A CONSULTANCY firm that lists Everton among its clients has been signed up to help transform the workplace culture of Cheshire East Council.

Sticky Change – a ‘small change management consultancy’ which has also worked with councils in Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield among others – has a year-long contract to help CEC move forwards from the Local Government Association’s (LGA) review on culture at the council.

The review, which was made public in January, claimed that the council had missed an opportunity to ‘set its culture and tone’ – and highlighted that more than 200 employees had experienced workplace bullying in the six months up to January.

At a special meeting of CEC’s staffing committee on Wednesday, Sara Barker, head of strategic HR, led a presentation on how the council aims to move forwards with Sticky Change’s help.

“I personally think this is a really great opportunity for CEC,” she said.

“It’s a real opportunity to holistically and collectively, as members and staff, look at how we are going to not only take forward the recommendations of Sarah Messenger [from the LGA], but work collectively to build and develop the culture within the council.”

Sticky Change will be working with employees and elected members at CEC in its ‘Brighter Future Transformation Programme’.

The programme will feature a steering group chaired by Kath O’Dwyer, acting chief executive, and including Cllr Liz Wardlaw, who will provide feedback from councillors who attend a members’ forum and a members’ technology and development panel.

A 20-strong staff panel, which is expected to include employees from all levels of the council, will also provide feedback to the steering group.

During the programme, a series of workshops will be held for staff and councillors, designed to ‘set and define the culture and behaviours’ of CEC.

Cllr Rachel Bailey, Conservative leader of CEC, said: “It’s about reaching as many members as we possibly can and drawing on expertise from as many areas as we possibly can.”

The first staff forum in the programme will be held on Monday, before the first members’ forum takes place next month, and representatives from Sticky Change reassured the committee that its workshops would be engaging.

Regular updates on the programme will be provided to the staffing committee, which will ‘act as a critical friend’, according to Cllr Arthur Moran, the committee’s chairman.

Cllr Janet Jackson, Labour, added: “It is so important that if anything is raised in these workshops, that it is dealt with in the correct manner.

“I feel that one of the reasons why everything has got to the stage it has is because it hasn’t been dealt with correctly.

“I really want this to work – we all really want it to work.”