Nottingham City Council: Embedding a culture of change through targeted team support

This case study explores how Nottingham City Council is embedding a culture of change through the in-house delivered Ways of Working (WoW) programme, a targeted support programme to help teams adapt to new ways of working and embed sustainable change.

By using a structured diagnostic process, designing tailored interventions and working collaboratively with service areas, the programme is helping teams improve their effectiveness, strengthen alignment with the Council’s values and behaviours, and adapt to evolving digital and operational demands.

In 2023, faced with significant financial challenges, the Chief Financial Officer of Nottingham City Council issued a Section 114 notice, a statutory measure indicating the council was unable to set a balanced budget.

Following the Section 114 notice, Nottingham City Council was required to demonstrate credible plans to achieve financial sustainability and service improvement, which it set out through its Improvement Plan. 

A key component of this plan was improving efficiency and reducing the disparity in digital confidence and capability across its services – the council wanted to create a more collaborative and accountable culture using technology that it already had access to.

To deliver the plan, Nottingham City Council recognised that a different approach would be needed to adapt to the varying needs and context of teams, and that different skills were required to provide a comprehensive ‘change’ offer to the organisation.

The Organisational Development (OD) and Culture function within the Change Delivery Service was established, bringing together people from across the council that would work in a new way to support the organisation.

The Ways of Working (WoW) programme was established as part of a wider change offer to help teams build more efficient and effective ways of working, building on the strengths of existing teams and sharing best practice across the wider organisation.

Working initially with an external partner, the programme drew on models and learning to create high-performing teams. A pilot phase revealed that increased adoption of digital tools was one of the simplest ways to shift working practices and unlock time and efficiency savings.

From the learning, the council adapted the original approach to develop a shared framework to guide improvement across the organisation. The framework is used as a diagnostic tool to identify where teams may need support and includes key themes such as: 

• vision
• forecasting and planning
• sustainability
• problem solving
• standards and process
• coaching and capability
• digital intervention (a Nottingham-specific addition).

This diagnostic process delivered through surveys, conversations, and process observation (where appropriate) helps the team understand challenges and tailor interventions accordingly. 

The WoW programme is designed to support teams experiencing significant change, facing performance challenges, or seeking to improve collaboration. Once a team is identified, a WoW coach is assigned to work closely with managers and team members to co-design a programme of support to implement positive change and improvement.

This includes:

• Targeted meetings with team managers to build buy-in and embed the programme into everyday practice.
• Workshops and coaching sessions focused on digital tools and smarter ways of working.
• Regular check-ins and structured conversations to reinforce learning and build confidence.
• Facilitated learning sets and reflection sessions for managers to explore elements of the framework, share ideas, and embed new habits. 

The programme has supported multiple teams across its first waves and is currently expanding to additional services, alongside ad-hoc work, including working with the Executive team who are now advocates of the programme.

The WoW Coach plays a pivotal role, working alongside team managers to build trust, surface insights, and co-design practical changes. They act as both facilitators and critical friends, helping teams connect day-to-day habits with strategic improvement goals, including identifying where digital tools can make an immediate difference to the team.

The Change Delivery function brings together OD and Culture specialists, programme delivery leads, and service improvement experts. While the WoW coaches lead on interventions, they are supported by a flexible team, including business analysts, senior OD practitioners, and engagement specialists. This multidisciplinary model—combining OD, coaching, business analysis and service improvement—has been critical to ensuring that change is practical, data-informed, and sustained beyond each intervention.

Key learning from earlier waves of the programme was the importance of language and flexibility. For example, daily ‘huddles’ were initially met with resistance, so the team adapted the approach – introducing twice-weekly ‘check-ins’ or ‘sprints’ that better suited team rhythms and reduced pressure.

These check-ins have helped teams move away from relying solely on ad hoc chats and calls, instead fostering accountability, alignment, and shared ownership of performance.

The WoW Programme has delivered early benefits in both working culture and operational efficiency. Teams have reported increased confidence, better collaboration and more structured working practices as a result.

The programme built in mechanisms to track progress comparing diagnostic insights from the start and end of each intervention and checking in with teams every few months to monitor impact and gather evidence.

In one team, the WoW programme made a significant time-cost benefit of over £100,000 annually through the introduction of new digital tools.

In another example, introducing artificial intelligence into a service has significantly improved how teams operate— increasing capacity for core social work duties by reducing the average admin time in half and enabling greater standardisation and quality in the work produced:

“WoW introduced us to AI, Copilot saves time with emails and reports, allowing us to work more efficiently. The messages on my team chat have been buzzing about Copilot – everyone’s saying how effective it is. It’s made life easier, saved time, and helped us become smarter and more agile workers” 

- Children in Care Manager

“The WoW team has played a key role in strengthening the operational and cultural foundations of the Children in Care service during a difficult period… By fostering a culture of reflection, collaboration, and continuous improvement, the WoW team has enabled managers and practitioners to better understand their strengths and areas for development.” 

- Head of Service, Children in Care

Additionally, the integration of other daily functioning activities such as daily check ins and the use of planning tools to track daily priorities and actions has encouraged teams to consider new ways of working:

“Planner is a work in progress but good for organising tasks for the social workers. It allows the team to create, assign, and track tasks. By using the Planner, we can ensure that everyone is on the same page and that all tasks are completed on time in the coming days. This tool also helps in identifying any potential bottlenecks and enables us to address them proactively.” 

Team Manager, Children’s Social Work

Beyond productivity gains, the programme’s digital interventions have also promoted greater inclusion and accessibility—helping colleagues with different learning needs to work more confidently and effectively.

“WoW has introduced tools that significantly supported staff that have dyslexia. They’ve valued Copilot in particular as a tool for completing information, writing reports and organising information, and I’ve noted a big impact in confidence and quality of work.” 

- Safeguarding Manager, Adult Social Care

The ripple effects of WoW are now being felt across directorates, with teams reporting stronger collaboration, clearer communication, and a growing sense of shared purpose.

“The WoW team’s input has helped us strengthen meeting structures, boost morale and identify collaboration opportunities across Adult Social Care—breaking down silo-based barriers and supporting culture change.” 

- Transformation Project Manager, Adult Social Care

• Tailored team support: Nottingham City Council adapted a framework for diagnosing team challenges, adding a new focus on digital intervention.
• Collaborative delivery: The OD and Culture teams work directly with managers and staff to co-design interventions, ensuring ownership and long-term impact.
• Flexible coaching and workshops: Support is shaped around team needs, including digital workshops, structured coaching, and regular check-ins to reinforce learning and build confidence.
• Embedding sustainable habits: Teams are encouraged to move beyond ad hoc communication by adopting structured check-ins and collaborative practices that boost accountability and performance.
• Measuring impact: Progress is tracked through diagnostics at the start, throughout and end of each intervention, with ongoing check-ins, weekly highlight reports, and case studies to assess and share outcomes.

Behind the programme’s success is a commitment to developing in-house expertise and empowering colleagues to lead change from within. By combining organisational development, coaching and digital improvement, the WoW team has created a model of change that is practical, inclusive and uniquely Nottingham.

By integrating the framework into team development and aligning with Nottingham’s wider improvement plan, the WoW programme is creating a foundation for long-term culture change. It’s enabling teams to work more collaboratively, use digital tools more effectively, and contribute more confidently to a high-performing, customer-focused council.