The Workforce Development Programme

Claire WinfieldDirector of Consultancy

9th June 2010

The work

• Focus on developing a learning and development framework for Self Directed Support

• ‘Workforce’ approach (in its widest sense)• Representatives from Croydon, Hackney,

Hartlepool, Leeds and Lincolnshire (TT areas)• Drawing on expertise and experience of HR,

L&D and Operational management

The process

• Based on the In Control Jigsaw Framework

• Considering:o What needs to be

known/done?o Who needs to know it?o What ideas for learning

and development?o What is already

available?

Looking at what’s happened so far…

Moving on from the pilots…

• Thinking about who else needed to be involved

• Thinking about what they need to know

• Thinking about ‘system’ change

• Conscious about resources and making best use of what’s there

Supporting people to understand where they ‘fit’

• It is a big change – we need people to know what it is we are asking them to do and why

• People need to understand the principles and general process (the 7 steps) to start to figure out what stays the same and what needs to change

• Think broadly – elected members, other departments, people and families, community groups…

Skills development and learning

• Be clear about who needs what (does the day centred worker really need to know how the RAS was produced?)

• Build on what’s there and already working• Don’t just teach a process (or a pro-forma!)

develop the skills (e.g. - person centred thinking tools for Support Plans and review)

‘Just because you trained for something doesn’t mean you’re prepared.’

(Anonymous)

• Use your learning to inform future development (what works and what doesn’t)

Principles and local practice

• Local ‘workforce’ need local detail and understanding, but…

• Relate local procedure/practice/pro-forma back to the principles of SDS – it’s a transformation we want not just a tweak to what we do now

• Tell stories to reinforce learning – local is good!

Learning and sharing with others

• Defining the workforce – who do we mean?

• Thinking widely about who but also how to involve people not traditionally seen as ‘the workforce’

• Avoid working in silos• Things are changing - it’s

better to plan ahead than play catch-up (e.g. training for P.A’s)

Making the links and building the bridges

• People aren’t necessarily used to being invited ‘in’ – you will need to be clear about why you’re bothering

• SDS brings the capacity to build stronger communities, so everyone has a lot to gain

• ‘Universal services’ means everyone, but they might need some support to realise this…

Promoting the new workforce arrangements

• Advertising a new training programme for SDS, on its own, won’t work and make the transformation real

• Workforce development needs to be part of the wider strategy with clear links to other parts of the transformation

• Operational/implementation and HR/Training and Development need to work together to make sure that any training offered ‘fits the bill’

• Look for leaders everywhere and use them well!

(P. Senge – ‘The Fifth Discipline’ 1990)

Developing the workforce to do things differently

• People need to be able to see/try what they learn (get rid of things that get in the way)

• Link learning to follow up and to other systems (e.g. supervision, appraisal, meetings)

• Review what you do and learn and develop as you go along

• Demonstrate the changes and celebrate them!

Remember – culture change comes last, not first

‘Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.’Aristotle

A few positive things in workforce development…

Provider development – SDS awareness train the trainer.

• Providers taking part in a transformation programme identify a few committed people to ‘spread the word’

• Trainers get basic instruction on training and are given practical ‘tools’ (including slides, notes and exercises)

• The trainers deliver a range of messages from short team meeting presentations to half day session with people and families using their services

People and families developing their P.A’s

• Group of people and families coming together to set up training for their staff, based on what they identified as important

• 3 days focused on Values and beliefs, communication, and doing what matters

• Underpinned by person centred planning tools and practical support for the P.A’s

Developing people and communities

• Local Authority investing in volunteers to provide a support planning and brokerage role for people with a budget

• Promoting creativity and learning from results

Developing Care Mangers

• Local Authorities providing training and development opportunities for CM’s to explore SDS and what it means for them

• Focus on practical implications and systems but also on values and principles

• Underpinning practical skills and tools to use in transition to SDS

Finally…

• Tell stories and celebrate success – it’s powerful stuff!

‘Any training that does not include the emotions, mind and body is incomplete;

knowledge fades without feeling.’(Anonymous)

Workshop 1

Workforce:

What will a transformed local authority workforce look like, and what help do local authorities now need?

Flash forward….

• You have been taken forward in time. SDS is really embedded and there are lots of stories about people being supported in lots of different ways.

• What does the workforce look like and what training and development do they need?

With a focus on the LA workforce:

1. What have you tried?2. What have you learned?3. What are you pleased about?4. What are you concerned about?5. Given what you now know, what next?

Workshop 2

Beyond the local authority workforce

• What do you currently do to engage the wider ‘workforce’ and/or the community in learning and development?

• What challenges does SDS bring?

• What are you doing to meet these challenges?

• What help and support do you now need?

• ‘Obstacles are those frightening things that become visible when we take our eyes off our goals’ (Henry Ford)