Mark Lawrie looks at how councils can learn from successful private sector mergers when it comes to changing their own organisations
Local government minister, Phil Woolas, says he expects to see £204m a year  in savings from  reorganisation, which should go directly into frontline services and lower council tax bills.
Looking closely at the options available to the proposed new unitary councils, it sounds a simple proposition, when defined by central government.
But once we take into account the unique circumstances of the various local authorities and the differing skill-sets available, it becomes clear that the new unitaries are going to have to put in place very complex post-merger integration projects to make it work.
In the private sector, however, extracting benefit from merger and acquisition is common place, and stands at the centre of shareholder and stock market expectations. 
Corporates regularly undertake major change and integration projects, and a significant body of experience, both good and bad, exists that could prove invaluable to local government.
So, rather than pale at the scale of the task ahead, perhaps local government should seek to make the most of the experience and best practice which already exists, to move forward.
Not surprisingly, the most common errors in private sector projects will also be very familiar to those making transformation a reality in the public sector – inaccurate information, lack of planning, lack of alignment at the top of the organisation, poor change leadership skills, failure to communicate, focus on the internal politics rather than on going operations and, most worryingly, the customers who sit forgotten at the bottom of the list. These all need to be addressed.
Experience has shown that success in complex change environments – regardless of the sector in which they occur – is secured by focus in three key areas...

Clarity of purpose
Establish the principles on which people can commit to the project by building and then communicating a vision for the new authority, including a clear rationale for change and clarity of expected outcomes.
Check everyone is on board before departing before day one, build a ‘blueprint' for the merger which describes top-level organisational structure, and identifies the sources of benefit and how they will be released. In particular, focus should be on what will be delivered within the first 100 days. Stakeholders will be impatient. Aim to deliver something material within each 100-day milestone.

Control
It is often said ‘you get what you measure'. Performance metrics are critical during the transition period.
Alllocate your best people to managing the programme, and pay particular attention to the selection of a programme manager.
Work with elected members to ensure that, when necessary, decisions can be made quickly.

Managing people and change
Mergers will increase uncertainty and ambiguity for all stakeholders. It will always come down to ‘what this means for me?' For elected members, it is about political control of the new organisation. For staff, it is about new roles and harmonisation of human resource policy. And for the public, it is only about the quality and cost of the new model.
Decide how you will influence the culture of the new organisation and what it will feel like when you have finished.
Communication is the key.

Creating a new local authority and managing the transition from old to new will be an undertaking which most of those involved will only be asked to do once in their careers. Harmonising people, processes and technology will require outstanding leadership and overdue recognition for the fledgling professions – programme leadership and change management.
These are key to making a success of the integrations which are now being planned, and if they are done well, then local government stands to benefit enormously.
But, of course, it's not just the ‘leading 16' of proposed unitaries which stand to benefit. Every local authority is tasked with delivering improvement in customer service, and to meet the proposed 3% cashable efficiency savings required by the Treasury from 2008-2011.
Understanding the experience, both good and bad, accumulated by the private sector as it fought to liberate the benefits from major change programmes, could just make the difference to local government as it faces one of its most significant challenges. 
Mark Lawrie is local government partner at Deloitte Touche