Flexible and Agile
A council that is flexible and agile, which will:
- Be clear on accountability and responsibility, reducing the need for complex systems of governance, streamlining decision-making and reporting processes.
- Empower our people to be directly accountable for the delivery of outcomes, reducing the management overhead associated with the operation of our Council.
- create clear and flexible roles and functions, working across the council rather than in silos.
- Build new capabilities and competences that enable and facilitate the whole of the organisation to change – and keep changing – so that we can continuously innovate at speed and scale rather than wrapping change in bureaucratic process, governance, and procedures.
- Use agile, iterative, and dynamic approaches to improvement, transformation, and change, delivering outcomes at a much swifter pace than current processes, practices, and policies allow.
Smaller and Leaner
A smaller and leaner council which will:
- Design out repetition and duplication — eliminating duplication of roles and functions across the council. We will redesign how our business is supported, requiring fewer staff to administer what we do in our back office.
- have the right mix of deep expertise and cross-functional generalists — it may be better to outsource some skills that may have traditionally been handled in-house.
- Focus on further developing and integrating health and social care to support collaboration, personalisation, and early intervention, to increase independence and wellbeing.
- Focus our direct engagement with the public on those services that support the most vulnerable members of our community, enabling information regarding all other service delivery to be available at a time convenient to those who wish to access it.
Data Driven and Digitally Enabled
A data-driven and digitally enabled council which will:
- Use data to power every part of the council’s business, protecting it, and exploiting it, to make worthwhile investment decisions, improve our services and maintain public trust.
- Optimise use of digital technology and Artificial Intelligence — reducing the number of staff required to run our services, processes, projects, and governance.
- Promote a digital culture for collaboration and innovation, working with the many organisations and agencies that serve Somerset to increase smart solutions, infrastructure, and connectivity.
- Provide a joined-up digital experience for customers as they access council services.
Sustainable and Resilient Council
A sustainable and resilient council which will:
- Enable partners and other third parties to operate functions and services that are better delivered by others because of their knowledge and expertise.
- balance investment and savings, and measure our impact to inform investment decisions.
- Prioritise listening and learning to improve service delivery.
- continue to tackle the climate and ecological emergency to the extent possible given our financial constraints.
Local, Connected, and Inclusive
A council that is local, connected, and inclusive, which will:
- Develop and facilitate our Local Community Networks so that they can set their own priorities, determine local action plans and act upon them.
- Work with our partners so that we can collaborate to support our communities to access advice, guidance and, where necessary, services across the public sector and voluntary sectors in Somerset.
- Make equality, diversity, and inclusion the lens through which all decisions are taken. We will include it at an early stage — not as a thing to do “later”.
- Ensure that our workforce understands the places and people they support without the need for physical assets to demonstrate our connection to communities.
- Have fewer people, but with a wide range of knowledge and skills, so that the best response from the most appropriate service or partner is deployed.
- Prioritise digital inclusion – improving skills, access and confidence for our staff and customers.
- Ensure that our business community has a strong voice and that we work with them to deliver green growth.
- Design our services with various situations, contexts, and preferences in mind, and provide multiple ways for our community to access, understand, and interact with our services.