Theme 3: Great for our business

Our ‘profit for purpose’ model means we take a commercial approach to running our business.

We use the savings we make, and harness the power of our commercial activity delivered through Cube and Plumlife, to ensure we are able to invest in our homes and communities, build new homes and provide value-added support to enable our customers to live well.

None of what we do is possible without colleagues that are engaged, skilled and motivated to deliver a great service.

In line with our Great People vision, we’ll continue to invest in our colleagues to ensure they have the skills, equipment and mindset needed to do a great job.

We’ll invest in our technology and in improving our data so we set our colleagues up for success and continue to attract and retain the best people to work for us.

We’ll work closely with our contractor partners to make sure the services they deliver on our behalf consistently support our ambition to deliver great services every time.

How we’ll do it

• Undertaking ‘root and branch’ reviews of our services to understand the value they provide to customers and our business and identify where we can make changes.
• Enhancing our professional development offer to colleagues by establishing our approach to meet the requirements of the Competency and Conduct Standard and extending our Raise the Roof Leadership Programme.
• Investing heavily in our Growing Greatness graduate and apprentice programme, targeting diverse candidates so we can maximise opportunities to grow the next generation of talented colleagues. We’ll extend our work with schools and colleges to promote housing as a career of choice and build interest in Growing Greatness.
• Continuing to engage in the Greater Manchester Boost Programme and use what we learn to develop our approaches to recruitment, retention and colleague development so we’re able to attract and retain the best diverse talent.
• Continuing our work to make sure our technology platforms meet the needs of our colleagues by replacing outdated software, introducing greater automation and developing existing systems to continually improve. We’ll replace our telephony and contact centre system with a new omnichannel solution so we can offer a better service to customers. We’ll develop a digital strategy to create a roadmap for our use of smart technology that will establish the foundations for our proactive service delivery ambitions.
• Establishing a data governance framework to ensure we have accurate data available to enable better service delivery and decision making that will power our digital ambitions.
• Establishing a business process management approach to embed consistency and quality in our processes.
• Embedding the work of our newly established Customer Committee to strengthen the influence of customers in determining how Great Places operates.

We’re putting the building blocks in place for a solid future!