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This resource and interactive model for Workforce Planning are based on the belief that every worker and every person who uses services should have the chance to contribute their knowledge, expertise and experience into workforce planning processes. The benefits are obvious. As people see their views and opinions being taken on board, they feel more valued. That in turn leads to more trust and people perhaps being more prepared to ‘go the extra mile’.
Three key elements can support involving people as partners and help them feel valued contributors.
Co-production – a shift towards a more inclusive, collaborative and community-focused relationship. In 2025 care is a community-based, normalised rather than medicalised or professionalised activity. It is set in a more collaborative dynamic relationship which challenges and disrupts the traditional ‘them and us’ between professional service providers and people using services. This shift is difficult for both care professionals and those accessing services but will be needed if a new concept of collaborative relationships across care is to be achieved.
Develop the skills and capabilities for collaborative practice among the workforce, communities and those accessing services. This is likely to include developing coaching capabilities to extend the skillset of professionals as well as building skills and confidence among people using services’ and carers’ groups to extend their user role to a leadership or service design role.
Use conversation-based tools (such as World Cafés, Open Space) and relational approaches (such as active listening, coaching, peer support) to facilitate engagement and generate shared purpose. These approaches include specific methodologies for whole system conversations that work in both individual and collective contexts. World Cafés are particularly effective in working with difficult questions and enable multiple perspectives to be considered and built in to collective solutions. Open Space events are a useful way to create shared ownership of an agenda and allow people to discuss what matters to them about complex issues.
Planning for the future by the Scottish Social Services Council is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work at http://learn.sssc.uk.com.