Leading cross public sector innovation

Some of the findings were unsurprising: the importance of agreeing a clear purpose, outcomes and priorities; the vital role of solid political support; the need to effectively engage middle managers and the frontline workforce. 

The study also confirmed the central importance of leaders focusing together on improving the lives of their local residents, and their local place. It reinforced the need for them to think and act systemically, rather than defending their organizations’ traditional role, practices and budgets.   

It demonstrated that behind the most successful innovations was a robust, long-term partnership approach, rather than an ad hoc alliance. For example, the key public sector leaders in South Tyneside agreed a shared 20 year vision in 2010.  This sets out their key shared ambitions for the borough, providing a foundation and a focus for their subsequent partnership initiatives.   

What was striking was the critical importance of personalities and relationships. The people leading the partnerships delivering the most far-reaching innovations were truly passionate about their goals. They were upbeat, committed and determined, despite facing many barriers, constraints and challenges. They were relentless in pursuing their objectives.    

Everyone we spoke to stressed the need for strong, honest, committed personal relationships. As one interviewee described it as being “like a good marriage” where you treat each other with respect. In the most successful partnerships, council managers were making huge efforts to understand their partners’ concerns and pressures.   

We also found that all the partnerships achieving major innovations had built these slowly, step by step, experimenting, learning and adapting. For example, the Surrey Carers’ Partnership, which now involves over 100 organizations, has developed over more than 20 years.  And Monnow Vale, which offers seamless health and social care services in Monmouthshire, has evolved over 10 years.   

The most successful partnerships went out of their way to involve service users, and others with local interests, to ensure their innovations were delivering the right outcomes. In Wigan public sector officers spent a month in a local area knocking on doors to discover the key local concerns, and opportunities. In Cheshire East children and young people have been centrally involved in developing the Children’s Plan. In Brighton and Hove the Community Banking Partnership carefully researched the reasons people got into debt before deciding how best to support them.