I am a transformation and change management professional experienced in working across private and public sectors, the last 8 years of which have been spent in Hampshire County Council’s Children’ Services.My early career saw me working as a manufacturing engineer for organisations within automotive, defence, medical and FMCG supply chains, where I was immersed in Japanese approaches to Supply Chain Development, Just-In-Time and Lean as a philosophy and practice of Continuous Improvement. These techniques still influence the way I think about and solve organisational problems, whether they be large or small.I moved into business improvement consulting in 1993, when I adapted and applied the techniques and skills to help improve the operational effectiveness of service sector businesses. Then in 2003, I co-founded Alexander, the purpose of which was to bring the same approaches to the public sector, which was under-going significant change, including: • Local Government• NHS• Police & Justice• Fire & RescueIn 2015, I joined Hampshire County Council, with a remit to build and lead the internal transformation function (The Transformation Practice). The Practice provides support to the portfolio of programmes in Children’s Services to transforms services, improve outcomes, and reduces costs in a way that is safe and sustainable. We have provided the capability and support to co-design new operating models, service improvement, business case development, programme management, change and benefits management, as well as the PMO.I am a member of Children’s Services senior leadership team, with the lead for transformation, which has included, amongst other things, the fundamental redesign of the social care operating model and resulted in more children staying safely at home (net reduction in CLA) and a significant amount of cost avoided. In 2019, the service was judged Outstanding by Ofsted across all assessment domains.I have a particular passion for the use of data and analytics to support better decision-making and to advance this, I designed and lead a programme to transform the way the directorate collects, analyses, and uses data. The programme is re-platforming data in Azure and has deployed near real time operational dashboards to social work managers.Working with colleagues in Children’s Services has been the most rewarding part of my career to date, and something I want to carry on doing.Thanks for reading Ian Smart