South west one

I received an email from the Best Practice Group inviting me to read a report on ‘Southwest One, The Official 9 Lessons Learned’. It sounded interesting though I knew it would come with a sales pitch on how to avoid such mistakes in future. You can read the report here.
If you are not in the public sector bubble then you may not be aware of Southwest One. It was a joint venture between Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane Borough Council, Avon and Somerset Police and IBM. It was launched in 2007 in a deal worth £400 million but six years later it had all unravelled and instead of saving money had ended up costing the partners.

Instead of being the epitome of public and private sector collaboration it has become the byword for what not to do.

According to the report there are nine things that can be learnt. The words in parenthesis are my own):
• The contract was overly complicated. (The contract should have been much simpler and based upon collaboration to achieve common objectives.)
• Incentivised behaviours. Any such partnership depends upon having similar incentives and an understanding of each partner’s requirements. (Incentives were designed that made each organisation focus on their own aims.)
• Built-in flexibility. (Things change and life gets in the way.)
• The importance of ICF. (Having a strong Intelligent Client Function ensures that the needs of the customer are best represented.)
• Business objective-led KPIs. (Performance measures should reflect the aims you are trying to achieve.)
• More appropriate contract periods. (The easiest way to lose a customer is to lock them into a contract they don’t like.)
• Animosity and loyalty. (Everyone needs to have the same objectives in mind.)
• Cultural differences. (Bringing many different organisations together will inevitably lead to a clash of cultures. It will take time to sort.)
• Learn not only from your mistakes, but also from what you do well. (Focus more on what you do well and manage out what you don’t. Use positive stories to build your brand.)

The purpose of me writing this blog though is not to dwell on the trials and tribulations of what did or didn’t go on in Southwest One. I wasn’t there and if there is one thing I know it is that it is much easier to criticise than to deal with the day to day issues.

My purpose instead is to highlight that these aren’t issues relating to this business venture alone. Instead they are issues that relate to all business ventures. The words that I have added cover topics that I have referred to many times throughout my blog. No doubt they are ones that I will come back to.

Why? Because they are the essence of the problems that we are dealing with: Simplifying our business; focusing on what is important; understanding the needs of the customer; working together; developing a shared culture and creating a positive experience.

It would be very easy to snigger and sneer at what went on at the opposite end of the country. We should take these lessons very seriously as they are things that are going on within our own workplace.