People and Leadership
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust needed to improve performance whilst simultaneously building their improvement capacity and capability. Rather than taking a reactive, firefighting approach, the Trust wanted to empower their executive, clinical and operations teams to really understand what was holding them back from delivering on Trust objectives, create aligned solutions and deliver the improvements themselves.
Working in partnership with our firm, the Trust designed a new improvement system that was tightly aligned to their organisational strategy and values. They successfully launched the programme using tools and methodologies we developed through nearly 20 similar engagements. And then they rapidly deployed a massive training programme that empowered more than 40% of their teams to self-sufficiently deliver sustainable performance improvements in their areas.
Our training showed them how to use data analytics to identify the root causes of the performance challenges they faced and then to use that information to set clear metrics for their improvement initiatives. Then we helped them think of potential countermeasures – longer-term solutions – they could employ to achieve their improvement objectives. We showed them how to use improvement huddles to overcome barriers and how to track their progress using performance management routines.
We gave them a robust management system developed and tailored specifically for this situation. We built them a 360-degree leadership behaviour tool that allowed them to gather and collate real-time feedback and insight from their line managers, their direct reports and their peers. We also brought them into industry networks to discuss new approaches and share best practices around performance improvement.
At the same time, we focused on the leadership. We worked with their executives to create a personal and organisational culture of improvement. We encouraged them to ‘go and see’ their employees, listen to their challenges and engage in improvement huddles with them. We showed them how to be more purposeful about the way they interact with services.
In many ways, we were helping RBFT build an organisation of problem solvers with the tools, routines and behaviours they needed to apply complex problem-solving techniques to virtually any challenge they are facing. That has provided them with capabilities they can use to do their day jobs better and ensure their improvements are sustainable and continuous.
The programme’s success was predicated on a dynamic combination of experienced professionals, strong client relationships and an unwavering focus on ensuring RBFT’s leadership and people were aligned on the organisation’s strategy, values and behaviours. We helped them create a golden thread of sustainable improvement from the Board to the Ward.
This engagement met all of the objectives and requirements set out by the client. We delivered a proactive performance improvement system, underpinned by robust tools and methodologies, and scaled up a massive training programme to ensure engagement and adoption across the organisation.
However, we believe the best measure of the value we created is in the improvements that the Trust has been able to achieve using our system, tools, routines and behaviours. And those results have been fantastic.
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