Nomad was delighted to support Capital Ambition and Croydon Council run a mobile and flexible working event for London local authorities. The intention being to share best practice and present and further seek input into a ‘heat map’ illustrating the maturity of mobile and flexible working across London Councils.
This event aimed to achieve the following objectives;
- To present the findings of the heat map and establish a common understanding of mobile and flexible working across London;
- To see where the gaps lie (issues faced) in progressing mobile and flexible working;
- To share lessons learnt and best practice stories around implementation;
- To identify and learn from the more advanced Boroughs in mobile/flexible working;
- To network and build relationships with other London Boroughs and support one another in establishing efficiencies, and;
- To discuss technology and delivery partners, experienced in mobile and flexible working.
The event was splendidly captured graphically (click to enlarge image);
Attendees
- 50 Local Council attendees (across 25 Boroughs)
- 4 speakers (Aiden McManus – Croydon Council, Ken Eastwood – Public Sector Nomads, Andrew Richards – Hammersmith & Fulham and Grace Addy – Croydon Council)
- Sponsors (BT, Capgemini, Kirona, NDL and O2)
- Event co-ordinators (Claire Corbett, Charlotte Stothert and Emma Pluck)
Observations
The event went very well and successfully explored common issues and barriers to implementing mobile working and flexible working. The workshop sessions were particularly useful with a number of participants able to enrich the debate with their specific experiences. It was clear that a number of authorities are engaged in quite radical accommodation projects and a number of others expect to be shortly.
There was an appetite on the day to develop closer collaboration and a platform to exchange and share experiences and best practice. Southwark Council, for example, described a manager workshop programme that had successfully encouraged buy-in and understanding of mobile and flexible working. Materials and experiences like this need to be shared across the public sector to avoid duplication of effort.
Panel Discussion
The event concluded with an open panel Q&A session, again expertly represented graphically;
Next Steps
- To explore a buddy-up system whereby councils agree to provide support to others less experienced in mobile & flexible working implementations or to align councils who are at the same stage of implementation;
- Consider a follow up event, and;
- Develop an online forum to enable information to be accessible and provide a platform for open discussion and networking between councils.
The relaunch of our website includes a new membership forum and we hope to be supporting London Council’s on this agenda going forward.
