Quality ForumKrakow

20-22 February 2004

Runshaw College’s quality journey – the search for ‘best practice’

business approaches

Context: Privatisation and Public Sector reform

• Transformation from supplier-led to customer focus

• Incorporation (semi-privatisation): market forces, winners and losers, league tables, public inspections, freedom to manage …or to go bust!

• Principles and concepts apply to all organisations

Runshaw’s Achievements

• Beacon College: Best Inspection Report

• Doubled in size 1993-2003

• Success rates 20% above benchmark

• Student satisfaction and staff morale

• Grade A and £10m building spend

• UK and European Quality Award and Leadership Special Prize

Challenges in early 1990’s

• Finance depended on results, i.e.

- recruitment

- retention

- exam success

• Earnings based on quality of service and products

Evaluating our search for ‘best practice’ 1990-3

• Books, consultants, BS5750 (ISO 9000)

• Energy, goodwill, time, money

• Impact on key performance indicators

- recruitment, retention, exams

- funding?

Death by 1000 Management

Initiatives

Empowerment

Stakeholders Mission Statements

Critical Success Factors

Teams

IIP

Performance Management

Briefing

TQM

Process Re-engineering

Environmental Management

Recognition Strategies

Suggestion Scheme

Focus Groups

Benchmarking

Customer Surveys

Statistical Process Control

Communications Systems

What’s next?

• Leyland Trucks experience: +£10m and staff morale

• Consultant’s role

• Where had we been going wrong?

• We made the classic mistake!

The 7 S’s3 HARD S’s

• logical

• technical

• observable

• tools

• techniques

• methodologies

4 “Soft” S’s

• creative

• intuitive

• cultural

STRATEGY SYSTEMS

STRUCTURE

STAFF STYLE

SKILLSSHARED VALUES

The key lessons• Culture management is the key component of

strategic management

• Systems, strategies and structures are not enough

• Shared values, management style, staff culture and skills were missing from all our initiatives

• Culture management is the key component of strategic management

• Find out what culture you have

• Define the culture you want – attitudes, values, motivation, beliefs and behaviour

• Manage your culture ….or others will!

CULTURE CHANGE

How to change and sustain the CULTURE?

What CULTURE do you want?

What is your CULTURE?

STRATEGY = Culture Management

Find out what people think

• External facilitator – honest and open

• ‘Perception gap’ – misconceptions about

- level of ill-feeling and dissatisfaction

- and what is important to staff

• This is ‘normal’ in organisations

‘Legitimate’ criticisms about SMT

• Do not generate commitment

• Do not generate a sense of belonging

• Lack of confidence in the management, e.g. decision-making, direction, vision

• SMT do not care

• SMT misdirect resources

• SMT is not a team

• Middle managers are not managers

Progress from

unrecognised incompetence

to

RECOGNISED

INCOMPETENCE

Four Types of Staff Culture

1. Club culture

2. Role culture

3. Task culture

4. Professional

Criticism revealing the classic defects of a ‘professional’ culture!

• ‘Management is a necessary evil’, i.e. blame, criticism, hostility, cynicism and resistance to change

• ‘Value for money is to be resented’

• ‘Accountability is an affront to professionalism’, i.e. mediocre or poor performance

• ‘Systems are unnecessary bureaucracy’, i.e. non-compliance

• ‘Students and management are an irritation’

So …the two challenges are

1. To win commitment

2. To address the ‘wrong’ attitudes

Staff Culture

What we had High Morale

• Blame, criticism, hostility, cynicism

• Non-compliance

• Absence

• Mediocre performance

• Resistance to change

• Managers keeping their heads down

• Management a ‘necessary evil’

• Professionalism = autonomy

• Quality = ‘paperwork’

• Climate of trust and mutual respect

• Confidence in leaders

• Positive, collaborative, friendly

• High capability through training

• Commitment

• A sense of belonging, excitement and pride: the ‘right spirit’

• Accountability for results

• ‘Service’ is worthwhile- it changes lives

• The ‘great’ teacher: tough and tender

Student Culture

Staff Culture

Leadership

V A L U E S VA

LU

ES

HR ‘STRATEGY’ – THE OPTIONS

Culture-change

• Role model

• Management Style

• Communicate

• Consult/involve/ empower

Macho

• Blame

• Criticism

• Aggression

• Sleaze

• No values

• Autocratic

• Bullying

NOTHING

‘Personnel’

NOT

Human Resources

Management

Ten Strategies

1. Values

2. Define leadership – management style: tough and tender

3. One united management team

4. Establish communications

5. Enable consultation

6. Give recognition

7. Enable staff development

8. Support teamwork

9. Design and use space intelligently

10.Use systems and structures to implement all the above

VALUES

‘The Runshaw Way:

Values Drive Behaviours’

Student Culture

What we had ‘The New Beginning’

• Smoking in entrance

• Sitting on floors

• Litter, graffiti

• Casual absence

• Deadlines missed

• Mediocre standards

• Excuses

• Not taking responsibility

• Fulfil maximum potential – targets

• High standards/ expectations

• Mediocrity not tolerated

• Accountability

• Rigour, discipline, systems & structure

• Grade 1 Student Support

• Going the extra mile – support

• ‘Fun’ – enrichment

• Relationships: respect

• ‘Shock’ and ‘Delight’

T O UGH

TENDER

A Runshaw Person

Not a ‘clone’shared values

Aligned processes

- Selection - career development

- Induction - pay

- Training - communication

- Appraisal - Recognition, etc.Positive

Team player

Initiative

Optimistic

High standards

Structured

Seeks feedback to improve

Caring

Friendly

Enthusiastic

Sensitive

Respects others

Energetic

Creative

Management Style

• Encouraging, praising, recognising, positive feedback, sensitive

• Coach

• Trainer

• Communicator

• Facilitator and organiser - to identify and solve problems

• Provides frameworks and guidance as to their use

• Establishes trust and respect

Management Style (cont’d)

“Tough and tender”

All the above emphasises the supportive, caring side of leadership. It is equally important for leaders to set and maintain standards by

• challenging inaccurate or unfair perceptions

• challenging negative, destructive behaviour in others that flouts our values and undermines our spirit

• managing poor performance, non-compliance and absence

One United Management Team

• Collective responsibility

• Disciplined communications

• Team cohesiveness

• Behaviour at meetings

• Self-regulation of behaviour

We needed a MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM OR MODEL

Customer Focus

Resultsorientation

Public responsibility

Continuous learning, innovation & improvement

People development & improvement

Partnership Development

Management by process and facts

The fundamental concepts of excellence

Leadership & constancy of purpose

Leadership ProcessesKey

PerformanceResults

People

Policy &Strategy

Partnerships &

Resources

Society Results

CustomerResults

PeopleResults

Innovation and learning

Enablers Results

The EFQM Excellence Model

Leadership

Behaviours

Processes

Core

T&L

Assessment

Curriculum design

Student Support

Strategic Planning

QA

Marketing

Financial Management

Information Management

Technology Management

Partnership Management

Equality & Diversity Management

HR

Facilities Management

Support

Processes

Key lessons for ALL ORGANISATIONS

1. A quality journey needs a map and a guide (the right guide)

2. Start with culture

3. Focus on the bottom line

4. Win hearts and minds by using the fundamental concepts

5. Focus on the core processes that will deliver your goals

6. Invest in the Quality Journey – it will repay itself many times over