Continually increasing customer and citizen focus

The passion to deliver the best possible service to both external and internal customers, colleagues and partners was variable, with many parts of the organization moving forward, but at an uneven pace. The various self-inspection and external inspection processes were prompting the council to streamline systems and procedures for service delivery. However there were many instances cited where ‘customer care’ just was not part of the mindset and where systems, policies and procedures conspired to hinder the achievement in this area.

The interface between front-line services and the centre required particular attention, specifically on how best to commission the providers. Service level agreements, for example, were not fully used, and other mechanisms needed to be installed to ensure there was both a psychological and a written commitment to achieve excellent service delivery across directorates and to the end user.