London Borough of Havering wanted an independent view into the effectiveness of their approach to performance reporting and measurement. We caught up with their Head of Housing Strategy and Service Development to find out how they worked with Housemark to carry out a performance reporting framework review.
What areas of your business did Housemark look at and how did they help?
“We wanted to gain an independent view of how we gather information. We have a corporate approach to performance reporting in place but didn’t have one specifically for housing, so we commissioned Housemark to carry out this review.
The Performance Reporting Framework (PRF) review and assessment offered an independent evaluation of the effectiveness of our current approach at Havering and identified a series of recommendations to help us on our journey towards a performance driven culture.”
How have you used this insight and learning within your business?
“The review helped us to understand the importance of a performance culture, and that this must come from the top. It provided us with practical suggestions for action to tackle some of the challenges, such as how to develop effective reports and scorecards.
We now understand the implications of certain ways of working and how they can prevent service improvement. We have a PRF that is housing bespoke, and a single individual responsible for performance management who can hold four service areas to account. We also have the people in place to support making key performance indicators (KPIs) effective.”
How has this impacted on your employees/tenants/organisation?
“Having an independent person look at our approach has been of great value to us. We were given short-term goals for the next year as we want to be realistic on what we can focus on.
We’ve already been able to look at our organisational structure and get the right people in place to make things happen. We’re prioritising the areas that are most impactful for staff and residents, and we’re excited to see the changes that arise from this.”
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