Sustaining Excellence. Our Recent Success Story of a Culture Change Programme

Our work with Lancashire Constabulary, one of the top performing Constabularies in England and Wales is yet another example of a successful application of our approach to sustainable culture change.

2 years on.... we have comprehensive evidence of positive changes in the culture and succinct comparative profiles of the Constabulary that depict its readiness to stretch its boundaries to sustain excellence.

Lancashire Constabulary has been rated as one of the top performing Constabularies in England and Wales for the last 4 years. Taking into account the achievements of the organisation it was clear that there is significant drive and energy among the people to deliver to high standards. With its positioning already defined nationally, the focus of the change was to build an organisation that is able to sustain its position regardless of the vagaries of the external environment and challenges and demands encountered on an everyday basis. The ambition statement clearly sets out the case for change - "To consistently be the best police force in the country" which undoubtedly raised the challenge of sustainability and the excitement of creating a culture where ‘excellence is not an act, it is a habit.'

The Constabulary embarked upon the culture change journey with our support in September 2007. The key driver for this was the relentless desire to provide services that meet and exceed the needs of the citizens in an ever demanding, changing and challenging external context.

The change programme was designed around the following principles:

• Change is not seen as a one-off project, rather it is seen as a continuous process of innovation and improvement
• There is consistent top level support
• People own the change through collaborative processes
• Internal capabilities, resources and talents are utilised in a well-thought out manner
• It is a pathway to building resilience of people in the Constabulary and thereby the self-confidence and self-belief at the individual level
• It is seen as a genuine opportunity for all staff to learn and develop continually, be able to push the boundaries of achievements and realise potential
• The change implementation plan is practical and structured
• Operational indicators are implemented to publicise successes
• Change is linked to organisational performance
• There are clear ‘legacy benefits' for the Constabulary

To find out more about our approach to sustainable change please ring......