Change Management Forum
|
Stephen Kelly Turning the UK government super-tanker around: Thursday 1st December, 6pm Stephen Kelly, the ‘£100m man’ with a reputation for taking on toxic projects, will discuss his role in leading the Coalition’s plan to mutualise the public sector. The Change Management Forum provides a venue for ‘thinking practitioners’ and ‘applied academics’ to come together and share knowledge and ideas under Chatham House rules. Tea and coffee provided beforehand, with a buffet served after the presentation. This event is open to all students, staff and alumni of the University of Bath. Places are limited so to register your attendance please fill in the form below. For more information please contact email cmf@management.bath.ac.uk
Notes Stephen Kelly has a reputation for cheerfully taking on 'toxic' projects and making them work - he is in charge of the Coalition's plan to mutualise the public sector. Although I can't find anyone in Whitehall who's jealous. One civil servant More precisely, Kelly is in charge of the Coalition's plan to mutualise the public sector – which, he tells me, has been described as the most ambitious overhaul of the civil service in living memory. Under the plans, more than 1m public sector workers – or 20pc of the workforce – could work for John Lewis-style mutual companies in just five years. Maude has given Kelly the task of ensuring that the future mutuals have "the right proposals and business plans in place to succeed". Kelly was chosen because of his form – both for cheerfully taking on apparently toxic projects, and for making them work. After nine years helping to build Chordiant, a US customer relations business, into a darling of the Nasdaq stock exchange, Kelly quit to become chief executive of Micro Focus, a UK software company that was at the time in chaos. Within just a few years, Kelly tripled revenues, doubled profit margins and turned a £200m company into one worth £1bn. When he announced his resignation, the stock plunged, wiping £100m from the share price – hence the nickname of £100m man. Kelly reckons the key to his success was "staff engagement." He says: "When I arrived at Micro Focus they all thought I'd landed from Mars. I was the latest in a line of bosses and I guess they must have thought that they should just sit tight and I wouldn't last long either. I started talking about how we could effect big change, all together. They thought I had crazy aspirations, but that was ok, you have to have a sense of humour... we had a few bumps on the road but we were soon in a better place because staff were engaged." Now the Government wants him to do the same to the men in grey suits. "We want to engage the workforce, allow them to have a part and shape the businesses they work in," he says. Right. But the real reason of course is money. For a Coalition determined to axe Britain's costs, the fat, sprawling public sector is an obvious target. Led by Maude, they want to question why the Government is in the business of running the Driving & Vehicle License Agency (DVLA) or foster homes or managing a raft of different pension funds. David Cameron has said his vision is for public services to be forced open to a range of providers "competing to offer a better service" – a move that has attracted accusations of privatisation by the back door. The public sector reforms White Paper finally emerged last week but it still failed to answer critics who doubt the reforms can be practically executed. Kelly has got to come up with the answers. He's not fazed, obviously. "If you tell me something is impossible, you've got me going," he says. And he's already got going. Over the past few months, Kelly has been acting chairman of one of the "pathfinder mutualisations" – My Civil Service Pension which handles the retirement funds of 1.5m civil servants and dispenses £4bn in pension payments each year. The plan is for the Government to give shares in the business to its 400 staff, at the same time as selling a stake while retaining an interest itself. The sale would be accompanied by a contract to manage civil service pensions for up to 10 years. Kelly says this is just a hint of the wider project. Behind the scenes, Kelly is hacking through the thickets of the public sector trying to identify those for which "the new model makes sense." He says: "Clearly, security services for instance will be left in house. Then it's trying to see which businesses need working capital and equity partners." In the autumn he will present a detailed plan of all the agencies the Government wants to mutualise. He promises it will show plans for "pragmatic implementation." Kelly insists the plan is workable. "We're not trying to make a thousand flowers bloom all at once. Just to concentrate on a few companies at a time." He adds: "It's inconceivable that in a few years’ time one or two won't have failed. But that's part of the process." Please continue to check this website for further information. |
