Culture First: Why Collaboration Matters in LGR

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is often framed in terms of structures, governance and system consolidation. Formally, vesting day marks the start of a new unitary authority, however, the work begins much sooner. 

 

The real challenge and opportunities with LGR lie not just in structural integration, but also cultural. Determining how people from different organisations with different experience and knowledge come together, how new ways of working are established, and how collaboration becomes the norm. Process mapping provides a practical way to support this cultural transition. 

 

Coming together

 

When councils merge, staff arrive with different organisational priorities and ways of delivering services. At the same time, they are having to continue supporting residents while managing their own uncertainty about roles and the future of the organisation. 

In this context, change fatigue and capacity can be very real considerations. In discussing these challenges, several authorities reflect that they would have liked to begin integration work earlier. Yet during the pre-vesting period, organisations are often under significant pressures and sensitivity. 

Major programmes such as implementing a single finance system, unified revenue and benefit platforms, or sharing planning services often take years post-vesting day before benefits begin to materialise. For several councils, earlier understanding of existing processes would have helped to accelerate transformation once the new organisation was formed. 

 

Understanding the true AS-IS position

 

Every LGR programme is supported by a business case setting out the anticipated efficiencies, service improvements and financial benefits. However, demonstrating those benefits becomes challenging if there is no clear picture of how services operated beforehand. 

Without a shared understanding of the starting point, it is difficult to evidence improvement and attribute savings to change. Additionally, variation between the merging councils remain unclear and opportunities for early alignment may be missed. 

For councils preparing to merge, there is an opportunity to capture current knowledge and experience by documenting the AS-IS processes prior to vesting day. Engaging with the operational staff allows teams to capture true ways of working and understanding of the community needs. This knowledge will be necessary in providing future services as a unitary council. 

Post vesting day, AS-IS processes can be reviewed and compared between merging councils to uncover best practices and bottlenecks, find commonalities, and share learnings that can be taken forward to build effective and cohesive service delivery for citizens. 

Capturing the true AS-IS position for merging councils provides more than operational insight, it creates a baseline for measuring change and enables organisations to evidence the value being delivered. 

 

Process mapping for cultural integration

 

Process mapping during LGR is not solely a technical exercise, but a practical way of bringing people together across an organisation. 

When officers, managers and service designers map processes collectively, conversations become more impactful, helping to align strategy with execution. Subject matter experts are able to explain how services actually operate day-to-day, rather than how they are assumed to work. Challenges and workarounds become visible, along with examples of best practice that are worth carrying forward. 

Furthermore, this helps team members to feel ownership of their role in the change. As Richard Storey, Lead Business Analyst at North Yorkshire Council reflects from their own LGR journey, "[teams are] trying to do the best thing for the residents, and there's a genuine want to engage with everyone and gather people's opinions. Cultural work done around this goal has largely created positive change."

These discussions naturally lead to important questions:

 

• Why do we do things this way?
• Where does value sit for residents? 
• What should we keep, simplify, or redesign?

 

Visualising processes allows these conversations to take place openly and constructively, supported by data evidence rather than opinion. In practice, this helps shift decision-making from something done to services towards something developed with the people delivering them.

 

Building one organisation

 

A recurring theme across LGR programmes is the challenge of creating a sense of one organisation.

Collaborative mapping provides a structured environment for teams from different councils to work together around shared ambitions. Rather than defending legacy approaches, teams begin to focus on what will work best for residents under the unified authority.

Through this process, shared language, expectations and principles begin to emerge. These smaller pieces of collaboration collectively shape organisational culture. Culture is rarely changed through statements or visions alone, but develops through shared experience and giving people a voice.

 

Involvement reduces resistance

 

Uncertainty can be inevitable during reorganisation and large-scale change. However, involving staff in shaping future ways of working can significantly influence how change is experienced. 

When those delivering services are involved in mapping and designing future processes, it provides several benefits:

 

• Decisions are better understood
• Operational expertise informs outcomes
• Ownership increases, and 
• Resistance to change is addressed, creating better buy-in

 

The resulting TO-BE process design reflects lived experiences rather than theoretical models of how things work. When possible, involving residents or users of the service further strengthens this approach and captures community needs. 

 

Collaboration as an accelerator for successful LGR

 

Authorities successfully navigating LGR tend to prioritise collaboration alongside structural change. Strategic leadership provides direction, but sustainable transformation depends on engaging the people closest to service delivery. Managers bring organisational alignment, while subject matter experts provide operational insight that is needed to design functional and effective services. 

As Rachael Dixon, Service Design and Change Lead at Somerset Council notes, "If you don't lead in this way, those doing the day-to-day work are missed in making the decisions and this misses an opportunity to capitalise on the experience of that service. We need strategy from managers, but it is also fundamental to engage the subject matter experts to find solutions that truly achieve what is needed."

Process mapping helps to create the space where these perspectives can meet and drive change. 

 

Starting early

 

Many councils are starting to recognise the benefits to be gained from mapping activities prior to vesting day. Taking into account the resource challenges that may be present, making the time to capture early understanding of services helps organisations avoid duplication, identify quick wins and accelerate post-vesting delivery. 

 

Creating a new culture from change

 

Ultimately, successful LGR programmes recognise that culture is not an outcome delivered after reorganisation, it is built through the way change is carried out. A collaborative culture doesn't emerge automatically from system consolidation or structural change, but through engaging stakeholders, openness and shared problem-solving. 

Process mapping offers a practical way to support that journey, helping organisations come together around common ways of working while keeping focus on what matters most: delivering better outcomes for residents. 

 

 

Interested in additional LGR learnings?

 

View the recording of our virtual event, "LGR - Lessons, Successes, and What We'd Do Differently" with Rachael Dixon, Service Design and Change Lead at Somerset Council, and Richard Storey, Senior Business Analyst at North Yorkshire Council. Request through the form here.

 

Or, download the North Yorkshire Council Business Case here.