Birmingham City Council: Interim Managers Help Turn A Council Around

In 2014, Birmingham City Council was at risk of a government intervention. Improvement had to happen as fast as possible. That meant recruiting the right people to pivotal, senior roles. With Green Park’s help, BCC hired outstanding interim managers who were the catalysts for a vital transformation.

• Three key interim hires made
• High calibre candidates delivered crucial transformation
• All three commended in independent report

The challenge

The 2014 Kerslake Report pulled no punches: Birmingham City Council was facing major challenges and required rapid improvements. The Report set out the steps need to transform service outcomes and the Council’s governance and financial arrangements. Failure to follow them would mean a full government intervention.

For Mark Rogers, BCC’s chief executive, it was a challenge that demanded key structural changes. They included developing the senior management team and creating brand new posts. With so much at stake, Mark decided expert assistance was needed, so he engaged Green Park to find highly experienced managers who could make an impact in key, sensitive roles.

Our project

Green Park worked closely with Mark to create job profiles for the roles. It was critical that they inspired the confidence and trust of the Council’s government-appointed commissioners. They also needed to capture the attention of the interim candidate market through a compelling narrative and bring the very best people to BCC’s senior team.

The existing role of assistant director of HR and OD was deleted. Instead, BCC set out to recruit two interim managers – an interim head of HR transformation and an interim head of OD transformation. Both would be experts in complex change management and tasked with completely turning the function around.

The results

Using the new profiles, three key hires were made. All delivered tremendous results and more than fulfilled their aims. In fact, they were so successful, they were even cited in a follow-up report by the government’s externally appointed Improvement panel for the Council.

The hires included an interim service director for delivery (a direct requirement of the Kerslake Report). This individual acted as a deputy to the chief executive, leading all aspects of the Future Council transformation programme and managing a number of corporate service areas.

The calibre of the interim managers sourced by Green Park was so high that the Council asked our team to recruit a number of other roles. These included an interim IT director, interim head of street services, a head of schools HR and an OD business partner. Green Park continues to work with the Council and act as a strategic resourcing partner.

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