In our previous all staff meeting, we discussed how we had gathered a huge number of ideas and organised them into 8 themes:
- Finance Transformation
- Property Efficiency
- Procurement
- Shift Left
- Sweating the Assets (Dorking Halls, Parks and Open Spaces, Fairfield Centre, MOVA, Pippbrook Campus)
- Fees and Charges
- Strategic Review
- Process Improvements
These themes were then assigned to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT). Throughout the summer, we worked on turning these ideas into detailed plans, including assessing the implications of these changes, identifying potential risks, and outlining the benefits, including cost savings.
On 5 September, the SLT gathered to thoroughly explore these themes, challenge each other’s ideas, and gain confidence in the anticipated savings. At the end of this session, we finalised and committed to moving forward with all the themes.
Our next step involves engaging with our Members:
- On 13 September we met with Cabinet to update them on the progress of our transformation efforts, our strategies, and the themes we’re pursuing.
- On 15 September we hold a workshop with the Cabinet to delve into the specific ideas that require member decisions – this will be a significant milestone.
How are we doing with savings?
We’re is a good position with identifying savings and have identified:
- 2024-2025 – over a million in savings
- 2026 – nearly a million for the final year of the Evolve project.
This is without factoring in potential property savings, the realisation of Continuous Improvement (CI) opportunities, and other non-transformation activities. However, it’s important to note that we haven’t yet determined the total cost of implementing these changes. Addressing this is a top priority over the next six weeks to give us a comprehensive overview.
In the coming months, we will continue to collaborate with our Members, with the final approval of the transformation themes scheduled for November 2023.
Service reviews feedback
One consistent piece of feedback from your service reviews was the potential to reevaluate our fees and charges. We conducted a workshop with the SLT and some service leads focused on commercial aspects in late August. This highlighted ways to revamp our pricing strategy and methodology. We aim to apply this approach to all Fees & Charges (F&C), including statutory ones that haven’t been updated for over a decade. The Fees & Charges strategy and methodology will also be presented to our Members this Friday.
Some of the ideas generated fall into the category of ‘back office,’ which means we can start implementing them immediately. Work is already underway in areas such as:
- Finance
- Procurement
- Shifting responsibilities to where the work is more appropriately done making it more efficient and cost effective
- Forging partnerships
- Driving Continuous Improvement initiatives.
Exciting times lie ahead for MVDC as we make significant progress in our transformation journey, so stay on board. If you have any questions or feedback about the transformation, please contact mike.lea@molevalley.gov.uk
Innovation space launch – Your creative space
We invited our competition winner to the innovation space to see the winning picture from our photo competition as a canvas.
Kate explained: “The picture was taken on my birthday in July overlooking Denbies. It was during lockdown and so everyone was a little fed up, especially as it was a rainy day and we’d had to cancel our planned picnic. Unperturbed I got everyone to go for a walk instead but things took a turn for the worse when the heavens truly opened, our waterproofs were put to the test and we had to shelter under the trees for cover. But I was determined to have some fun as it was my birthday, so we set out again, walking to the top of the vineyard where a beautiful new bench had been installed at a viewpoint. As we emerged from the trees, we were amazed to be greeted by a double rainbow spanning over the vines – which I was lucky enough to capture in my photo. The day’s experience inspired the caption for the canvas, something it’s always important to remember: ‘When it rains, look for rainbows’
The innovation space is now available to book and would be ideal for meetings that need to get creative!