‘From more than twenty decisions to one’

How a simplification of procedures triggers an organisational change

Annelies Gerritsen

As an Overall Account Holder at my employer, the Municipality of Amsterdam, I coordinate the collaboration with a large welfare organisation. This role is part of the Unambiguous Management of Welfare Organizations project, which concerns a new form of commissioning. As a client, we want to make the provision of services to citizens more effective and reduce the administrative burden for the implementing organisation. The integral assignment is central. We make clear agreements on contact moments, reports, accountability and results. This working method basically requires trust, we want to trust the professionalism of our partners. In this way we give more space to the expertise of the professionals.

“Sandra thinks practically, listens well and what I find very important, she makes my wishes clear and specific. Her way of working appeals to me because she steers in a helpful way, without being dominant. Sandra has taken a group of people into a change process and made them enthusiastic about it. Difficult seems to be easy.”

Safe Context

I realised that this process optimisation would have a lot of impact. That is why I asked Sandra in 2018 to guide me and my counterpart from the welfare organisation with the fresh view of an outsider. Not that I expected resistance because everyone supported this improvement. But in recent years, roles have become hugely intertwined, creating false expectations.

“Sandra was eminently able to create that safe context in which everything could come to the table.”

To clearly assign the “what” to the municipality as the client and the “how” to the executing body, we really had to take a close look at our own share and make the processes transparent. Sandra was eminently able to create that safe context in which everything could come to the table. Complex situations should just be able to exist and did not have to be solved immediately which gives some kind of relaxation in the process. She has always given us clear advice on how to keep the process moving, while at the same time she hosted the participatory working methods in which all parties involved could contribute to the solution on an equal basis.

Successful

In 2019, we succeeded in formulating the welfare assignment for my city districts in one subsidy decision instead of twenty-three as the year before. In order to place everything in one decision, you have to make choices. In terms of information provision, for example, you can no longer request endless reports and we feel compelled to re-fill our clientship.

“Sandra observes and listens, she brings clarity in my wishes.”

That still feels quite uncomfortable, in fact the real organisational change is only now being discussed for us. We would like to rely on the expertise of the implementing organisation and learn to have a conversation about what really matters. Working on the basis of trust requires something else from you than working from control. Fortunately, I can then ask Sandra to take a look and make my wishes concrete. What I liked during the process is that Sandra listened carefully to what I told her and that she always offered suggestions that were really helpful. We have also managed to issue a single decision for 2020!