Local Authorities are so big and complex that having a ‘greatness’ theme running through the whole organisation at once is hard. You need to look for ‘pockets’ of the best and encourage these to infect the rest. I already had one in the Countryside Service.

They do an awful lot with little money and have a very good public perception because they put customer service right at the top of their agenda. That’s what we want elsewhere.

In Highways Maintenance the indicators thought we were doing fine but the public didn’t. So that’s what we chased. Literally.

We put four of our inspectors onto big BMW motorbikes and told them to get to problems quickly, help the public and be seen doing that. Caret provoked us into finding ways to go and do the things that work… to pursue the customer and make them happy.

John Hobbs
Director of Environmental Services
Worcestershire County Council
www.worcestershire.whub.org.uk