on the principals’ management information, student records, and procurement.
agreement to explore, the
teams began to research and
‘workshop’ their ideas and
the options for collaboration.
Supported by a central,
neutral consultant – a
decision Robin Gadd feels
was a key element of the
project’s success – the teams
began to confront their issues
and differences. Despite
managers fearing for the
safety of their jobs, they
were given permission to
‘think difficult thoughts’ and
encouraged to ‘be ambitious’.
4. Phase 2 – Should we do this?
Governors were involved Early wins, however, gave the team the confidence to keep moving
throughout the journey, forward. They began to map key processes in each of the services
offering checks and balances under review, but soon realised that this was not about finding and
with essential questions sharing the best practice within the group, it was about innovation
such as: how much will it and reinvention: the teams were asked, ‘if we were designing these
cost, will it be worth it, and services from scratch, what would we ideally do?’ It was about
how do you know? Very coming up with a new way; the best way. So while the team looked
difficult questions to answer, at good practice from both inside and outside of the FE sector, it
remembers Robin Gadd: was from a peer Efficiency and Innovation Funded (EIF) project
“Finding baseline costs was that they found real traction.
extremely difficult because of
the different organisational “In the Wessex Partnership, we’ve benefitted enormously from
structures and the constantly the work done in the North East Pathfinder project”, admits Robin
shifting numbers of staff Gadd. More details on the North East Shared Services Pathfinder
working in each service”. project (NESSP) can be found on the shared services section of the
AoC website: (www.aoc.co.uk/shared-services/videos)
As part of the development process the team produced a business
case, a blueprint for the infrastructure that would be needed, and
an indicative implementation plan to show how all of the activities
and services could be harmonised into a single, new, shared
business entity. More details of this early work can be found on
the shared services section of the AoC website: (www.aoc.co.uk/
shared-services/materials/project/updates)
As with the NESSP project, the Wessex Principals decided they
should create a new private company limited by guarantee. This
would be wholly owned by the member Colleges, though a separate
entity in its own right – the conditions required to fulfil the VAT
cost-sharing exemption that was passed in the July 2012 Finance
Bill.
As the preparations moved forward, the phase 2 question became
easier to answer. With, one-off wins amounting to £632,000 through
the careful management of vacant posts and the greater efficiencies
found through the process re-engineering work, the team found
itself at phase 3 – How are we going to do this?
“ In the Wessex
Partnership,
we’ve benefitted
enormously from
the work done in
the North East
Pathfinder project
5. Phase 3 – How are we going to do this?
For the project to work, As with other shared service projects, Transfer of Understandings
Robin Gadd was clear about (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) and the Local
some other fundamentals: Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) present specific challenges,
“Communication matters particularly, as Robin Gadd says, when there are “three different
more than anything else. schemes, three separate cultures, and three sets of rules!”
Communication can’t be
one way. It can’t be about As part of the legacy of the Collaboration and Shared Services
the management saying Grant Fund, Robin Gadd and his team are producing a guide
to the staff, ‘this is what containing “tools for managing change” which will provide detail
we’re going to do and this on how they managed the change process and dealt with culture
is how we’re going to do it’. change, and will include the straw man process maps from the
We want greater security work. Their aim is to provide ideas and techniques on change that
and greater ownership by can be used by others in the FE sector. This will be made available
staff of the services they’re on AoC’s website later in 2013 at the shared services section:
delivering to the Colleges, (www.aoc.co.uk/shared-services)
and for us to be able to move
into a different, perhaps
more professionalised
environment around the
business support services
we’re offering.” And
while ‘internal politicians’
were needed to drive
implementation, to date there
have been no redundancies
- no posts taken out of the
structure as a result of the
shared services work.
Shared Services model and legal structure
The shared service company – Wessex Education Shared Services Ltd (WESS) – was formed in
November 2012 as a private company limited by guarantee. To manage the risk of destabilisation, the
implementation plan allows for a fast and a slow track for joining the company fully, depending on the
position of each of the partner Colleges. It is anticipated that all partners will be fully embedded into
the new collaborative relationship by the end of 2013-14
6. Outclomes for the project
The team is more than It’s not just financial savings that makes Robin Gadd an evangelist
confident that it will exceed for shared services: “There’s been an opportunity to learn, in
its target of sustainable amazing detail, how things get done in other organisations.”
5% efficiencies in year Arguably, in no other FE initiative have competing Colleges
one, and all the early signs given each other such detailed access to their provision. More
suggest that it will also importantly, the sharing has not been about one organisation
meet its medium-term saying ‘we have the best practice from which you should learn’,
target of 20%; somewhere but about Colleges coming together in a mature way to share their
in excess of £1.3 million common issues and challenges, and using the pooled expertise to
from the baseline. “Where fuel innovation and the discovery of a ‘one best way’.
else could we achieve that
scale of efficiency while
also increasing service
excellence?” argues Robin
Gadd. “Shared services,
given what we’ve learned
over the last 18 months,
strikes us as almost a no-
brainer.” And as the process
of engaging employees in
the implementation activities
continues, many more
opportunities to generate
efficiencies within the
shared service centre are
emerging. But perhaps more
significantly, the shared
service centre is becoming
a catalyst for process
improvement within the
Colleges themselves, helping
to drive out inefficiency
wherever it is found.
Outcomes for the sector
As a result of the A guide on ‘Tools for Managing Change’. The guide will
Collaboration and Shared be available on AoC’s website later in 2013. All key mapped
Services Grant Fund, processes will also be downloadable.
the partnership will be A lessons-learned log, detailing all of the hard-won
producing some particularly insight into managing a change project on this scale while
helpful resources for the rest retaining a focus on achieving the target impact and
of the sector, later in 2013. benefits.
A programme diary showing how staff engagement and
buy-in was established and maintained, including evidence
from staff members’ perspectives at each stage of the
programme.
For more written case studies on Shared Services, visit the shared
services section of the AoC website:
(www.aoc.co.uk/shared-services/case-studies)
