Opportunities and risks: Recent research on shared services in the community sector

1. Opportunities and risks: Recent research on shared services in the community sector Dr June Lennie June Lennie Research and Evaluation www.jlevaluation.com.au NCOSS seminar, Sydney 10 November 2008

2. Outline of presentation • Overview of the Multi-Tenant Service Centre (MTSC) Pilots Project • Location of the three pilot projects • Evaluation project and methods • Key findings and learnings • Conclusions

3. The MTSC Pilots Project • Conducted by Department of Communities, Queensland government • Part of Strengthening NGOs project. Key strategy: to encourage greater use of shared services and collaborative arrangements • Project aimed to co-locate service providers in a well located centre, with effective and transparent management, which enabled providers to improve client services • Business cases for three MTSC pilots submitted in mid 2006

4. Locations of the three pilot projects • Mackay: north Queensland coastal mining city • Caboolture: regional hub 46km north of Brisbane • Toowoomba: large provincial city 132km west of Brisbane

5. Services provided by the three centres include: • Community development • Legal services and tenant advocacy • Older men’s support services • Support and information services for women’s health, domestic violence and pregnancy • Disability, accommodation and family support services • Counselling and referral services

6. Overview of evaluation project • Conducted from January 2007 - July 2008 • Took a collaborative and responsive approach • Aim was to identify the: • challenges and strategies for sustainability and viability (through an initial literature review) • expected benefits • success factors • risks, challenges and barriers to implementing the three pilots • strategies used to overcome problems • factors related to effectiveness of MTSC concept

7. Research and evaluation methods • Literature search and reviews conducted in early 2007 and in June 2008 • Questionnaires sent to government staff and consortia members in late 2007 • Group discussions and interviews conducted in May - June 2008 • Review of business cases and other documents • Case studies of each site completed in July 2008

8. Learnings from the evaluation • Anticipated benefits of the shared service model • Benefits already evident in some sites • Learnings about the MTSC model • Type of organisation the concept is most effective for • Risks, challenges and barriers to success • Success factors in the project

9. Anticipated benefits • Better accommodation and space • Improved financial savings • Access to more funding; capacity to take on larger projects • Organisational and governance improvements • Seamless referral process • Improved service delivery and client access to services

10. Anticipated benefits (cont.) • Increased skills and capacity building of staff and committee members • New or shared knowledge, understanding and learning • Broader perspectives and attitudes • Building strong relationships and linkages and improved support • Stronger capacity to advocate for clients and negotiate with government

11. Benefits already evident in some sites: • Facilitation of a seamless referral process • Sharing equipment and IT expertise • Development of joint funding proposals • Professional development of those at management level • Building relationships and support • Increased understanding of the suite of services in the organisations involved • Better understanding of change management processes

12. Learnings about MTSC model • Size of building a key issue – dictated amount of space and number of agencies that could co-locate • Differences in size of agencies only an issue in pilot involving amalgamation of one large and two smaller services - factors included ‘fear of takeover’ and ‘fear of loss of identity’

13. Type of organisation the concept is most effective for • Need to be complementary and have synergies • Need a similar client base and demographics • Should not be competing with each other • Need a similar philosophy and common vision, goals and focus

14. Type of organisation concept is most effective for (cont.) • Takes a community development focus • Adopts a community service focus and use a client-focussed model of service delivery • Ability to self-evaluate and shift to a model of sharing information and reflecting on process

15. Risks, challenges and barriersto success • Sustaining commitment and energy • Reaching agreement on the vision and the collaboration and governance models • Managing communication and information sharing • Managing relationships and other human factors • Managing change and loss of leadership

16. Risks, challenges and barriers(cont.) • Effects of establishment process on normal service delivery • Securing adequate funding, support and resources • Managing the building selection, development and design process

17. Success factors in the MTSC Pilots Project • Commitment to making it work • Support of local departmental staff • Employment of local project officers • Building cooperative relationships between parties involved • Energy, flexibility and ability to embrace the new

18. Success factors (cont.) • When communication was clear and information sharing was effective • Holding visioning workshops • Planning at the regional/consortium level • Use of ‘fair’ decision-making processes • Providing resources and training to support consortiums

19. Other key learnings and suggested improvements • All relevant stakeholders need to be involved in the initial planning, design, implementation and consultation process • Use longer timeframes - delays created frustration, uncertainty, and a loss of energy and commitment • Need a shared understanding of all relevant issues and complexity of the process

20. Other key learnings (cont.) • Need an effective internal and external communication strategy • Staff need to be skilled in project management • Include reflections on process, planning and implementation in monthly meetings

21. Conclusions • Shared services can have many benefits. Some of these benefits had already been experienced in the three pilot sites. • However, developing and implementing shared services is a complex process that presents many risks, challenges and barriers to success that need to be carefully considered. • A ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work – each pilot site used different models that evolved over time. A flexible, action research approach is needed.

22. Conclusions (cont.) • The shared service concept was not well understood or supported by all. • Encouraging a focus on the ‘big picture’ of change and the long-term benefits was a challenge - greater understanding of the concept is clearly needed. • Timeframe for establishing the MTSC pilots was much longer than expected - it can take two years or more to plan and set up a MTSC.

23. Conclusions (cont.) • Taking time during the establishment phase to work through the change process, and reach agreement on the initial vision, is vital to success. • Requires motivation, strong commitment and leadership, open communication, and maintenance of effective relationships and trust between everyone involved.

24. Thank you very much! For more information contact June at j.lennie@bigpond.net.au