Arts Council England

Introduction

In 1946, the Arts Council had a budget of £235,000 and supported just four organisations. Today, its budget for 2005/06 is £410 million from the Treasury and £160 million from the National Lottery and it expects to invest £1.1 billion between 2006 and 2008. The funds are distributed to 1,100 arts organisations across England and also support hundreds of individual artists and arts projects through its Grants for the Arts programme. Its Creative Partnership programme has an annual budget of £32 million and is aimed at giving schoolchildren the opportunity to develop their creativity and take part in cultural activities of the highest quality. So far 4,300 schools and 400,000 young people have benefited from involvement in this innovative programme to develop the creative skills and talent of future generations.

Between 2002 and 2003 the organisation experienced significant structural change, with ten regional Arts Boards merging with the Arts Council to create a single entity with a truly national reach. This presented difficult cultural and organisational challenges for the Arts Council and recognising this, it turned to Investors in People for support.

The Challenge

Over the past four years The Arts Council has focused on addressing the challenges following its merger with the regional Arts Boards. In 2005 a staff satisfaction survey following the merger showed that The Arts Council was not viewed as a single operation. There were also different levels of staff satisfaction amongst the various offices regarding the consistency of leadership from Arts Council managers, with some staff criticising their manager’s approach to people management.

Additionally, with 11 different cultures there were conflicting sets of values and also different business processes and systems to contend with. These differences conspired against the organisation, preventing it from acting collectively and consistently. Furthermore, the prevailing structure was delaying the decision making process and making it difficult to measure overall performance effectively.

With large budgets from the public purse under its control and involvement in projects across the nation, the Arts Council is under constant public scrutiny to perform efficiently across a broad geographic area. It was therefore vital that the merged organisation was seen to measure success and implement efficient processes and management structures to minimise bureaucracy.

The Solution

Hot on the heels of the results of the 2005 satisfaction survey, a project team was set up led by the head of learning and development. The team audited business processes and policies and made recommendations for improvement to the Board.  Following this, a business planning process was initiated and a corporate plan was developed to ensure the organisation would act as a whole. Employees from across the organisation were encouraged to contribute to corporate initiatives. This approach, which was guided by Investors in People, has helped employees to develop a heightened awareness of business priorities and helped the organisation to make best use of available staff skill sets.

Investors in People also provided a framework to introduce a new performance management process to clarify the role of managers and staff in learning and development. This has enabled Arts Council managers to focus on leadership development and to discuss the learning and development needs of individuals and teams.

In addition, the framework has empowered individuals to take risks in a supportive environment which has fostered a sense of ownership and commitment from staff. The performance management process also supports a variety of mechanisms to reward and recognise employee contribution. A pay strategy links bonus payments to outstanding performance. Special rewards are also made, including invitations to prestigious events such as the Queen’s Garden Party, champagne, gift vouchers or free theatre tickets. Additionally, the Chief Executive hosts lunches with groups or teams that have successfully completed a project or contributed to an initiative.

The Result

The Standard has enabled the Arts Council to review and strengthen its business and people management processes. Since merging its regional Arts Boards, the organisation has saved £8 million and been able to remove one office through economies of scale. It has centralised resources such as finance, made savings on property and streamlined its activities. The £8 million that has been saved has been invested in the arts.

With guidance from the Standard, over 23 projects involving over 150 employees have been established to improve the efficiency of the organisation. For example, prior to achieving the Standard, the Arts Council ran over 150 different grants programmes, these have now been replaced with a single programme.

Staff motivation and performance is also high thanks to the organisation’s new performance–related reward strategy. In support of this, staff turnover is low with recent management information confirming that the issue is not a problem for the organisation.