ICO Transformation Programme
The Context
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) exists to uphold information rights in the public interest. In 2022, the ICO launched its new strategic plan: ICO25. We supported its new strategic plan by helping to develop the ICO’s new target operating model in line with its ICO25 ambition. As the organisation progressed on this journey, it recognised the need for substantial transformation across its processes, people, and technology. This realisation led to the launch of a new programme, developed and managed by Human Engine. It initially focused on assessing risks related to regulatory activities, with the primary goal to strengthen the ICOs response to its highest risk intervention area and improve collaboration among internal teams that supported this work.
As the programme evolved, it expanded into an organisation-wide initiative, supporting all aspects of regulatory activity. This required overcoming entrenched habits within teams resistant to change, addressing outdated legal documentation, resolving inconsistent processes, and tackling siloed working practices. These efforts were critical in fostering the behavioural shifts necessary to improve regulatory effectiveness and achieve the organisation’s transformation goals.
The Requirement
Human Engine was commissioned to manage the transformational change programme in line with ICO 25 and upcoming legislation by supporting the organisation to redesign frameworks and processes and ensure these changes were effectively implemented across all levels of the organisation.
The deliverables were as follows:
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Management of external partners in conducting a regulatory risk review.
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Regular board meetings with executive team members to shape the future state, drive the vision and manage stakeholder expectations.
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Resource mapping to identify and allocate the necessary personnel, tools, and support structures essential for program success.
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Development of a comprehensive programme plan alongside a change management strategy, leading to the creation and implementation of new frameworks, updated processes, requirement gathering to improve understanding of technology and systems, and through implementation, deliver these enhancements across a range of regulatory business areas.
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Development of a maturity assessment ran to identify areas where targeted actions were needed to advance the organisation’s capability.
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Collaboration with the internal communications team and the change manager to support staff through the transformation. Ensuring awareness of the programme’s ambitions, increasing desire for change, ensuring knowledge growth & increase of ability through implementation activities and reinforcement through feedback loops and review points.
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Development of training requirements to equip teams with the skills and knowledge necessary for the smooth adoption of new processes and practices.
The Programme
As part of the work, Human Engine collaborated closely with the transformation and delivery team to establish a structured programme that engaged with other programmes within the portfolio, ensuring dependencies were managed and risks were raised as necessary.
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We mapped ongoing initiatives and identified additional actions needed to align the organisation with its future vision. This approach was critical for ensuring success and reducing duplication.
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Helped the organisation recognise the programme’s broad, cross-departmental scope. This realisation allowed us to adapt the programme effectively to meet organisation-wide needs.
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Managed external suppliers to deliver framework design and develop a new process. By integrating them as part of the team, we held them accountable and ensured their alignment with programme goals.
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Collaborated with teams that were resistant to change by involving them early in discussions. This approach empowered them to actively shape and adopt the new processes they would be using daily.
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We held workshops to establish key principles and refine the strategic approach guiding the programme, ensuring each phase of work aligned with the executive team’s vision and the staff’s day-to-day work.
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We ensured alignment remained consistent through weekly meetings with key ET stakeholders, fostering open communication and a shared understanding of the programme’s direction.
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Commissioned a Theory of Change exercise to align all activities with the programme’s overarching goals. This helped map expected benefits, allowing the team to measure impact over time and confirm that meaningful, envisioned change was achieved.
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Supported a maturity assessment to support a continuous, long-term improvement model for sustained organisational progress.
Throughout the programme, Human Engine worked closely with staff across the ICO in cross-functional workstreams and projects, embodying the future state we were aiming to establish for the organisation. This approach put into practice the essence of cross-collaborative working, allowing us to adapt direction as needed to stay aligned with established objectives while keeping the core issue at the heart of our work. By leveraging our facilitation skills to draw on the ICO’s expertise and organisational knowledge, we ensured that we were able to support those from within the organisation to advance best practices in regulatory.
The Outcomes
We prioritised collaboration with our clients rather than imposing solutions upon them, fostering a partnership that emphasised joint problem-solving and co-creation. By working alongside our clients, we strengthened ownership and commitment to the outcomes, ultimately leading to more sustainable and impactful results.
The work we have undertaken has already begun to successfully bridge the gap between processes, guidance, and practical delivery. This transformation will introduce significant changes for staff, including enhanced prioritisation of critical tasks, improved automation solutions where necessary, and more efficient processes and resource utilisation. Most importantly, it will foster earlier collaboration in regulatory activities, maximising impact in the areas that matter most.
Through the delivery of comprehensive Fining Guidance under the programme, we have significantly mitigated the organisation’s highest risks. By gathering requirements, we gained valuable insights into the systems that require change, and the subsequent process improvements have already reduced workloads and enabled staff to prioritise their caseloads more effectively. The implementation plan we provided is for developing the tools and framework necessary for sustainable change within the ICO, ensuring they are well-equipped to achieve their objectives over time.
Client Feedback
"The thing I most appreciate from the work Human Engine did was the constructive challenge, the ability to make sense and bring structure to complex problems and the sense of team with the collaborative approach to work.
Executive Director of Strategy and Resources
About Us
Human Engine is a Financial Times top-ranked management consultancy with specialisms in strategy, change, digital, commercial and projects.
It was founded in 2018 with a belief that the public sector deserves better than it gets from traditional consulting firms – more human, more personal and more knowledgeable of the reality of delivering modern public services.
We have worked with dozens of public sector organisations to help transform their strategies, operations and cultures to be more agile, commercial and entrepreneurial in order to achieve financial sustainability and improved outcomes for customers and communities.
Our mission is to help individuals and organisations to do the best work of their lives. We do this by blending first-hand experience of the problems we help our clients solve with award-winning consulting expertise and an approach based on trust, collaboration and partnership.
