Looking bright for 2016

Posted on 04/01/2016 by Jacqui McKinlay. Tags: cfps governance

 

The first working day of 2016 seems like a perfect time to launch a new look for CfGS. New Year, new look and a refreshed passion to achieve our vision of excellence in governance and scrutiny leading to better public services.

Much is often made of new logos and many thousands have been spent by some organisations. I am pleased to say our new logo was crowd sourced, a fun and very economical way of refreshing our image.

Our new look reflects our new approach to promoting and supporting excellent governance and scrutiny across all public services. It’s not a radical departure in terms of look and how we work but more about building on our unique expertise and targeting our improvement work on those areas which need it most.

Having taken over the helm of CfGS just over six months ago, I have been working hard to both understand CfGS’s strengths and where we need improve and grow. Based on the feedback from many and my own experience, I now know what an amazing charity CfGS is. How it has incredible, knowledgeable employees and associates; how it has a depth of expertise which would be the envy of any organisation and how it has an excellent reputation for providing evidence based, well researched advice and support. We are also fortunate to have a brilliant Chair in Lord Kerslake and board of trustees.

We do however need to evolve if we are to be the leading organisation dedicated to the principles and practice of excellent governance and scrutiny. We need to adapt, as does scrutiny and governance, itself if this element of decision-making is to become more vital and valued during the testing years ahead.

To help achieve this we will be more focused on the issues that matter now including – helping local areas tackle the governance and scrutiny challenges posed by devolution; ensuring good scrutiny and governance support to health and social care integration; and ensuring that scrutiny is playing it role in keeping our most vulnerable children safe. We will be running more practical training events and workshops, providing more dedicated consultancy and producing high quality publications and guidance on the topics which are of greatest relevance to our audiences.

I am also clear that CfGS will work more closely and collaboratively with partners across a variety of sectors. We are actively seeking to forge new alliances to help deliver better products and services.

So a new brand does not change what CfGS is nor the core principles of accountability, transparency and involvement which we will always be committed to. But it does mean we will do things differently, talk about work differently and look different.

I’d love to hear what you think of our new look, so please get in touch and let me know. Just as importantly, if your new year’s resolution involves improving the governance of the organisation you work for (I’m sure it’s made it to the top of many people’s lists!) then do email or call and we’d love to see if we can work together in 2016. Happy New Year from all here at CfGS.

Jacqui