A year in housing - what I've learned : Housing Digital

As he looks back on his first year in housing, Steve Allcock, director of ICT, Data, and Digital at Johnnie Johnson Housing, reflects on joining a completely new industry during a global pandemic, his perception of the sector and how it has changed, and the areas on which we should all be focused going forward

I can’t quite believe it’s been a year since I joined Johnnie Johnson Housing (JJH). For those unfamiliar with JJH, we specialise in independent living for the over-55s, enabling our residents to live longer and better lives across our communities within the north-west and north-east of England as well as Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

Joining any new organisation in a new industry in the middle of a global pandemic can sound daunting, but I had a really good feeling about this new chapter in my career, right from the start. There were several reasons that really excited and impressed me during the interview process.

The way the various interview stages were conducted allowed me to fully understand the company I was joining. Attending an assessment day and being interviewed by peers, direct reports, and even residents was a fantastic way to get to know the people, the culture, challenges, and opportunities ahead.

By comparison, the more traditional competency based interviews I’d attended didn’t give me any great sense of what was on offer. It didn’t give me the confidence that the job was for me, as much as I was right for the job

Having learnt the ropes and climbed the ranks in multiple sectors, more recently financial services, I’ve learnt how challenging a regulated sector can be. However, the proactive and #oneteam culture is infectious at JJH, so I’m extremely pleased to say that the company and wider sector has both impressed and inspired me.

To WFH or not WFH – that is the question

As you would expect, it came naturally to me to work remotely from day one using tech, but I soon realised that not everyone was finding the experience of working from home so pleasing. As well as doing the usual round of introductions and getting to know my colleagues, my first task was to assess whether we could make flexible working a permanent feature across the business– regardless of COVID.

The company has aspired to adopt this operating model for some years, but the people, systems, and timing had to be right. The pandemic accelerated this debate and placed it firmly at the top of the list.

With the help of a virtual team of colleagues from all four corners of the company, we set about to understand what worked well and not so well for colleagues, as well as what our future work home could look like. This proved to be an amazing opportunity and learning curve for me.

We collected more than 500 pieces of feedback and ideas from colleagues and filtered them down to over 60 tangible initiatives that we could deliver to make working life better for colleagues – which subsequently benefits our residents. Ideas ranged from providing additional digital upskilling, upgrading IT equipment, training in time-management and productivity, as well as creating our new Innovation Hub for collaboration in a post-pandemic world.

Having surveyed our colleagues on a number of occasions since the start of the pandemic, we’re very confident that the vast majority of our colleagues are happy with adopting a hybrid working model, with three-to-four days at home and the rest in our new COVID-secure Innovation Hub – which went live in March.

Sponsoring this important piece of work for the business really allowed me to understand the diverse nature of work that goes on. It also reminded me of an important fact: everyone is equal, but not everyone has equal circumstances. We’re all different, and there is no one-size-fits-all when addressing cultural change.

Reflections on the sector

What really impresses me about the housing sector is the desire to collaborate and the conscious and caring nature of our work. It’s extremely refreshing to work in an industry that puts the customer before profits and is always looking at ways to reinvest and give back for the benefit of others.

I’ve been very lucky to really dive right into the industry and guest-speak at numerous events during the pandemic, to showcase what we’re doing and network with peers across the sector.

What strikes me when I think about all conversations I’ve had in the sector is that we’re all striving toward creating the same great experiences, being trusted and caring housing providers who genuinely want to make a difference.

This non-competitive trait is something we should really try to capitalise on. There are some great examples of collaboration taking place, but there is a risk of focusing on problems instead of solutions. If we can focus groups and forums on specific subjects that aim to tackle challenges one by one with experts across the sector, we stand a much better chance of driving value.

My perception is that we have all responded quickly and adapted well to the pandemic this last year. Of course there have been challenges, but generally speaking we have all managed to support residents and deliver various initiatives during a very challenging year.

I think we should all be really proud of what we’ve achieved and how we’ve all coped.

Technology in housing

Every business in every sector is always trying to catch up to the latest technology trends. The pandemic massively accelerated this race and exposed the gap.

When I first joined JJH, I did some tech research to understand the scope of solutions that could benefit residents in their schemes and homes. When you start to explore AI, Bots, IoT, SMART Tech, mHealth, and TEC, you realise just how vast and overwhelming the possibilities are.

Thinking back to my late grandmother, she had a wearable pendant and a telecare system in her home, but she hated the stigma attached to it. She felt as though it labelled her and took away some of her independence. We all know that is not the purpose of this type of technology enables care (TECS), but I suspect this is not a unique perception.

“It’s extremely refreshing to work in an industry that puts the customer before profits and is always looking at ways to reinvest and give back”

Education, promotion, and assurance in technology available to support is something that needs to be improved. We’ve come a long way in this space since the start of the pandemic, but there is always more to be done.

Due to the complex landscape that technology has to offer, the easiest way to outline what we’re trying to deliver for residents is a seamless and integrated set of solutions that blends with their home and is effortless to use.

Friends and family of those more vulnerable want technology to help give them assurance and keep them informed. As responsible landlords, we should want to harness the insight from these solutions to help us customise and improve the service we offer.

My colleagues at Astraline have done some great work in some of these areas and continue to work across the sector to offer the latest digital care services to many different local authorities and housing associations – including our teams in JJH.

As well as horizon-scanning for the latest tech, the gap in our IT infrastructure, equipment, internal skills, and capabilities also needs filling. That’s why we cannot afford to cut corners in our IT investment and our digital skills and training.

The key to navigating the treasure trove of tech is to really listen to what residents want, invest in our data, and design solutions that meet customer expectations and keep them safe.

Data and change

Everything we do in business is for our customers and to improve their experience. The only way we understand their perceptions or expectations is through accurate and reliable data.

My observation is that many housing associations, including us, need to invest in data skills and capabilities to help build a 360 picture of our residents. Having this view will help change and transform our offers and services in a customer-centric way. Reliable data is the best way to make us all fit for the future and appealing to future generations.

The challenge is that data is often seen as a by-product, and not enough effort is made to integrate and translate it. This causes data to be unstructured, unmanaged, and poorly utilised. This is not unique to housing, and I believe what we all need is a data management framework (DMF) that is engrained in our culture, processes, and decision-making.

The customer experience

The art of creating customer segmentation, designing personas, and mapping customer journeys is nothing new. Many businesses have been doing it for years now, but this is an asset and methodology that needs focus and maturity in housing.

At its core, CX (customer experience) covers the emotions, opinions, and interactions with our business. Our CX spans our end-to-end resident journey, from discovering our brands through to leaving our properties.

If we can create accurate views of our residents’ experience and layer in qualitative data, then we can help pin-point where investment and improvement is needed.

Driving cultural change

I used to wonder why I care so much about people and culture when my area of responsibility is technology. The answer is actually pretty simple: digital transformation is just cultural change by another name. When you change technology, you have to factor in the human touch.

According to the Harvard Business Review in May 2020, “Digital Transformation is about talent and not technology.” Simply, putting people first and investing in skills and capabilities need to be at the heart of any technology investment.

So, how do we change culture to be more digital and customer focused? Sadly, there is no quick fix. It’s a journey and no individual business will be the same.

That said, here are some areas that I feel passionate about and which can help drive the right kind of behavior to bring about change:

Encourage new ideas – Allow people to be curious explorers who have confidence to share
Empower and equip people to work autonomously – Accept that mistakes may happen and that we can learn from them
Remove barriers and red-tape – Make change feel effortless (the only ‘change monster’ is the one we have created)
Create a healthy sense of urgency – Talk about the cost of ‘not’ changing, instead of always thinking about the long-term benefit
Recognise, reward, and celebrate success – People are your greatest asset, so celebrate every win (it might only be a small change, but it could have a massive impact on your customers)

My team and I spend a lot of our time working with our People and Operational Development colleagues because our work is so intrinsically linked. We haven’t completely cracked the culture nut just yet, but this is certainly an ongoing area of focus for us.

We’re witnessing a digital revolution right now, and it’s incumbent on us all to harness this opportunity and take our people and residents on the journey with us.

There is no better opportunity, and I’m extremely proud and excited to be part of it.

Main image: Steve Allcock, director of ICT, Data, and Digital, Johnnie Johnson Housing

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A year in housing – what I’ve learned