This post is based on the post on Customer Centric Action on Need.

Practical transformation is built on analysis of local needs and constrained by the sum of resources available to local public, voluntary and community organisations and the citizens themselves. Commitment and desire for change has to emerge within each community and its service providing organisations. It requires strategic design and agile implementation. This post is a work of imagination provided to illustrate what could transpire.

This post imagines how Customer Centric Action on Need would support transformation in society.

Customer Centric Action on Need is growing the competence of the widest possible range of organisations and individuals in the local area and encouraging them to step up and share the responsibility through team working at all levels. This has a significant impact on growing the community for all involved.  Struggling carers, for example, benefit from understanding how they contribute to the team and value highly the support they get from other team members and on the job skills development.

The main challenge is to ensure timely and effective input to overall community strategy from all stakeholder groups, leading to ownership of plans and delivery. Public sector and many voluntary organisations have governance structures and relevant staff to engage in strategy within the community. Even the smaller voluntary organisations are likely to have a CEO for whom this is part of the job. This is less likely to be true of community self –help groups, caring neighbours, the customers themselves and their families, who provide a large amount of delivery for citizens with complex needs. For these people, their focus is tightly on delivery, because they do not have the spare capacity to engage. Because these are grass roots organisations and individuals, strategy emerges gradually from practice and learning. They have not been involved at an earlier stage, so are often uncertain what they think about new initiatives until they actually get to experience them.

Now that the local community addresses transformation in an agile way, these vital inputs and community ownership connections are tapped by community agile Customer Centric Action Teams which feed back into strategy. The community groups do not feel they are helpless implementers of other organisations strategy but significant owners with a voice.

This could be a real force for community transformation.