Stockholm is an attractive city that is constantly growing. The influx of residents and the growth of the city presents significant challenges in terms of housing, communication, office space etc. As the city grows, public services are expected to cater for more citizens, as well as raise service and quality levels within a tight budget framework. This imposes demands on the ability of the City of Stockholm to innovate and develop.
For more than ten years, Ramboll has provided strategic consultancy services to a number of different administrative branches within the City of Stockholm with the aim of strengthening management and improving quality and efficiency within the organisation. Since 2007, Ramboll's cooperation with the City of Stockholm has grown even stronger, following involvement in many strategic change projects within the City administration.
Creating value for citizens
The projects performed for the City of Stockholm are based on the organisation's ability to work efficiently and create value for target groups (e.g. student, senior citizens, addicts, homeless people). Through this work, the administrative managements receive important information that enables them to set priorities, as well as adjust and change their course of action.
Based on the results, some administrative branches have decided to discontinue activities that have proven not to have sufficient effect, and to adjust their actions in order to achieve increased efficiency. And – above all – they have become more explicit about focusing their actions on particular target groups. Ramboll has supported administrations that have been victim of severe financial challenges, and has assisted in turning severe deficits into budgets that balance.
Sustaining change
Ramboll's methods of implementation are based on strong involvement of both managers and employees. Our methods are geared towards building the organisation's own skills in a given area, in order to sustain long-lasting change.
In some projects, we have been working with a specific client over a long period of time, and can give flexible support depending on the challenges that arise over time. Given the fact that the demand for accessibility to and quality of services increases while budgets stay the same, the City of Stockholm must continue its work to increase efficiency, quality and innovation.
“One of the things we often realise in our projects is how satisfying it can be for managers and employees to focus on their mission and the results they want to achieve for their target groups. Actually, these projects motivate both our customers and us as consultants,” says Karoline Bottheim, who works with organisational development and leadership at Ramboll.
"The companies that have 'cracked the code' become more efficient and focused in their work while at the same time achieving higher quality service levels – and being more motivated in their daily work. We also see that the City has a great potential in terms of knowledge-sharing, learning from their own best practices, cooperation across administrative borders and development of support functions in the administrative branches," Karoline concludes.
It is of great value for Ramboll to follow the City of Stockholm into the future, continuing a relationship of mutual learning and development.