No day is the same for Ian Robertson, senior learning and development officer at Edinburgh City Council’s building services department.

I’d like to tell you about an average day at Edinburgh Building Services (EBS), but actually there are no average days here. My post was newly created in 2004 as part of a massive change programme to help EBS recover from an unsustainable future. Systems and processes were outdated, staff morale was at an all-time low and customer satisfaction was falling.

Today, thankfully it’s a very different story and our achievements have been recognised by the Association of Public Service Excellence and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. We have received Charter Mark Awards as well as the prestigious TJ Award for the best change-management programme for 2007.

The ‘zero to hero’ approach came about through our director’s foresight in investing in the support and development of the EBS workforce. To achieve this, a public-private partnership was entered into with Pinnacle, an organisation with an excellent track record of transforming public sector services. The partnership saw EBS’ fortunes transformed and gave me an unrivalled opportunity to develop new skills, creativity and innovation.

Today it’s Monday and I’m planning my diary for the week ahead. As ever, there’s a lot on the agenda with current priorities including writing a business case for the Healthy Working Lives project, planning an ‘Organisational Raid’, health and safety training, IT programmes, tracking the progress of the Modern Managers Initiative (MMI), agreeing dates for annual performance reviews and organising ‘Lunchtime Academies’.

To offer a flavour of an ‘average day’ for me, I’ll highlight a couple of these priorities.

‘Club Gorgeous’ is just one of the schemes included in our Healthy Working Lives project. Very often, slimming clubs fail because the focus is on fat rather than the desired outcome of slim, fit, healthy and feeling gorgeous (hence the name). Successes to date include weight loss, raising money for charity, and all participants living healthier and fitter lives.

An Organisational Raid entails senior managers from other parts of Edinburgh City Council visiting EBS to learn about the best practice approaches adopted here. We have previously hosted Organisational Raids for representatives from 17 of the 32 Scottish local authorities and another one for various housing associations, both of which were very well received.

Our MMI is the most innovative leadership programme in the council’s history and is developingsenior, middle and frontline managers simultaneously via an 18-month programme. The aim, quite simply, is to create the best leaders possible. Accredited by the Chartered Management Institute, MMI will see 45 participants achieving qualifications by January 2008. This, however, is only part of the outcome. Every manager is leading on a service-improvement project and the cost savings are actually funding MMI.

Unfortunately, here the word count stops me from telling you about the Sofa Club, Back to the Floor, our Interactive Induction Resource, Promises Into Action, First Steps, Our Space – Our Time (more than just a social club) and our staff newsletter, but, hey, you can always email me if you’re interested in finding out more, at i.robertson@edinburgh.gov.uk

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