Introduction
For ever and a day, council professionals have been responsible for service design and setting service standards. For services such as roads, water and drainage this continues to make sense because of the required technical input and minimum standards associated with delivery of some services.
The risk associated with council professionals continuing to set service standards, in absence of community and customers (users), is the service does not evolve with the needs and expectations of users.
Alignment of service standards against user needs and expectations is the main objective of service reviews. The key role of council service line managers is to understand the user needs and expectations in order to deliver fit-for-purpose services the users are prepared to pay for.
Understanding the Service Users
Council professionals need to understand the service users’ needs and expectations. So how do they develop that understanding?
Working in the service and engaging with the users on an ongoing basis goes some way to developing the required understanding. This service-specific experience can be expanded with targeted user engagement relating to the specific service proposal/improvement.
Community Consultation
User engagement is in addition to ongoing community consultation adopted by Council. Community input and feedback may be sought on a regular basis to enable council to confirm its priorities and resource allocation. The community may be invited to provide input and feedback annually or biennially on:
- the importance of council service; and
- satisfaction with council service delivery.
User Involvement
Service user involvement in setting levels of service should not be manufactured, it needs to be encouraged, particularly where involvement has been non-existent or peripheral to the development and delivery of services. This will ensure greater alignment between user needs and expectations and service delivery. User engagement needs to be genuine and it cannot be a political exercise or a tactic to delay consideration of service proposals.
Most of those working in local government have felt that “asking the community” is hard work. Generally this is due to experience with poorly conceived and managed engagement processes and strategy. User engagement may challenge the assumptions on which the service has been developed, raising questions around purpose of the service.
Organisational Culture
When building organisational culture, engaging community and service users needs to be front and centre, as does community development. Some communities are reluctant to get involved for a range of reasons. Councils need to be proactive in developing communities and building resilience. Involving users in service reviews makes good business sense.
Valuable/Relevant Input
For user engagement to be of value and relevance, the council needs to be prepared to educate the service users. In turn, council professionals need to be prepared to be educated by users on how the service meets their needs and expectations.
Councils need to open their books and share information with users on:
- levels of activity/utilisation of service;
- inputs/outputs; and
- processes and finances.
Councils need to actively involve and encourage users to provide feedback and input on the service delivery and various service proposals. The engagement mechanisms need to be tailored to the demographics of the local community and service users.
Community Challenge
In recent years we have seen communities challenge some approaches taken by councils to reviewing services, particularly where the service changes/improvement initiated by council professionals will increase rates or fees and charges. Communities are increasingly asking for lower levels of service rather than accepting increases in rates and fees and charges.
The council’s engagement strategy needs to take into consideration how the users’ preparedness to pay will be explored and considered. It is next to useless consulting with users on service improvements without covering off on cost of service and how it will be paid for.
Advantages of Engagement
Advantages of user engagement are many. Councils and their service line managers will develop an understanding of what is important to users so they can confirm:
- where the service aligns with user needs and expectations;
- how service delivery/service standards should be tweaked; and
- where resources and effort should be directed to minimise waste of resources and increase satisfaction.
Digital Imperative
Councils have a variety of reasons to review their services, many will relate to cost and affordability. Users are increasingly exposed to online services as part of their day-to-day lives, roles and responsibilities. There is an opportunity for councils to modernise service delivery in a way that meets user needs and expectations, which is consistent with how they consume other services. Face-to-face services are some 20 times more expensive than the same online services, providing councils with another reason to consider digitising services.
Conclusion
The key role of council service line managers is to understand the user needs and expectations in order to deliver fit-for-purpose services the users are prepared to pay for.
User satisfaction should be the greatest when there is alignment between user needs and expectations and service delivery.
Council professionals play an important role in developing and setting levels of service, particularly where there are technical matters under consideration and minimum standards involved.
User engagement plays a significant role in:
- avoiding a hit and miss approach to service delivery; and
- determining whether the service delivery actually meets the users’ needs and expectations.
User engagement is hard work for some councils because it is done poorly and because it is abused for political purposes.
Gaps between user expectations and service delivery may result in services:
- exceeding expectations resulting in wasted resources; and
- not meeting expectations resulting in complaints and poor satisfaction.
This highlights the importance of alignment between user needs and expectations and levels of service.
Where timing and funding permits, councils need to involve users in service reviews. User engagement needs to be:
- considered part of business as usual; and
- strategic to optimise beneficial outcomes for the community and council.
About Us
Ravim RBC is a strategic consultancy assisting councils to move beyond day-to-day management. This includes strategic initiatives such as business transformation, workforce strategy and best practice programs. Our work with councils on service reviews is providing:
- elected members and executives with visibility and understanding of what it takes to deliver each service;
- service line managers with opportunity to align the service delivery against user needs and expectations; and
- community/service users with opportunity to comment on service delivery and input on service improvements.
0 Comments