How mission based working is empowering our communities and driving change for the better
Achieving change within a council can sometimes feel like being a mountaineer, writes Mike Greene, Chief Executive of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
We identify the summit we want to reach, but the environment around us constantly changes, and weather conditions can make some areas unpassable. Still, we must pursue a path to the top, plotting alternative routes and making progress, inch by inch.
The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters” (Rock climber and author, Conrad Anker)
In Stockton-on-Tees, the peak we are trying to reach is set out in the future vision for our Borough:
Stockton-on-Tees is home – a warm and friendly place, where we welcome others and come together as a single community. We are a diverse and inspiring Borough, culturally rich and with confidence in a future that we can all share and be proud of.
At the economic heart of Tees Valley, we are a dynamic, safe and healthy place, where everyone can grow and succeed. We work together to reduce inequalities and remove barriers to opportunity. We are Team Stockton-on-Tees.
This vision was developed after many conversations with our communities.
Underpinning it, ‘Powering Our Future’ is a new, mission-led way of working for the Council, and it is our route to achieving our goals.
Like all local authorities, pressure on our communities and services has been growing for some time, which means we can’t afford to operate the way we have in the past.
Through conversations with our communities and partners, it became clear that we need to move away from our previous operating model, which saw us as a top-down deliverer of services. Instead, we need to look at things differently , fostering a more collaborative relationship with communities and across the borough’s public services.
We have identified the need to be bolder, braver, and more innovative, to empower our residents, encourage community engagement, and tap into local knowledge and resources.
By adopting the Powering our Future mission-led approach, we are charting a new path to organisational success.
The Powering Our Future programme consists of five cross-cutting but independent missions, which together can be greater than the sum of their individual parts.
They are:
- Transformation Powering Our Future – an ambitious programme of change, based around a new operating model for the council
- Communities Powering Our Future – empowering communities to use their strengths to increase independence and shape better outcomes
- Partnerships Powering Our Future – ensuring we are stronger together and thinking as one ‘public service’, rather than separate institutions
- Regeneration Powering Our Future – harnessing our local leadership role to shape great places where our communities and businesses can thrive
- Colleagues Powering Our Future – recognising the talented workforce that will make this happen, and equipping them with the skills to do their best for our communities.
Our mission-led approach involves setting clear, long-term objectives that tackle complex issues. This allows us to focus on outcomes rather than just the means to achieve them. By aligning our local missions with national priorities, we can ensure that our efforts are part of a larger, coordinated strategy for national change.
What this means in practice…
Partnerships Powering our Future – A new way of working with our partners
‘Team Stockton’ was established in 2023. Made up of senior leaders from public sector organisations, the education sector and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, Team Stockton is working to remove organisational boundaries so that we can best meet the needs of our communities. By joining forces, we can look at our collective resources and test better ways of working. Our shared understanding of data and intelligence shapes our approach, including our collective budget and service pressures, staff skills, and the knowledge of communities. Team Stockton ensures we are ‘stronger together’ as one team.
Transformation Powering our Future – Prioritising Early Intervention and Prevention
By addressing issues before they escalate, we can improve outcomes for individuals and reduce long-term costs. At the heart of our transformation programme is the desire to develop new ways of working, enabling us to intervene at the earliest possible opportunity. This can help residents to better look after themselves, thanks to the resources available before they reach crisis point. This reduces the demand for acute and complex services, delaying the need for ongoing long-term support and avoiding unnecessary costs . The complexity of this is, of course, huge, and our mantra has become ‘progress-over-perfection’. A strong evidence base has enabled us to choose areas where we are developing this work: neighbourhood-based intervention, a coordinated approach for those with the most complex needs, and a family-based approach working with a local school. We are developing this approach and learning as we go – this is intentional, but evidence shows us that we are heading in the right direction.
Communities Powering our Future – Targeted work with Neighbourhoods
‘Project Harmony’ is a partnership approach to tackle the threat of serious organised crime. Based on the Home Office’s ‘Clear Hold Build’ framework, we have worked extensively with communities to understand their strengths and the issues that matter most to them, particularly those relating to crime and anti-social behaviour. This has enabled us, together with our partners, to develop solutions with communities, for example, addressing drug and alcohol related activity, improving perception of safety and reducing overall crime.
The next phase will ‘test and learn’ ways to further harness community knowledge, skills, and strengths to increase independence and reduce reliance on council services. This seeks to empower our communities through individual, family, and community-level activities that focus on what is important to them and how they want to achieve it. We are also working with our communities to understand what success looks like and how we measure it.
Climbing to the summit
It’s fair to say we are on a journey, and we’re only just beginning. The path will be winding and steep, with obstacles that require careful navigation and a flexible approach.
With the skill and commitment of our talented staff and partners, we can deliver a step-change in community outcomes, break down barriers to opportunity, and kickstart growth in thriving local places. Key to a mission-led approach is a shared view of our goal and how we can work across the organisation to unlock the skills and strengths of our people to meet this.
Our mission-led approach is driving us forward, and with determination, I am confident that we will reach the summit together with our partners and communities.
Photo credit: Image from a ‘Family Fun’ event as part of Project Harmony
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