The issue:
As a response to a radical change in the organisation’s business model, dissatisfaction and agitation for change was evident among Service Managers throughout a Charity that provides social care services. Previously, those who were at the forefront of service design and delivery led the organisation’s competitive advantage in providing affordable quality services to vulnerable children, young people and adults with disabilities for their clients, a variety of public-sector agencies. Increasing competition and public-sector cutbacks required a new business model, led by the organisation’s Business Directorates — Finance, Fund-Raising, IT and HR — resulting in changes to pay and working conditions and threats of redundancy within Service Departments if the new business model was not successfully adopted.
A Service Managers’ Planning Workshop was commissioned by the organisation’s three Regional Service Directors, without the involvement of the Chief Executive Officer or any of the Business Directors. Some 30 Service Managers from throughout the UK attended the 1-day workshop, led by the three Regional Service Directors.
My intervention:
The workshop was an inquiry into:
- What is working well in terms of service management and delivery, team performance and behaviours, and internal workflow and customer care, and why?
- What is difficult and challenging, and why?
- What needs to change at the level of service planning and management, at a higher level of policy and resource planning, and at a lower level of service delivery?
- What are Service Managers motivated to do differently?
The inquiry was punctuated by presentations given by the Regional Service Directors on the strategic priorities facing the organisation — an overview of significant external and internal influences and issues affecting the successful achievement of core business.
Proceedings from the inquiry were audio-recorded, transcribed, collated into a summary report of significant presenting issues, and fed back to the Regional Service Directors with recommendations for interventions at organisational and management levels.
The outcome:
The Regional Service Directors met with their colleagues on the Executive Team, and a collective decision was taken to progress internally all matters arising from the inquiry.
