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‘People own what they create’
Myron Rogers co-author of ‘A Simpler Way’
Systems of care are made up of people, not machines; mobilising the human factor in health and social care is the most critical as well as the most complex aspect of changing and embedding new workforce practices.
People are diverse, distinctive and unpredictable, with constantly changing needs and a capacity for learning, adapting and growing. This means that in any care context there will inevitably be multiple perspectives and diverse aspirations which need to be listened to and acknowledged as part of the whole. It is particularly important to recognise where power dynamics are at play and where there is a risk of some perspectives being privileged and others marginalised.
Creating a culture of care where multiple, even contradictory, perspectives can be expressed and worked with in order to find shared solutions is a key aspect of working with the diversity of needs and interests in human systems. This is as important across workforce and professional boundaries as it is between those accessing services and care provider boundaries where power can often be invoked to silence user needs and perspectives. It plays out at the collective level of involving specific groups and communities as well as working with individuals to involve them in their own care or family members’ care.
From individual care to workforce planning to strategic change, involving people as partners at all stages and at all levels is therefore critical if the shift to a more collaborative, co-owned system of care is to be realised. The principles of co-design and co-production can helpfully underpin any partnership planning or change task, and a commitment to dialogue, active listening and inclusion will ensure that all perspectives can be mobilised behind an agreed, shared purpose.
This World Café guide helps you to plan, host and deliver a collaborative conversation with diverse stakeholders. The guide takes you through each stage of the café process step by step including a helpful kit list and planning outline.
This guide to Open Space is written by the founder of Open Space, Harrison Owen, who noticed that the best conversations happened outside of the formal meeting in the coffee/lunch breaks when people were more relaxed and able to say what they really thought. Open Space Technology is a guide to how to run a stakeholder event and offers tips on how to take up the role of facilitator at such an event.
The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 provides a legislative base to help communities have more say in decisions that affect them. https://beta.gov.scot/policies/community-empowerment/
The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland has produced seven golden rules about participation.
NESTA offers a range of resources to support co-production.
Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) hosts a web resource and co-production network to support co-production.
The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) is a way to gauge and support those accessing services to self-manage. It requires a shift in thinking by professionals and those accessing services away from ‘the doctor or carer knows best’ to an approach which enables people to manage their own care, including making their own decisions about what is best for them.
‘Employee Engagement and NHS Performance’ by Michael West and Jeremy Dawson, was commissioned by the King’s Fund in 2012 to inform its review of leadership in the NHS. It is unequivocal about the direct relationship between involving staff and the quality of outcomes across a number of domains in health and care settings, including staff retention and user experience.
In 2015, the Scottish Government produced Localities Guidance. This is for everyone who is involved in integration in local health and social care systems. The guidance covers what localities are for, the principles upon which they should be established, and the ethos under which they should operate.
Download: toolkit / touchpoint-three.docx
Step into Leadership helps you to find resources and information to develop your own and others’ leadership skills. Scotland’s social services need effective leadership at all levels of the workforce, as well as citizen leadership from people who access support and their carers.
Mentoring, as a support activity and resource, is one of a range of practical tools for empowering leaders, managers and other staff to meet the challenge of change and continuous improvement. Mentors can form an internal network across organisations or departments supporting individuals or groups. The SSSC Mentoring Guidance aims to promote good practice in peer mentoring, providing a framework designed to be adaptable to a range of contexts.
Mentoring Guidance in Childhood Practice is also available.
A coaching approach can help commissioners and managers to develop an organisational culture of service and business improvement. The SSSC Coaching Learning Resource can support people in Scotland’s social services to develop a coaching approach across their organisation.
The development and implementation of a personal outcomes approach in health and social care impacts on service design, workforce configuration and practice development. The Personal Outcomes Collaboration is a helpful source for information and insight.
The 2010-2020 Self-directed Support (SDS) strategy and supporting legislation calls for greater collaboration, flexibility choice and control for people who need support which requires a change to the way in which support is delivered.
Self-directed Support gives people who require support great opportunities to design and create support that fits in with the way they want to live their lives.
The Equal Partners in Care (EPiC) national framework supports the health and social care workforce to be more aware of carers and to work in partnership with them.
Iriss has developed a resource on Building your Personal Learning Network. People who can seek new information, make sense of it, and share it with their colleagues will be an asset to any work team.
Iriss has also produced a Co-production Project Planner. This is a resource that supports co-production projects to happen effectively and focuses on putting ideas into action.
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.