Evaluation of West Midlands Team Leader Development Programme for Cohort 3

Transcription

1 Evaluation of West Midlands Team Leader Development Programme for Cohort 3 1

2 April 2016 Evaluation of Team Manager Leadership Training Programme by Cohort 3 Purpose of Programme It is recognised that the role and expectations of Team Managers is changing, within the context of an environment where local authorities are subjected to continuing pressures, diminishing resources and organizational reform. Within this context Team Managers require both effective leadership skills and the ability to work creatively to deliver services that are good quality, cost effective and can evidence good outcomes for children. They need to embrace both a strategic understanding of the priorities and demands of their service area, within the overall objectives of the authority, and demonstrate operational competence and efficiency in delivering positive outcomes. The purpose of the Team Manager Leadership Training Programme is to begin to equip managers with the skills to take up this challenge. Specific Objectives of Programme The specific objectives and intended outcomes of the Programme, as specified in the tender, are integrated through the eight modules but particular focus on the individual objectives were addressed in the modules as indicated below: Team managers will become inspired, confident and knowledgeable about their role in their organization, from both a strategic and operational perspective (Modules 1 & 7) Participants will be able to provide high quality management and leadership at the front line and communicate effectively the needs of the services to inform strategic priorities and service development (Modules 2 & 4) The programme will enable participants to deliver scrutiny and challenge of child focused planning, demonstrating and evidencing an outcomes approach in child protection and other plans and reviews (Module 2) The programme will ensure that the child is central to decision making and that the voice of the child is evident in service design and delivery (throughout) Team Managers will understand what good looks like the characteristics of the most effective practice at the front line, in supervision and professional development, and assessment. Any case studies or specific models will be relevant to participants on this programme (Module 3) Team Managers will explore quality assurance of practice in the context of the child s journey; understanding and using performance and management data; developing and managing a quality assurance approach within teams (Module 4) Participants will be encouraged and enabled to develop a systems leadership approach understanding personal leadership styles, leading 2

3 effectively within the complexities of the whole system, and using influence across boundaries and hierarchies (Speakers and Module 7) The programme will encourage Team Managers to take end to end responsibility for business and shared responsibility for outcomes (the strategic or helicopter view) and develop resource conscious decision making ensuring decisions about, for example placements are in the best interests of the child, as well as cost effective (Modules 2 & 4) Putting it all in one place leadership, influence and change management with resilience and emotional intelligence (Modules 6 & 8) Line Manager Evaluation An aim of the programme is to ensure that the learning links back to each Local Authority and this was achieved by line managers of participants attending the first module where structure, objectives and content of the programme was shared. In addition specific outcomes for the participant were agreed, using coaching techniques, with the line manager. Seven of the line managers of cohort 3 attended the first module and evaluated their experience in terms of the following objectives: The workshop has given me an opportunity to understand the objectives of the programme It was useful to reflect on the role and expectations of the Team Manager role and what a good manager looks like I understand the principles and application of a coaching approach It was useful to be involved in working with my Manager to identify their specific learning outcomes All of the line managers either strongly agreed or agreed with all the above statements. In addition the following comments were volunteered: Excellent facilitators. Clear and concise in their delivery. Very knowledgable I felt the day was very useful and stimulated my thinking. I am pleased I made the effort to attend I have recently undertaken a Personal Leadership Course and have identified some similar themes which is reassuring and positive Very good thanks for inviting me this will help me to support my manager and it reminds me of principles etc and my coaching role Enjoyable, useful and nice to reflect on role I anticipate my manager will gain a lot from the programme and I look forward to hearing more about it and in supporting her development 3

4 Line managers were also invited to the presentation delivered by Harry Ferguson and it was hoped that this would further engage them in the process. Unfortunately none of the managers were able to attend. Evaluation of Modules 1 and 2 by Participants Twenty-two Team Managers attended Modules 1 and 2 with apologies received from two Managers. They evaluated the objectives of these modules according to a five stage scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The evaluations are shown below: The workshop has given me an opportunity to reflect on the expectations and role of a Team Manager I now have a clearer vision of what a good Team Manager and leader looks like I understand the principles and application of a coaching approach I have identified the learning outcomes I would like to focus on during this programme I understand the use of Socratic questioning to increase challenge and scrutiny I understand the principles of defensible decision making in the context of a resource conscious environment Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

5 18 Sessions 1 & Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree The workshop has given me an opportunity to reflect on the expectations and role of a Team Manager I now have a clearer vision of what a good Team Manager and leader looks like I understand the principles and application of a coaching approach I have identified the learning outcomes I would like to focus on during this programme I understand the use of Socratic questioning to increase challenge and scrutiny I understand the principles of defensible decision making in the context of a resource conscious environment 5

6 Participants identified the impact of their learning on their practice as follows: I will look at how I sat nav (or not) my managers comments in my own supervision and ask for feedback. I will check out up to date research in practice for residential services While I was aware of some of the content I had forgotten some of the learning that would have benefitted me over recent months. Therefore I am going to reintroduce some of the useful techniques I will make the social worker do the thinking and give more time for me to listen and guide them to make decisions I will discuss the learning in my supervision and try to encourage my manager to adopt a more coaching style I will use the so what? question and look into Socratic questioning for use in supervision I will put some of what I have learnt into action particularly with my staff in making decision and thinking for themselves more I will talk with my line manager about my learning outcomes and will measure progress. It has stimulated me to think where I am going The techniques will enable clearer decision making and draw out rationale Improve ability to give different strategies for managing staff I will not be a sat nav manager. Think what?, so what?, what now? I will use the wheel of life, and coaching in my practice. I will look further into Socratic questioning It will influence my approach to supervision and I will push my workers to think more for themselves. Will clarify decision making I will experiment with staff asking different probing questions and I will follow up with my line manager in supervision Coaching is going to be the main area to work on for me as a front line manager Use of practical tools with managers and social workers to develop self sufficient and more independent social workers 6

7 The following more general comments were volunteered: Enjoyed the learning and interested in the next episodes and what that might open up for me I feel completely refreshed and rejuvenated. Hopefully it will help with my confidence building and I will research more especially brain development I thought Karen was a fabulous facilitator and her knowledge was evident The training today has been well structured and well delivered which has made it both interesting and informative and relevant to current practice. Very enjoyable Really enjoyed the day Enjoyed the course today. Thank you. Content excellent and skillful delivery I am going to advise Senior Managers of the value of the course for Practice Managers. It has been a great help today Really useful and enjoyable day. I look forward to the rest of the programme Enjoyable/thought provoking/refreshed passion for social work and learning Informative and thought provoking. Well delivered. Trainers very knowledgeable and kept interest Very useful training. Inspiring. Thank you Extremely helpful for my role and will also influence how I support social workers to do assessments with the tools Very well presented I ve attended many courses/training etc and disabilities are never (or very little) mentioned. It s excellent that disability issues were raised within the modules today Extremely helpful for my role 7

8 Evaluation of Modules 3 and 4 by Participants Twenty-one Team Managers attended Modules 3 and 4 with apologies received from three Managers. The evaluations are shown below: The workshop has given me an opportunity to continue to reflect on my role as a Team Manager Strongly Agree 15 3 I now have a clearer vision of what good looks like 3 15 Consideration of best practice models will help my thinking about how to improve my service The opportunity to share quality assurance models is helpful in my thinking about how to monitor and improve practice The workshop has given me a framework and time to reflect on my goals as a Team Manager The framework introduced and discussion will assist me in having difficult conversations The techniques introduced and discussions are relevant to my role 14 4 Agree Neutral Participants indicated they would do the following differently as a consequence of the workshop: I will set clearer goals for my team and be more skillful in monitoring achievement I will use action plans to greater effect Not give answers all the time encourage workers to do their own thinking! Utilise a better questioning approach using achor principles and the principles of coaching Use the difficult conversation framework I will look at where challenges to practice can be made and how to address these more effectively with both staff and senior managers and how to put in actions/goals to achieve this 8

9 Approach the problem early and record it. Not ignore poor practice Clearer about difficult conversations after reflecting upon discussions with parents and the comparison Ensure that I collect evidence to support my points when having difficult conversations Be more confident in initiating difficult conversations and how to manage the discussion so it is clear I will practice my difficult conversations and ensure I do not provide too much of my support will focus on service delivery! Re-foucs stick to the facts The difficult conversations exercise and supporting documents and discussions challenged my thinking and it was valuable to share strategies and experiences I ll be more prepared I ll be clearer in how I approach both goal setting and difficult conversations I will be better at showing my team what good is The positive impact on practice was identified as follows: I will challenge poor practice more effectively and I have a clearer idea of what I should be monitoring to know how well my team are functioning Increase my confidence when managing difficult situations I ll have more time to do my work. It will enable social workers to develop professionally and will build relationships between team members Gain a clearer and more informed understanding of issues before decision making It s helpful to reflect with the group around difficult questions. Refreshing and nice to know I m not the only one experiencing issues Clarity for staff where there are capability issues Hopefully this will bring about some changes to make things more effective including putting in new strategies to address current issues and to challenge other views and thoughts 9

10 Further confidence in relation to difficult conversations and challenging poor practice due to comparing this with conversations with families and drawing on past experience Support social workers in the team to identify their goals and develop action plans More assertive management techniques I will be able to manage on a range of complex situations and will manage more effectively I have more confidence and clarity in managing some of the challenges within the team Confidence to challenge uncomfortable issues Enable me to manage difficult situations in a more reliable and effective manner and set clarity of goal and good outcomes Better strategies and examples of how to address difficult conversations Further embed improved practice within the team It will help social workers understand what I want from them and why Clearer vision The following additional comments were volunteered: The facilitators were very charismatic and engaging Another really positive training day with lots of thoughts and considerations on applying techniques to practice. Rally useful and relevant topics of discussion and how these can be applied to improving practice I enjoy enormously networking and engaging with manager colleagues. The time to share experiences and ideas is hugely valuable The workshops have re-motivated me and re-engaged me in current issues 10

11 Sessions 3 & 4 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree The techniques introduced and discussions are relevant to my role The framework introduced and discussion will assist me in having difficult conversations The workshop has given me a framework and time to reflect on my goals as a Team Manager The opportunity to share quality assurance models is helpful in my thinking about how to monitor and improve practice Consideration of best practice models will help my thinking about how to improve my service I now have a clearer vision of what good looks like The workshop has given me an opportunity to reflect on the expectations and role of a Team Manager 11

12 Evaluation of Modules 5 and 6 by Participants Twenty-four Team Managers attended Module 5. None of the line managers attended despite being invited to the presentation by Harry Ferguson. Twentythree attended their coaching session. The evaluations are shown below: I felt inspired to think about my particular leadership style as a consequence of hearing Harry Ferguson speak The coaching session enabled me to reflect on issues that affect my practice and helped me identify a way forward The coaching session enabled me to assess the progress I have made in achieving the outcomes I agreed in Module 1 and in thinking through a strategy to achieve this outcome Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

13 Sessions 5 & Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree I felt inspired to think about my particular leadership style as a consequence of hearing Isabelle Trowler speak The coaching session enabled me to reflect on issues that affect my practice and helped me identify a way forward The coaching session enabled me to assess the progress I have made in achieving the outcomes I agreed in Module 1 and in thinking through a strategy to achieve this outcome Participants volunteered the following comments with regards the presentation: Harry provided a really interesting and thoughtful discussion about social work practice and how we as managers intend to move forward on the issues raised and addressed Very thought provoking session Though provoking and inspiring. Thank you Really enjoyed presentation Although residential so to speak this is so transferable in my service. Residential staff are so important so I need to look at intimate practice do we do it? Do I give permission to do it? I need to go in and see what s going on. Make time to make sure people like children and can play Found Harry s session very very interesting and thought provoking. Some simple thoughts/ideas to use moving forward. Thank you 13

14 Really powerful made me recognize the importance of shadowing staff and examining the way they interact with the children they are working with. Important to make time and reflect upon the visit the the individual social workers be curious and enquire why they have reacted in a certain way Enjoyed HF presentation and provided plenty of reflection Harry Ferguson was excellent and really made me think about how to ensure good practice and challenge this with staff especially around the intimate practice issues Great session with HF Really enjoyed the session by Harry. Inspiring and I will adapt my practice as a result The following comments relate to the coaching: Brilliant coaching session that enabled and afforded me the individual time to discuss and find my own solutions Found the coaching session quite inspiring and encouraged to find that I had the transferrable skills to address the problem Really enjoyed the coaching session. decision Helped me reach a significant career I identified a strategy to move forward with. Very helpful and insightful Enjoyed the coaching session. Helped me think through a longstanding issues Found coaching really useful. Re-enforced the teaching The coaching session was really positive and enabled other ways of thinking to take tackle the difficulty. The course in general has been really helpful and informative Excellent coaching session really made me reflect on myself and how I can rehearse new behaviours to achieve change The coaching session enabled me to realize that I am in control and that I need to be more confident in my challenge I can t believe that I gained such clarity from such a short coaching session. Suddenly it is clear what I should do with a longstanding issues It would be good if there were more coaching sessions 14

15 Evaluation of Modules 7 and 8 by Participants Twenty-two Team Managers attended Modules 7 and 8 with apologies received from four Managers. They evaluated the objectives of these modules according to a five stage scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The evaluations are shown below: 20 Sessions 7 & Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Today has given me further opportunity to develop my personal effective leadership style The workshop has given me techniques to increase my confidence I am more aware of how to increase my emotional resilience and intelligence I am leaving with an Action Plan that I am confident will help me develop in my leadership role In preparation for the overall evaluation of the programme participants were also asked whether or not they would recommend the programme to colleagues and all participants stated that they would recommend the programme. They estimated that approximately 170 Team Managers from their authorities would benefit from the programme and it was suggested that a similar programme be developed for Practice Managers and Advanced Practitioners. Indeed one participant wrote that the programme should be mandatory for all Team Managers. More general comments received included the following: It is just the best leadership programme I have ever attended 15

16 I definitely would recommend the programme and hope it runs again for them Really useful course not only for Team Leaders. Staff (teams) would find it very beneficial for individual and team development I really took a lot from the coaching session. I feel this would benefit me more than monthly supervision that generally only focus on day to day work if I was invested in I m sure I would be feeling valued and more productive As well as all the practical tools provided during the course the opportunity to reflect away from the office on a regular basis has been key for me in managing difficult and evolving issues and feel motivated to be in my job Generally an excellent course and I have learnt a lot that can be applied to practice and already put in place a number of actions Conclusion - Strengths and Areas for Improvement Participants were very engaged and enthusiastic throughout the Programme Attendance was generally very good particularly in the context of operational pressures currently experienced by first line managers. Where apologies were received a number of participants asked if they could attend the missing module with another cohort and these requests were accommodated. This arrangement could be more consistently offered The coaching session was very well received and a consensus was that there would be a value in offering two coaching sessions one at the beginning of the Programme and one at the end Participants commented on the integration of the Programme with modules building upon concepts throughout and having direct relevance to their role in the workplace It was reported that the impact of the programme was having a ripple effect as more managers attended Protected time away from the office was valued as was the opportunity to share issues and solutions with colleagues from different authorities Participation of Line Managers was disappointing. Where Line Managers did attend their evaluation was very positive 16