One world, one nation, one vision

Back in 1985, Freddie Mercury mapped out the future for the British government’s overseas operations. “All we need is one worldwide vision,” the Queen frontman sang, praising “a glimpse of hope and unity, and visions of one sweet union.” What’s required is “one nation,” he added. “Yeah! One vision.”

In pursuit of Freddie’s idea, the government in 2011 launched its ‘One Government Overseas’ initiative – AKA ‘1HMG’. Under the programme, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office is sharing its overseas estate with other departments – including the Department for International Development and Ministry of Defence, as well as arm’s-length bodies such as the British Council. The aims are to foster collaboration, eradicate duplication, simplify logistics, and show the world a united government face. And according to Matthew Rycroft, the FCO’s chief operating officer, it also produces cash savings: “All parts of the government are under pressure to make every taxpayer’s pound go as far as possible, and the joining up agenda is a contribution to that – making sure that we get as much bang for our buck as we possibly can,” he says.

The colocation element of 1HMG, he adds, is “pretty much done”: while the office moves haven’t been completed yet, “it’s all agreed in principle”. The FCO’s global network now provides a platform for around 4,000 staff, representing 26 departments and other bodies, in 159 of its 268 posts around the world.

Moving a multitude of different organisations onto one platform is not a straight-forward undertaking. Rycroft admits that there are “lots of challenges”, including that of scale: it’s a big project with fairly tight deadlines. And Andrew Bedforth, head of strategic customer relations at FCO Services – a trading fund which provides services for overseas government bodies – points out it’s made more complex because those involved “all require something a little bit different.”

One such difference is illustrated by Robin Johnson, head of overseas operations at Visit Britain – which has increased the number of its overseas offices shared with the FCO from five to 21 in just three years. “Technology has been a bit of a challenge,” he says, referring to the lack of fast internet in many embassy buildings. Due to this shortcoming, he adds, “we’ve had to upgrade the systems”. In most cases, though, the FCO paid: it was, Johnson adds, something “they needed to do regardless and we just provided that catalyst to move it forward”. Rycroft agrees that IT has been problematic, given that many departments’ systems “don’t talk to each other”. He does want to tackle that, but a solution is “still a long way off”.

Another awkwardness about sharing space with the FCO lies in its office locations – as Jane Beecroft, regional head Africa, Middle East and South Asia at the British Council, tells CSW. “The people we work with are quite often a different sort of target group from the people with whom the FCO and other parts of government would work, because we focus very much on youth audiences,” she says. Sometimes, she adds, the British Council needs to be in “another part of town” – one with schools and colleges, for example, well away from the quieter diplomatic quarter.

Besides these practical obstacles, Rycroft points to the cultural challenge of getting various individual bodies onto the same page. The solution lies in good commucation, he adds: “There are some differences between different departments on how much autonomy and identity they want to have. It’s important that we’re not talking about taking over the [departments’] identities, but just about organising them in a more effective way. But there should be space for all the different parts of the government to have an identity and to celebrate the diversity of the different parts of the British effort.” The programme, he says, has “taken account of the fact that there are different cultures and traditions in different parts of the government”.

Probably the most significant difference between the FCO’s requirements and those of most other government bodies is in the level of security. “In some posts, we’re not allowed to take mobile phones into the building unless they’re security cleared,” Johnson says. “In a normal working environment in the private sector, that would be absolutely crazy.” For the British Council, though, the high security standards are an advantage. In places like Kabul, Beecroft says, “it would be too difficult for us to create the level of security needed”; it would “not be able to function unless we were part of 1HMG”.

Even where tight security measures create a problem, says Johnson, “the benefits far outweigh the cons”. Sharing back office and support services also means splitting the bills, producing big savings. As FCO Services’ Bedforth explains: “People worked in four or five different buildings before, so there was a need for us to do a higher amount of repetitive work. Working in one building means we do the same quality but we have to do less volume; there is a saving there.”
The proximity created by sharing offices also leads very naturally to better partnership working between government bodies. “We collaborate on all sorts of things – from visits, through to looking at the whole UK strategy in individual countries and making sure that what we do aligns with what the FCO and UK Trade and Investment is planning,” Beecroft says. “Having 1HMG means that all the different elements are more actively seeking to run together and make sure they’re looking at the UK as one effort rather than in pieces.”

Increased collaboration between agencies overseas has also helped to create one common message when promoting Britain abroad, replacing the previous – and occasionally discordant – chorus of voices. Unity of message, he adds, is key to any successful marketing campaign: “Whichever aspect of Britain any government agency is promoting overseas – education, trade, investment or tourism – there is now one key brand across the piece.” Rycroft describes this as a “reputational benefit” of “being joined up and being part of a single coherent whole”.

Johnson also highlights the “intangible benefits” of simply being surrounded by people who would previously have worked miles away. It boosts morale and enables those famous “watercooler conversations”, he says, so issues can be discussed when people “bump into each other” instead of by scheduling in meetings. This, Rycroft says, is one of the “softer benefits” of 1HMG, boosting morale within a workforce now much more likely to see itself as “part of a single team”.

The opportunity to hold impromptu conversations with people representing a multitude of departments and bodies means relationships are continuously “strengthened”, Rycroft says. Beecroft does, though, inject a note of caution: managers have to make a specific effort to capitalise on the advantages of colocation. “1HMG is a great idea but, ultimately, if people don’t get on it’s not going to work. It’s all about building those relationships locally,” she says. “The question is: could you do all these things without 1HMG? And the answer is: yes, I’m sure you could.” Still, she adds that 1HMG is a helpful step in the right direction, and applies a “more systematic approach” to Britain’s effort overseas.

Meanwhile, the programme moves on apace. Out of 28 DfID offices, 24 are already colocated, and two more moves – in Nepal and Nigeria – are planned for 2016. Beecroft does, however, raise one concern: the current agreement over how much organisations pay the Foreign Office to share their facilities is due to come to an end in March 2015, and the FCO’s proposed new prices are, she says, some 500% higher than current charges. This would put them “way above any commercial rate”, she comments. “If that doesn’t change radically, we as a smaller organisation would have to consider moving out”. Johnson too says that a hike has been proposed and that, if rates go up to the point where it becomes “commercially uncompetitive for us, we will have to review our position”.

While the FCO has declined to comment on on-going negotiations, Rycroft dismisses talk of a 500% increase. Under the current agreement, he says, FCO covers just its costs; an FCO spokesman notes that “we are negotiating a revised cost recovery system to come into effect from April 2015. This will be built on the key agreed principles of fairness and simplicity, but not at the expense of incentivising 1HMG teamworking overseas.”

Bringing government bodies together might not be a revolutionary idea, but it’s one that has all kinds of benefits. Key amongst these is the advantage of reduced costs for Britain’s various overseas arms, and the FCO must now be careful not to scupper progress: a big hike in fees could not only halt further colocations, but create resentment among bodies that have invested in office moves into FCO accommodation. And that would disappoint many – including, of course, the ghost of Freddie Mercury. As he warned back in 1985, “But a cold wind blows, and a dark rain falls, and in my heart it shows – look what they’ve done to my dreams!”

Read more: FCO reassures partners over 1HMG fee hike