Changing Culture, Strengthening Delivery

HMRC: Angels & Dragons

 

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Transcript

Caption:  Harnessing innovative ideas from staff to improve the delivery of services

 

JOHN BUNIAK: Technical Specialist

I am going to present an idea for a staff suggestion scheme to the Board of Angels and Dragons. I’m hoping that the Board will agree that my idea will go ahead and can be later funded and be realised.

 

JEREMY GREENFIELD: Chair Board of Angels & Dragons

We’re very keen to hear more about it, so straight over to you.

 

JOHN BUNIAK:

The idea is that we use a computer programme…

 

JEREMY GREENFIELD:

I think the big advantage is that anybody within the organisation, whatever part of the business they work in, whatever grade they are, if they’ve got a good idea of the way to improve their business, they can pitch it straight to the Board of Angels, they’ll get an immediate response. If we think it’s a good idea and they’ve got a good return on investment, we’ll give them the money there and then, and they can make it happen.

 

JOHN BUNIAK:

With your permission we’re going to use some audience participation.

 

MALE:

So it’s back to the technical advisor, who then writes to the accountant.

 

LINDA HINGS: Coach, Angels & Dragons

The previous staff suggestion ideas really was exactly that you just put an idea forward, and then it just disappeared in to a black hole. The main difference is here that the idea proposals get involved right from the very start. They come after working out the business proposal and doing the presentation, but then they become the project manager of the idea. So, you know, they have to make it happen, and that’s the difference, they see it right through.

 

JOHN BUNIAK:

We have asked the IT people whether we would be able to update the facility.

 

JEREMY GREENFIELD:

Certainly when you say to people, you know, this is your idea, you can make it happen, we can help you make it happen, you know, they’re really motivated by that.

 

What we’d like to do now is if it’s okay with you is we’d like to ask you to leave the room for a little while while we deliberate about whether or not we wish to see this idea taken forward, and we’ll call you back in a few minutes.

 

MALE:

It could well be that there are plans there which decide, you know, it could fit in to.

 

JEREMY GREENFIELD:

The Board comprises about 10 directors from HMRC. People from all different areas of the business who have not only a good understanding about how the business works and how opportunities to improve it might be made reality, but also they can open doors for idea proposers who can’t get through the different, difficult, complicated processes we have in the organisation.

 

LINDA HINGS:

They’re the kind of movers and the shakers in the department. You know, if they agree it’s a good idea then they’ll make sure that it does actually happen.

 

JEREMY GREENFIELD

An ideal solution for this and an ideal way forward, provided the business case looks right, is to actually consider this as a bit of a pilot. We really enjoyed the presentation, we think you did a really good job, so well done, thank you very much indeed.

 

Customers expectations about the service they get, whether it’s from a public sector organisation or the private sector are going up and up and we have to keep pace with that, and we will only do that through innovation.

 

BARRY BULLAS: Software Developer

As you know, my name’s Barry Bullas.

 

I’m here today to give an update to the Angels and Dragons Board on my idea, which was originally submitted two years ago, and I’m here to tell them about the benefits that have been realised and the impact and the change it’s made on the staff involved.

 

So that was what we’ve promised, if the funding was provided to purchase the printers we could deliver the benefits, a new slicker, efficient process and a cost saving of £61,000.

 

JEREMY GREENFIELD:

We’ve set a hurdle rate for return on investment that if people couldn’t at least satisfy that minimum hurdle rate then we weren’t going to consider the idea. So the hurdle rate we set is a 110% as a minimum over two years. Actually, many of the ideas that we get brought to us have return on investments of 500% and more, so we get a very good return on our investment.

 

BARRY BULLAS:

The actual idea itself has had an enormous impact. It’s speeded the process up, it’s made people’s jobs a whole lot easier, and it’s also had an impact on HMRC’s customers as well.

 

JEREMY GREENFIELD:

We have a very, very significant transformation in HMRC, and every year the bids for funding are probably double the amount of money we have to invest in our transformation. And because many of these ideas are for big things, actually the small ideas - if you didn’t ringfence some money to invest in those types of things, the small things run a risk of being squeezed out, so we see it as being, you know, essential really to maintain not a huge, but a reasonable pot of money that we can invest in good ideas that come from the frontline staff.

 

This is an ideal project, I guess, from our perspective.

 

BARRY BULLAS:

I’m a lot more comfortable with giving presentations. I’ve recently been promoted and the preparation for the presentation I put in to the preparation for the interview.

 

Well, thank you all very much for your time.

 

LINDA HINGS:

There’s nobody that’s gone through the Angels and Dragons process that hasn’t come out, even if it’s not gone right through the process right up to presenting in front of the Board. They always get some benefit.

 

JEREMY GREENFIELD:

I think when we first set it up people were skeptical. It’s another new initiative, you know, next year it’ll be something else. Well, it hasn’t been. We’ve been running this process now for three years and it’s part of the fabric of our organisation.

 

End of Transcript

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