Success Story – Mendip District Council
Delivering Executive Coaching, SLT Assessment and Development and Succession Planning in organizations such as Mendip and Wiltshire Councils, London Borough of Sutton, Watford Council, Public Health Wales, National Composites Centre, Gloucestershire Constabulary; to improve collaboration, drive major and ongoing transformation and create new mindsets and cultures.
Mendip District Council is a forward-thinking, innovative Council with a dynamic brand and a focus on transformation and partnering in order to deliver efficient quality services and sustainable growth. The Council has been recognised as 'stand out' by the Local Government Association for their work on commercialism.
Business Issue
Following a re-structure, a number of managers and officers were facing the opportunity for promotion, a move to partner working, or displacement. Therefore, some required Career and Transition Coaching in order to assist in their decision-making process of whether to apply for new roles, take early retirement, or seek alternative employment. Natural Talent was initially commissioned to provide Career and Transition Coaching support to assist with professional CV writing and job searches, as well as Executive Business Coaching to upskill managers and senior officers.
Once the new management team was in place, Natural Talent was asked to continue to work with the new managers and their teams to provide Executive Business Coaching and HR Consultancy support with many other projects in order to assist in achieving the following:
- to empower managers and project teams to work cross-functionally
- to develop more cross-skilled working to deliver complex investment projects
- to encourage both robust operational management and broad strategic thinking
- to improve service delivery
- to develop a more commercial approach to ensure the economic sustainability of the Council
- to explore and encourage more collaboration with external partnerships
- to encourage the need for the Council to continually innovate and transform
- to deliver the ambitious transformation and investment programme
Solution:
Executive Business Coaching was provided to the management team and senior officers. Career and Transition Coaching was delivered for those who chose to leave the Council. HR Consultancy was provided to assist with Job Descriptions, Person Specifications and Competency Based Interview Questions for senior and proposed positions.
Jill Maidment of Natural Talent provided a confidential, safe environment, acting as a sounding board, trusted advisor and critical friend within most service areas, including HR, Finance, Neighbourhood Services, IT, Legal, Property, Corporate Services, Transformation.
Face to Face 1:1 Executive Business Coaching supported senior managers to achieve the following:
- to continue to develop key leadership and management competencies in order to be able to step up in to new roles
- to further develop key skills to create a culture of high performance and operational efficiency
- to further develop skills in political and organizational awareness in order to be able to manage and navigate the many complex changes and deliver the ambitious corporate plan
- to develop strategic business awareness in order to deliver the forward-thinking transformation projects and align objectives and teams with the various dynamic strategies
- to improve skills in stakeholder management to increase collaboration with external partners
- to ensure the managers lead by example to drive ongoing transformation
- to enable individuals to cope well with change, pressure, uncertainty and to develop resilience
- to implement effective Talent Management and Succession Planning
Outcome
- All the senior managers and officers who remained within the Council made noticeable improvements, stepped up and were promoted
- Sustainable and major behavioral change was achieved in all managers and senior officers
- Talent Management and Succession Planning initiatives were successfully implemented
- Those who chose to move on found the Career and Transition Coaching support invaluable to gain perspective, take control of the situation, develop a positive mindset, resulting in new opportunities
- All Coaching clients coped much better with ongoing major change, heavy workloads and the highly demanding and complex projects
‘Thank you so much for your support over a few challenging months. I now have the toolkit to be more efficient and less stressed. I’m also delegating more so have more time to develop my team.’ Manager
‘Another productive Coaching session today thank you. I feel much more focused and confident in my abilities to continue to deliver major change. It’s so useful to have the opportunity to have my ideas checked and to be challenged on key decisions.’ Senior Manager
‘I really couldn’t see the wood for the trees; I was very confused, but after just a couple of hours with Jill Maidment of Natural Talent, I had a much clearer thought process and was able to make some major life-changing and long-term decisions. Thank you very much.’ Senior Officer
‘The Coaching process is incredible and I am now functioning at a much higher and more effective level.’ Senior Manager