The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, FCO Services are an organisation based across three main sites in the London area – Central London, Hounslow and Croydon. They are tasked to “deliver world class, world-wide solutions in support of the FCO’s purpose to work for UK interests in a safe, just and prosperous world”. They provide and are responsible for all the security and management of all estates.

Objective

Previously the organisation was unwieldy and somewhat bureaucratic with a slow response to customers (mainly internal). Realisation of this prompted the FCO to bring in a major consultancy firm to suggest ways to be more efficient. This process took two years to complete.

Changes that were initiated included:
•    A reduction in management layers from 10 to 3
•    A change in jobs
•    People in new teams
•    A change in culture - becoming more customer focussed
•    Matrix management cutting across previously established “Silos”

Solution

These changes and others had big impacts on personnel and whilst still delivering “business as normal” had to cope with changes in the workplace. The business now needed to develop relationships across the new teams, engender trust, support and openness.  Understanding and commitment to the new business plan were also essential.
To help achieve these important goals FCO services approached Impact to work in partnership to design and deliver events to address these goals.

Impact worked with the Executive team on two occasions and has been involved in separate events for some of the new divisions – Promotions and Events, Service Delivery, Human Resources and the Financial Community team.
Each had different demands and consequently the events incorporated different approaches and utilised different tools.  All have proved very successful, with repeat bookings.

Result

Evidence has been fed back to Impact that as a result, FCO services are a more integrated business with a much greater degree of co-operation between the divisions.

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