By Russell M. LindenThis is a practical guide for nonprofit and government professionals who want to learn the techniques and strategies of successful collaboration. It offers practitioners a framework for developing collaborative relationships and shows them how to adopt strategies that have proved successful with a wide range of organizations. Filled with in-depth case studies- including a particularly challenging case in which police officers and social workers overcome the inherent differences in their cultures to help abused children- the book clearly shows how organizations have dealt with the hard issues of collaboration. Working Across Boundaries includes guidelines for determining what kinds of projects lend themselves to collaboration and which do not, suggestions on how to avoid common pitfalls of collaboration and strategies proved to work consistently.
A new report looks in detail at public attitudes to day to day contact with the government and the prospects for the electronic delivery of services.The research, from the Department for Work and Pensions, highlights a range of barriers which stop people taking up the department’s on-line services. They include general opposition to the Internet and specific concerns about aspects of services such as sending personal details on line.
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Twenty-five local councils are to act as pathfinders for government plans to develop extended schools for the community. The announcement has been welcomed by the Local Government Association.The proposals were announced at a conference organised jointly by the LGA and the Department for Education and Skills. Baroness Cathy Ashton, the parliamentary under secretary at the DES, launched guidance that would enable a range of pupil, family and community services to be delivered from the school site. The selected councils will help to develop the concept.
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This paper from the Audit Commission identifies the unhelpful policy focus on the role of core budgets and services, rather than special area-based grant regimes, and inter-agency or ‘partnership’ working, rather than single agency or ‘silo-based’ responses to issues in deprived areas. It maps stakeholders’ possible responses to change against their level of involvement in the process which can range from outright hostility, through token compliance, grudging acceptance, lukewarm enthusiasm, to real commitment. The two most successful ‘change routes’ are ‘Evolutionary Change’ where there is a clear strategic direction and ‘Transformational Change’ where there is a need for much better performance in an environment of continuing uncertainty. Common factors in successful change programmes are identified as: building support for change, using ‘good practice’ to demonstrate the importance of change to others and effective two-way communications between stakeholders.Published by the Audit Commission: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk
Liverpool City Council has won a prestigious national award for the development of a system designed to improve relations with its customers. The council, which was the only local authority to make it to the final 100 in the National Business Awards, carried off the honour in the ‘Best Use of Technology’ category.The award recognised the transformation of customer services through the authority’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Its pioneering six million pound deal with Oracle, believed to be the largest in local government history, has cut paper-work and streamlined council services by bringing together 220 IT systems and turning more than 500 databases into one, central system.
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More decisions on the way local government pensions are run could be taken at local level by fund administrators if proposals in a government discussion paper go ahead.The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is inviting comments on how to make the local government pension scheme stronger, more cost-effective and simpler to understand for both employers and staff – perhaps by using IT solutions. Current final salary arrangements will be safeguarded.
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By John Thornton. Reproduced by permission of eGov Monitor Weekly A major challenge facing e-Government champions in local councils is to make the agenda real and tangible for politicians, citizens and colleagues. John Thornton, Director of eGovernment, at the Improvement & Development Agency describes how the second round of Implementing e-Government Statements, which must be prepared by the end of the month, can be used to get attention. He sees the Statement as the opportunity to publicise the vision and explain how it will be delivered.
Local councils in Scotland will today point to a 440 million pound gap between the Scottish Executive’s Spending Review Calculations for the next three years and the cost of funding core local government services.The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities – COSLA – will give evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s local government committee. COSLA will call for funds to be made available to local authorities on a flexible basis and it has reiterated its view – first stated when the Executive made its all Scotland announcement last month – that interpretation of the figures needed to be treated with caution until further work on the detail had beenĀ done.
The government is beginning consultations on plans to move the 2004 English local council elections – and the polls for the Greater London Assembly – to the same day as the European Parliamentary elections. This would do away with the need to get voters to turn out twice in five weeks.The consultation will also ask for views on weekend voting and at the same time the government is to look at the possible use of initiatives such as all-postal ballots, internet voting and telephone voting, which have been piloted by local authorities, in a combined election if the change of date goes ahead.
By Peter KoestenbaumIn this thoroughly revised edition of his classic book Peter Koestenbaum shares his wisdom about the fundamental nature of leadership and shows what it takes to become an exceptional and passionate leader in today’s complex world. At the very heart of the book is his Leadership Diamond model- a paradigm that challenges managers to transform their thinking and approach everything with fresh effectiveness in order to reap richer results and become great leaders.