In this special edition of Cascade we’re focusing on all things Connect for Success, looking at the people and projects that are bringing our internal transformation to life. Hear from our Heads of Services on what this means for each service and share your stories on any new ways of working that have helped you in your job.
In this issue:
Newsflash
Newsflash
- CEX update – making good things happen together
- Get ready to move from Skype to Teams Telephony
- CEX update – small wins and habit stacking
- CEX update – tackling the housing crisis
Coming up
- Christmas lunch at Kilmory 10th and 11th December 2024
- Parents and carers of P7 pupils need to register their Secondary School place by 29 November 2024
- Did you know there is a new free online mental health and wellbeing resource for all 10-18 year olds?
Connect for Success special feature
Hear from our Heads of Services about what Connect for Success means for their service
Jim Smith – Head of Road and Infrastructure Services
Within Road and Infrastructure Services, we work across a wide range of disciplines, with colleagues from other parts of the council, partner organisations, communities and other stakeholders. We have skilled, collaborative and knowledgeable people who work hard delivering a very wide range of services from front line bin collection, operating ferries, maintaining and improving transport infrastructure as well as designing and administering sustainable solutions. Where there is change and where the principles of Connect for Success can be seen is really in how we use technology to support people to do their jobs, in learning and being empowered in how to use new technology as well as being agile and nimble using our available resources across a range of services and across a challenging geography. We are investing in equipment, technology and people for both now and for the long-term benefits of the council, the communities we serve and the infrastructure assets we look after.
We are increasingly exploring and rolling out technology to help us do our jobs – from pilot schemes that use AI to assess what material is being placed in wheelie bins to help inform how we can increase recycling, 3D modelling from drone surveys to check slope stability and structures, to systems that can analyse the state of our road network to predict where things like potholes might appear. We also have sophisticated weather systems which inform our winter treatments to deal with ice and snow.
With access to better information and data at the outset of processes like recycling or road maintenance, we are changing how we work to try and mitigate problems further down the chain. And changing how we work is ultimately for the benefit of our communities, whether it’s digitising ticket sales on our ferries or understanding EV charging requirements through data analyses to inform and offer the right level of charging infrastructure – it’s change that meets the needs and expectations of our communities. Not too long-ago people couldn’t imagine moving away from hard copy print bin calendars delivered by post to every door, now that information is at our fingertips, up to date, 24/7 and it’s important to think about how embracing technology will help us further in the future.
Connect for Success in Road and Infrastructure Services is about continuing to look at how we can work effectively together, working in an agile way to respond to rising service demands informed with the right data and technology. The principles of Connect for Success help us make decisions during challenging financial times, climate change and also help to ensure that we deliver good value with decreasing budgets.
Fergus Murray – Head of Development and Economic Growth
Overall, I think when it comes to Connect for Success the Development and Economic Growth Service follows the principles in how we carry out our day to day business. Given the complex nature of what we do, we are focused on a One Council One Place approach in delivering the council’s strategic priorities to help us focus and prioritise our resources. This is particularly important when there are so many competing demands for our time. I think it’s crucial to have a collaborative mindset in how we work and a good example of this is in the declaration of the housing emergency in 2023. Most people will be familiar with this and how it came about, perhaps less so on the large number of people involved from across the council to shape something that can be delivered. It’s really a cross-service effort, in how we work, and the delivery of numerous actions implemented in the short, medium and longer term. In other words, it’s an incredibly complex situation, with no single solution, that requires working across numerous council services and with external partners very much done in the ethos of Connect for Success.
Most of us in Development and Economic Growth are familiar with substantial change. In many ways it’s the nature of working in local government in current times. The biggest change in terms of how we do our jobs has certainly been both during and after covid as we’re now working in a very different way than we did four or five years ago. My teams have been fantastic in responding positively to these new challenges, making the best use of new technology, accepting agile working, and taking advantage of new opportunities. That said, staying connected with colleagues has been challenging given our new ways of working and I am constantly thinking about how this can be improved. One idea we have employed recently is having regular anchor days that help me put faces to names and build relationships amongst colleagues. It’s important to be able to develop our working culture, to help us do our jobs well, and the principles that underpin Connect for Success are integral to this.
Wendy Brownlie and Jennifer Crocket – Joint Heads of Education
When it comes to transforming how we work, in Education we’re not afraid of change, we embrace it. With the diverse needs of our children, young people, families and communities we try to be as responsive as possible in delivery of education across Argyll and Bute. For us, change is a positive thing. We embrace learning, growth and evolution, and regularly ask ourselves – how can we do things differently? Is there a new way of working which can help us to improve outcomes for our children and young people? And as leaders, is there anything else we can do to support the people around us to achieve this aim?
In our service, Connect for Success is really about our people – how we’re working to empower individuals to excel in their roles, driven by a shared purpose to help our children and communities to thrive. We have focused on putting the principles of Connect for Success into action in how we work, as we both believe that to inspire change we need to model the ways of working that we believe create good outcomes. We lead from the middle and we’re constantly learning, be it through formalised coaching or in our daily interactions with colleagues. And we are agile in how we approach often complex situations – focused on people and flexible when it comes to figuring out the right solution. We walk the walk and are involved in the work of our schools and Early Years settings as much as possible with such a range and number across the area. In some ways this is quite unusual for Heads of Service within the local authority education sector but for us it works, and two separate external reviews this year reinforce our belief in our new ways of working. They recognised our collaborative strategic vision, operational model, the speed of change in which we work and how we deliver as a team. We’re proud of this and the willingness of colleagues to help us drive forward on our shared improvement journey.
And as with all services in the council, we don’t work in isolation. Our success in delivering what’s needed goes hand in hand with the success of other services – to deliver school meals, to keep buildings open, to ensure roads are safe and that we all have access to the right technology to do our jobs. It’s a team effort. And we will continue to embed the principles of Connect for Success as a team, focused on people and nurturing positive relationships from our director right across to front line colleagues.
Jane Fowler – Head of Customer Support Services
Our working lives are influenced by all sorts of change at the moment, both internal and external. In Customer Support Services we are always looking at how we can help you to better meet the demands of your roles, which are increasingly complex and challenging. Connect for Success has been the backbone of our ongoing evolution, as we join the dots across people, process and technology to improve how we all work.
In a very short period of time we have rolled out, and are already seeing the benefits of, ambitious projects using technology to support you to get tasks done faster and more accurately, giving you more time in the day. These include gathering and sharing data, learning from and making decisions based on the right data, using automation of data processes to save you time and improve accuracy along with supporting colleagues to develop the skills to work with data . We’re continuing to give people access to better technology through the ongoing roll-out of Microsoft 365, AI chatbots and other new systems, while offering support to anyone who needs it. This includes the AB365 training programme and ICT Client Liaison Officers in every service who are there to help you make technology work in the right way for each service and team in the council. And we have been developing our approach to our greatest asset, our people. With work underway that looks at how we manage performance scorecards, recruitment, communications and training across all levels, to name just a few areas.
All of this, and all the work we do in Customer Support Services, is to enable other services to deliver what’s needed. We’re here to help. And Connect for Success has empowered us to look at how we can work in the best possible way – using the right technology, developing our people and focusing on our priorities.
David Logan – Head of Legal and Regulatory Support
The principles of Connect for Success can be seen in the ways in which we’re advancing how we work across all aspects of Legal and Regulatory Support to support wider and frontline Council services. We very much adopt a One Council One Place approach, looking at the big picture when we think about how to continue to develop our service. We want to continue to explore how technology can help us become more effective and my team are committed to learning and making technology work for us. For example, in our Governance team, we’re streamlining processes by developing our use of our Election Management System which assists with staffing and polling stations. We have invested in equipment in the Council Chamber, Committee Room 1, and in a mobile solution which enables us to facilitate high quality hybrid meetings for all our Council Committee meetings, with the capacity for these to be broadcast live. This ensures improved access to the democratic process for our communities while ensuring our Elected Members have flexibility in how they can join meetings remotely. This helps make more effective use of time and resource. In our Resilience team, we’re developing an online, cloud based, business continuity platform that will allow a more resilient, flexible and accessible resource for business continuity planning and exercising. Our Governance and Risk team is working with ICT to develop AI to help with time consuming tasks when it comes to data protection, freeing people up to get on with other important aspects of their jobs. Overall, we’re taking a structured look across the service at functions that may be improved by automation, AI or other tools that support our people.
Legal and Regulatory Support is very much driven by a “Themes not Teams” approach, working with other services across the Council to deliver what they need. We’ve seen great progress in the roll out of contract management, empowering colleagues to better contract manage and deliver on savings, value for money and community benefits. Similarly with work underway to look at how we manage the storage and retrieval of our legal documents, we’re focused on making information more accessible to everyone across the council.
For us, Connect for Success is the future and is about continuing to work towards a more agile culture that supports the whole council to deliver what’s needed for our colleagues and our communities.
Carolyn Earl – Interim Head of Financial Services
Since joining Argyll and Bute Council as Acting Head of Financial Services in October, I’ve had the privilege of observing the transformation that has been taking place across our services. While I’m still relatively new to the organisation, this fresh perspective has allowed me to appreciate the strides we’re making—and the energy driving our progress.
Within Financial Services, I’ve found a hive of activity. Teams are constantly innovating, proposing new approaches, and implementing solutions at a pace driven by a shared commitment to excellence. This, to me, is Connect for Success in action.
Across our service, the integration of data has become a cornerstone of how we work. Access to robust data and the skills to analyse it are helping us better understand the needs of our communities—and enabling us to respond more effectively. This spans a wide range of initiatives, for example:
- Improving Debt Recovery: Streamlining processes to support those in need while ensuring financial responsibility.
- Enhancing Welfare Access: Making it easier for individuals to access crucial support services.
- Preventing Homelessness: Automating housing awards to offer timely interventions.
A key part of our success lies in the investment we’re making in our people. Whether it’s participating in pilot schemes through the Improvement Service, engaging in leadership coaching to build expertise, or driving the roll-out of new systems like our payroll platform, our teams are embracing opportunities to grow and innovate.
It’s inspiring to work alongside colleagues who are empowered to develop their skills, collaborate effectively, and deliver impactful solutions—even during difficult financial times.
In the face of significant financial challenges for local authorities, the role of Financial Services is more critical than ever. Every decision about how we acquire and spend money directly affects our ability to serve the people of Argyll and Bute. That’s why our ongoing cultural shift—to be more agile and technologically supported is so vital. It underpins everything we do to ensure we’re delivering the best possible outcomes for our communities.
While there’s still much to do, I am confident that the dedication, innovation, and collaboration within Financial Services will continue to drive us forward. Together, we are navigating this challenging time with resilience, creativity, and a shared commitment to excellence. I’m proud to be part of this journey and look forward to what we’ll achieve in the months and years ahead.
Ross McLaughlin – Head of Commercial Services
In Commercial Services we are always looking at new ways of doing things – new ways to create jobs and opportunities, new ways to create long-term benefits and new ways of working to create real results.
In the past few years my teams have put the principles of Connect for Success into action in many ways and continue to do so. We’re increasingly working with data and the technology available to us to gain insight on things as diverse as – what’s value for money when it comes to catering requirements such as school meals through to how to make the best use of council properties. Projects like My Modern Workplace are a good example of the principles of Connect for Success, in part data driven to make the right financial decisions, but also about empowering people to work in a way that suits them, and collectively enabling us to learn and evolve to work in a way that’s helping us deliver what’s needed.
And we can’t work in new ways without continuing to learn and develop how we operate, we’re committed to being a service that learns from each other. One aspect of this is in how we further embed climate change considerations into how we do our jobs and empowering people with the knowledge of what that means. This is something we’re increasingly focused on as sustainability initiatives must come from the inside out – how we work and the impact we have in all the jobs that we do. Connect for Success and our climate change responsibilities really go hand in hand and will be a key focus in developing new ways of working that will impact everything we do.
Connect for Success special feature
Spotlight on the people and projects putting Connect for Success into action.
Read about how each of the 7 principles of Connect for Success can be seen in the diverse work that’s happening across the council today.
Clever recycling
Did you know AI can help us recycle? The Roads and Infrastructure team have been piloting new technology to help increase recycling rates, save the council money and help meet climate goals. Read more here...
Learning starts with us
Our Learning Awards took place on 22nd November, providing an opportunity to celebrate success and recognise the achievements of colleagues who have gained qualifications over the last year. Read more here...
Getting it right for our youngest citizens
Have you heard of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child? Soon all of our young people will be aware of their rights as Education has been adopting a new approach that firmly embeds children’s rights at the heart of everything we deliver. Read more here...
Fed by data
With remote and island communities, logistics play a big part in providing school meals to all our learners. Find out how the team in Commercial Services are gaining insights from data to help them improve services for children and young people. Find out more here...
Off to a good start
We’re committed to empowering employees to shape their own careers.
Community at the core
Everything we do is about the communities we serve and to help us develop how we engage with people across Argyll and Bute we've created a new Community Engagement Framework. Find out more about it here...
Work made easier with new event system
Every year we play host to hundreds of events of all shapes and sizes and a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make them happen. Find out how colleagues in Corporate Support Services and Roads and Infrastructure worked to turn a dated process into a new way of working. Read more here...
Training highlight
Using data to tell a story
Free online workshop
A key part of Connect for Success is improving how we gather and use data to help us make decisions. This fantastic workshop is open to anyone who would like to learn more about how to use data to tell a story, such as when presenting to stakeholders, different ways to use data in a story or how to create a storyboard.
Dates, times and sign-up info is available here.
Opportunities
Christmas gifts and employee discounts
Christmas is just around the corner so make the most of your Employee Benefit Scheme with discounts on gift cards and leading brands. Here are just a few of the savings on gift cards.
Tescos – 4%
Sainsburys – 5%
Asda – 4%
Currys – 6.7%
M&S – 6.5%
Argos – 6%
Morrisons – 4%
John Lewis – 4%
Boots – 5%
Primark – 7%
B&M – 6%
Halfords – 5%
ASOS – 7%
Costa – 9%
Where can I find out more information about this?
If you are employed on Local Government Employee (LGE) Conditions of Service or on the Scheme of Salaries and Conditions of Service for Chief Officials then you can find further information here.
If you are employed on Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) click here to register selecting the portal ‘Argyll and Bute Council – Teachers’ from the drop down options available.
Don’t forget the Love Local gift card also makes a great present with 300 businesses to shop in – and you’re helping to support local businesses in Argyll and Bute.
FYI
Newspaper licensing reminder
A reminder about copying print or digital newspaper or magazine articles.
The council does not have a licence to copy and share newspaper or magazine articles. The licence would cost several thousand pounds.
You may well be aware of this. This is just a reminder not to copy and share articles on council networks.
If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact the Communications Team at workingtogether@argyll-bute.gov.uk