Photo of Luton DDaT Director, Atika Mohammed, talking to the service at our Quarterly Connect session.
On 8 June, we (DDaT) were joined by our colleagues from Customer Services and Transformation for our latest Quarterly Connect – a session focused on strengthening connections, sharing progress, and shaping the future of how we work together.
Collectively, these services have a shared purpose with us: improving how we work together.
The session opened with a reminder of why these connects matter. As our teams continue to grow and evolve, we recognise that many colleagues still don’t have the opportunity to work closely together day to day.
This quarterly connect is part of a wider shift—moving beyond siloed updates towards more meaningful engagement, shared understanding, and collaboration across services.
We also reflected on feedback from recent monthly meetings, using this to:
- shape a more focused agenda,
- move away from repeated team updates
- spotlight key initiatives
- creating space for conversations
Leadership update: supporting our people through change
A key part of the session was an update on the DDaT restructure, including revised timelines and a commitment to ensuring colleagues are supported throughout the consultation process. This includes:
- extended consultation time to reflect summer holidays
- both formal and informal opportunities to engage and ask questions
- dedicated sessions for managers to ensure they feel confident supporting their teams
Alongside this, we also highlighted the launch of SkillStats for DDaT, helping colleagues better understand their skills and shape their development conversations.
Recognising the people who make a difference
An important moment in the session was celebrating our Star of the Month nominees, recognising colleagues who consistently demonstrate the council’s CARES values.
Across the nominations, a number of themes stood out:
- a strong commitment to collaboration and teamwork
- colleagues going above and beyond to support others
- a willingness to learn, share knowledge, and develop others
- quiet leadership and reliability during challenging periods
This recognition reinforces the culture we are building. A culture where support, ambition and empowerment are lived values, not just words.
Strengthening connections: coffee and Chat
To support this further, we introduced a new initiative: coffee and chat, a regular informal session designed to help colleagues get to know each other better.
This is something I am personally committing to holding monthly. As a large service area, we don’t get to really know people outside of who we interact with regularly, and I believe personal connection are an important part of respecting and working together.
This reflects a wider ambition to:
- create more informal, human connections across DDaT
- break down barriers between teams
- build a culture where people feel comfortable reaching out and collaborating
Aligning to sector best practice: Local Government Digital Standard
We also explored the emerging Local Government Digital Standard (name TBC), developed for us by Dave Briggs, to make the Government Digital Standard more applicable to councils.
The standard focuses on five core principles, including:
- designing around user needs
- ensuring services are accessible and simple to use
- building multi-disciplinary teams
- using the right technology effectively
- continuously measuring and improving performance
Importantly, this isn’t about compliance. It’s about embedding better digital ways of working as part of everyday practice, with a focus on learning and continuous improvement.
Show and Tell: sharing what good looks like
A highlight of the session was our show and tell segments, showcasing practical examples of innovation and delivery across the team.
This is another new introduction for us as a service, getting comfortable with working in the open and sharing things as we go along, not just when the final product is ready.
Making the most of our digital tools
We explored how tools like Power Platform are enabling teams to:
- build apps quickly using low-code solutions
- automate processes and reduce manual effort
- turn data into actionable insights through visualisation
One example demonstrated was a booking system solution, designed to make processes easier to manage, improve visibility, and provide better insights through reporting.
The second show and tell was on our new complaints system, being built to replace our current case management system. An early demo of what has been built so far already demonstrated the improvements in user experience and functionality.
Enabling modern ways of working
We also heard about:
- the Digital Champions programme, supporting better adoption of Microsoft 365 and helping colleagues work more effectively, launching on 1 June 2026 (with a waffle bar!)
- planned meeting room technology upgrades, including real-time booking systems and pilot rooms to gather feedback before wider rollout
These initiatives reflect a clear direction: using technology not just to enable services, but to improve the day-to-day experience of our workforce.
Improving our working environment
Another key focus was on improving our physical workspace for the DDaT team, recognising the role environment plays in collaboration and productivity.
Whilst we are working within the constraints of being in the basement of a (beautiful) Victorian Town Hall, the approach is deliberately co-designed, with plans to:
- gather input from teams on requirements
- review layouts to better support collaboration and focus
- improve equipment, facilities, and office usability
- introduce elements like desk booking and clearer shared etiquette
This is about creating a workspace that is inclusive, functional and aligned to how we actually work today.
Improving onboarding and how we welcome new colleagues
We also heard about work to enhance the DDaT onboarding experience, with a clearer, more structured approach across the first two weeks, covering both culture and engagement.
This ensures new colleagues:
- understand how DDaT operates
- feel connected to the team early
- have access to the tools, processes, and communities they need
Bringing it all together
The session closed with time to connect, reflect, and continue conversations informally, reinforcing that everything we’re building relies on strong relationships as much as strong technology.
An informal bring and share lunch demonstrated the generosity of the teams, as we had far too much food, but managed to make quite the dent in it! Unfortunately we were so engrossed in eating, we only managed to take two photographs of the DDaT gathering!
Photo of Ben McCartney, Head of Workplace Experience for Luton DDaT, presenting the latest information about our Digital Champions programme.
Looking ahead
This Quarterly Connect demonstrated the progress we are making—not just in delivering digital services, but in how we work together as a community.
Across all the sessions, a consistent message emerged:
We are not just delivering digital change—we are building a more connected, collaborative and user-focused organisation.
As we move forward, our focus remains on:
- Embedding modern digital ways of working
- Supporting our people through change
- Creating space for collaboration and innovation
- And continuing to learn, share and improve together
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