Systems thinking - improving environmental services
We worked with the City and County of Swansea Council using systems thinking to help drive efficiencies and internal behaviour change within their Environmental Services directorate, with a main focus on Streetscene services.
Our systems thinking practitioners worked with the organisation during a
period of significant change, where two teams (Street Cleansing and Highways
Maintenance) were being brought together under a single management structure.
An overarching element of our systems thinking work was to empower staff to
work more collaboratively across a range of services addressing issues such as
litter picking, dog fouling, flytipping, potholes and loose kerbing. Our proven 5 stage change model (Establish, Explore, Envisage, Experiment, Embed) was also integral to guiding lasting organisational change.
Our systems thinking approach enabled the Council to better understand the demands being placed on Streetscene services, areas of duplication and the various reasons for waste on the system. We then helped the organisation to experiment with different, more productive ways of working.
From a cleansing perspective, this was not only about cleaning; it was
also about developing strategies to support behaviour change for local communities
so they felt more positively about their local area and were discouraged from
dropping litter again. (This was a blend of social change and organisational
change in action; an approach we call SO Change).
With support from our practitioners, the Streetscene service also examined new, innovative ways to increase capacity, reduce waste in the system and forge more effective links in the local community to drive efficiencies. Among the outcomes to date are: a 38 day reduction in the average time taken to resolve highways defects and a 28% reduction in missed/assisted refuse collections.
