Did Spain use Appreciative Inquiry?

As a huge football (not soccer) fan I like many millions of others have been glued to the TV to watch the premier showcase that is the World Cup 2014.

I have really enjoyed watching most of the games so far however whilst I watched the Spain in their 2nd group match yesterday I couldn’t help but think about the parallels it appeared to show around change and how if done incorrectly it doesn’t always work out for the best.

So what do you mean Stephen? I hear you cry!

Well from what I saw last night and in the previous game it was not the Spain who have won the last 3 tournaments they have entered 2 x Euro’s and 1 World Cup playing a style of football that all 11 and the rest of the squad are familiar and accustomed to – that of tiki-taka football deployed, for those in the football circles, with a false No. 9.

What I saw was a side that had been asked to change.

Now for the last year or so pundits have said that this Spanish style is being ‘found out’teams can set up well to combat that style of football so correctly Spain needed to find a positive solution, a tiki-taka 2.0 so to speak, a positive change to ensure continuous improvement (linked jargon for those in the health and social care circles).

So in comes a No. 9 Diego Costa probably on last season form a world class forward however this is where I started to see a problem and it’s a recurring one I see in the socialcare field I consult in:

They changed because they needed to evolve to survive but the made the wrong change!

Why the wrong change?

If you take the rest of that fabulous Spanish team, the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Busquets, Ramos and Alba, they all play in sides that still don’t have a No.9 like Diego Costa and that is where I saw, from a long way away on my sofa, a problem. Those players didn’t seem to know how to play (or dare I say want to play) to a forward like that, they looked uncomfortable and were not playing their own natural game – and as a result, as well as some poor Casillas decision making, struggled during this world cup.

So let’s pose this question – Positive change needed:

What if we used Appreciative Inquiry to look at team changes?

Simply using the 4-D cycle

Discovery – What gives this team life? – The ability to play football in a style developed by coaches and those individual players involved for those players – Embrace and appreciate tiki-taka football

Dream – What might it be? Tiki-Taka 2.0 the style of football with an added dimension that ensures should teams set up to counter that system there is a way of still playing what is working but with an addition to empower the system

Design – How can it be? By involving and engaging with all involved in the system (positive assets) players, coaches, managers etc etc you can design and co-construct how the future development of this system can grow into a positive 2.0 model

Destiny – What will it be? Simply put Football Like ‘Brazil’ of the 1970 World Cup (in my humble footballing opinion the greatest ever). Creating the ability for players to go out and play their natural game in a way that compliments every other player in your side

Looking at the game yesterday what I saw was a decision being made that ‘Costa has to play’ and we will change everyone’s game and our system to fit him in  – the basic assumption of problem solving through organising!

This is the common error I see time and again in health and social care change.

“The lack of appreciating what assets we have currently in order to build sustainable supports that are continuously improvising and listening to all involved at all times in order to get it right”.

But fear not there is another way to effect real positive change within your business or organisation - http://www.valuedcaresolutions.co.uk/services/PositiveChangeManagement

I hope you have enjoyed this blog and got you thinking about the way in which Appreciative Inquiry can be used positively within your business, if so please don’t hesitate to contact I would love to talk to you more about it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post I welcome your comments,

Stephen

‘With hope and belief there are no limitations’

The benefits of 'Positive Engagement' with services

One of the most positive services I have provided over the last year to clients has been facilitating and enabling positive engagement with all stakeholders involved in their service provisions.

I have witnessed on several occasions that when a provider wants to change service provision or relate information to service users, staff or external stakeholders, this has been done in a very traditional way with not much open, person centred and positive engagement.

As an independent working within an organisation VCS has found that facilitating and enabling positive engagement has be one of the valuable assets that has been called upon during my time working with providers.

VCS has led positive several engagement processes in the last year including:

Staff members – during a complete environment change and change to service provision with a residential home client, VCS led the continued engagement process with the whole staff team. Meeting on a regular basis in group settings as well as giving the team the opportunity to raise points/issues/ideas during one-to-one sessions created a positive open and transparent process for the residential organisation.

Positive outcomes included

• A whole staff team that were kept updated of timeframes and when changes were going to be implemented
• Reduction in anxieties as the staff members felt they could raise points impartially to VCS
• Management communication links with staff members increased
• The organisation now has an external provision of engagement and feedback that is utilised within their quality assurance protocols and CQC standard requirements

Service Users – VCS has been working with a care provider who wanted to develop a further service provision to their existing supports. During this period of change current service users were feeling anxious about what would happen during these changes and how the service would look following the changes made. VCS facilitated communication with all service users including service user forums, written engagement and electronic communication. VCS was able therefore to engage with all service users in their preferred method to relate on-going change information and act as a point as the service went through its period of transitional change. It was highlighted that service users felt it was “Great to finally be listened too” and that “It’s really nice to know what’s going on around me”, during this process.

Positive outcomes included

• Service users were enabled to take full participation and lead on areas of change within their service provider’s supports
• Service users felt their anxieties were reduced due to full involvement
• Management and staff reported that due to the service user engagement process being supported by an external partner (VCS) they were able to continue conversations with the service users during their supports and then relate these back to VCS so that everyone felt supported and involved.

Stakeholders – Recently VCS has been supporting a service which provides both residential and domiciliary provisions to a diverse community. Working alongside them, VCS quickly identified that although there was a high quality service being provided the organisation lacked a clear focus of what they provided and how they were unique in their provision to the diverse community they support. VCS has facilitated a stakeholder’s engagement process to firstly establish how/what stakeholders see as the organisations service provision and then how partnership and communication can be positively developed and maintained, moving forward.

Positive outcomes include

• Stakeholders gaining an increased understanding of what, how and why the organisation provides the supports it does across the diverse community
• More referrals from stakeholders specifically wanting the positive supports supplied by the organisation
• Positive communication lines being established between the organisation and stakeholders, leading to quality partnerships for future development of service
• Management, staff and service users within the organisation stating they have a clearer focus on what service is provided across all the areas supported within their diverse community

As demonstrated there has been great value and positive outcomes in the various ‘Engagement’ processes VCS deliver within its quality consultancy/coaching services.

All engagement processes supplied have been greatly received and one provider stated;

“Having VCS as an independent within our organisation has really afforded us the opportunity to gather real views from everyone involved without the fear of things being said just to agree with management changes that are happening around them. It has really given us a great ‘Voice’ tool to use across our services…” Registered Dementia Care Home Manager.

If following reading this blog you feel that the engagement processes available would be of benefit for your organisation VCS would welcome the chance to further discuss provisions.

Thank you for reading

Stephen

And remember “With hope and belief there are no limitations”

The 'TOGETHER' plan

One of the areas I have been working on recently is bringing communities and business together.

I thought after speaking to several businesses and people recently over the positivity of communities and its citizens taking back the responsibility of supporting itself I would show some of the work developed by Valued Care Solutions.

TOGETHER is a word that I have used often when working with businesses and their services so it was from that word that the TOGETHER plan was developed.

So what is the TOGETHER plan………

So what does the breakdown of TOGETHER mean, in short it is:

Trust – At the start of any commitment to working together and affecting positive change trust is essential. Having the confidence to place trust in yourself and others will ensure that developing change in communities has a solid base from which to nurture and grow.

Optimism – The key to supporting a community to create a model of real change is having an overall sense of optimism and positivity. Having these attributes guarantees that any obstacles are viewed positively and new ways of achieving outcomes are established.

Giving – A major part of creating a community is in understanding each individual’s positive assets and how these can be positively nurtured. The gift of ‘giving’ is truly inspirational and should always be supported and valued every step of way.

Engagement – Vital to the whole process is positive and respectful engagement. Understanding your community, its citizens, businesses and the natural environment will ensure that your channel of engagement will always be progressive. Be clear at all stages of communications that there could be one channel of engagement or several hundred dependent on the community supported.

Transition – Often overlooked dependent on outcomes of supported communities’, transition is paramount. A positive community is one that is supported ‘Cradle to Grave’ creating well-being for all. This is achieved by understanding how a citizen transitions through their community at every stage of their life.

Honesty – For too long where change is involved individuals and groups have stated ‘Yes, that can be done’ only for the doing part to be unachievable or to never get implemented. This is why honesty is crucial in supporting the change to positive communities. It is ok to say “I can’t do that” because there will be something else just as vital you WILL be able to!

Energy – In creating communities that have positive well-being and happiness at their very core energy is vital. Supporting each individual citizen and their community, energy is essential to sustain those communities coming and staying together.

Reflection – Finally positive reflection is vital in communities coming together and using continuous development to move forward. Use of solution focussed outcomes, community asset based approaches and individual person centred plans can create creating positive communities.

This has worked really well so far with the individuals I have been working with and I am really looking forward to progress this further over the coming months.

I would love your comments as always and please if you would like to talk or find out more about the TOGETHER plan please get in touch.

Take Care

Stephen

“With hope and belief there are no limitations” 

What is it that you do?

A friend asked me the other day what do you do with your business? On the same day I was attempting to fill out the forms for the Red Rose Awards 2014 and indeed asked myself the same question - What is it that Valued Care Solutions or more importantly, I do?

I have always found it very difficult to put down on paper what VCS does and what value it has in supporting providers/businesses in service and indeed this still proves a small irksome issue.

However coming back to my friend who asked me what I do, I used my stock answer of “It’s difficult really to explain properly you almost need to see it in practice”. Now I could see the befuddled (love that word) look on my friends face but instead of the usual “Oh” response my friend came back with “Well paint me a picture then”

Now, that was different I thought and began to speak about what I do and how this affects the business I support. Again I could see my friend in a state of confusion, wherein they stopped me and said I don’t know what you’re talking about is there any way you can explain it without the terminology.

I had to really think now and then I had an idea, I’ll use my love of baking to explain so here is what I said –

“Think about the start of getting ready to bake a cake.

The providers and businesses I support have the ingredients to make their cake. Ingredients could be staff, policies, processes or ideas of provisions to people. What they don’t always have is ALL the ingredients, so your deluxe chocolate cake becomes a plain sponge cake. I support them to find those additional ingredients, like finding their positive assets, community assets, person centred recruitment, new policies or processes and new ways of working to support communities and its people”.

“Ah I see” they said with a smile, which made me happy so I continued –

“Sometimes the providers and businesses have all the ingredients however don’t know how to bake the cake so they end up with a very soggy bottom (Thanks Mr Hollywood for that one). So I facilitate support like person centred planning, staff health surveillance, developing continuous business improvement, customer/staff/stakeholders engagement and communication and developing the way in which the service is delivery across the communities supported”.

“Then there are occasions when the providers and businesses have all the ingredients and know how it should be baked but don’t have the confidence or the equipment/appliance to bake the cake. Here I support through positive mentoring for management and staff and also facilitate partnership working with appropriate community supports/businesses in order to achieve their outcomes of service”.

“So I guess what I am saying is that dependent on what, after listening carefully to and working with the provider or business is needed, is what cake you get at the end, see?”

After listening to me and nodding, smiling and laughing along with what I was saying my friend said “So I get it now and to use your analogy you are the Baker supporting these cakes being baked”

Now it was my turn to look befuddled (still makes me smile) but after a moment or two I said –

“No, I’m not the baker, you know what I am, I am an enabler I am the recipe book that I can leave with the provider/business (the bake) to put all the ingredient (services) together perfectly to bake the best practice quality supports possible -

I hope after reading this you get a flavour of what Valued Care Solutions does or even if I have just made you hungry for cake I have made you smile, which is what life is all about.

Would love your comments

Till next time

“With hope and belief there are no limitations”

Stephen

'Nowhere to go, Dad'

My son came to me recently during a weekend whereby as a family we didn’t have much on and said the following

“I’m bored I’ve nothing to do!!”

Well at first, as I am sure a lot of people reading this will identify with, I reacted in the following manner

“Bored! You don’t know the meaning of the word Bored! books, football, garden to play in, x-box to play on, laptop to go on, TV to watch, music to listen to,  jobs to do round the house, homework to complete, friends to contact and visit……….and you have the cheek to say you’re bored!!!”

but then my son after hearing my list of possibilities replied, unusually

“Yes Dad but me and my friends have nowhere to go”

I can’t quite remember how that conversation finally ended, most probably with my son heading off to do one of the many material things available to him to waste his time. However that statement “Nowhere to go” stuck rattling around my head.

I started to think “Nowhere to go” there is the skate park and playground in Ormskirk, shops, coffee shops, community groups, sport groups, activities to go to do all over the area. So why did he say there is "Nowhere to go".

So I started the conversation with my son again later that week this time concentrating and really listening to why he said “Nowhere to go” and as he talked I got it – light bulb moment!

What “Nowhere to go” meant to my son was “Nowhere to go where I can just hang out with my mates , chat, mess around, do nothing and just be a kid”

WOW!!!!!!!! Believe you me, this hit home hard.

We are very good at setting up lots for children and young adults to do and go – parks, shops, coffee shops, sporting groups such as football/cricket/tennis etc, dance/acting groups, scouts/guides, church groups etc, etc, but when we really spoke about it all these are or have been developed with a direct purpose for going.

I thought about this more and tried to remember when I was my son’s age. I used to grab a football early weekend mornings and head to our local field. I didn’t need to call for anybody when I got there friends of all ages where either there or during the day appeared and then went off to do other things. Did we play football? Yes we did, but we also climbed trees, lay down and watched clouds, played other games such as blocky (hide & seek), smelly eggs (game with a tennis ball and running the furthest away from someone as I remember). We also sat and chatted about the world, TV programmes, school stuff and dare I say girls or other boys to the girls in the group!! you could say we……

“Hung out with mates and chatted, messed around, did nothing and where kids”

Now there is a lot of places this blog could go with this; Have corporations have made it too easy for children just to sit in front of TV screens, possibly; Do parents live in fear of letting their children out for the day to play, possibly; Or Have we structured a life that children can easily find themselves falling into which leaves nothing to imagination, messing about, falling out of trees and eating mud (last one just me then J), possibly, however I think they are for future blog posts.

For me though the direct effect of this conversation has set me off on understanding more about how to develop somewhere where my son, his friends and the children and young people of our community can have somewhere safe but unstructured, that they could go to and hang out – for me it is almost thinking around a return to the ‘Traditional Youth Club’ watch this space people I will make this happen!

Thanks for reading and please as always I’d love your comments J

Stephen

‘With hope and belief there are no limitations’

Music plays a huge part in my life

A more personalised post this time on how music plays a huge part in my life.

It still amazes me how a simple piece of music can make us react and feel such different emotions. I thought I would let you into a few of the ways music has touched me over the years.

There is a lot written  about the use of music for dementia patients indeed I read an article only last week that stated that ‘The Sound of Music’ supported positive wellbeing for a group of people with dementia http://t.co/7xllS8NM96

Indeed I have seen first-hand with my own Grandma, who is currently living well with dementia, who can be calmed when confused or positively uplifted by a piece of music from her past. Subconsciously that memory link that can’t be made through everyday communication is immediately made with the introduction of a piece of music personal to her – the wonders of the brain, still amazes me that!

I don’t personally know what I would do without music; I too must confess that I use music as a crutch dependent of moods. Often I have blasted out a good rock song such as ‘Foo Fighters – Everlong’ http://youtu.be/eBG7P-K-r1Y to blast the cobwebs away (very high volume very loud out of tune singing – sorry neighbours!).

I even use music to drive my business work ethic. Often when I am feeling on a low ebb or have a day which didn’t go particularly well, which can start the doubts over what you are trying to achieve (I am sure most self-employed people can relate to that) there is nothing I love more than putting on this track – ‘Rudimental – Not Giving In’ http://youtu.be/J9-Lwpgfd1E

This is now my personal and business mantra, a call to arms so to speak, that I will not return to those dark days of working for a corporation :-)

When my Granddad passed away several years ago he was my first close relative in my family that had died and again it was to music I turned. This may have been in part to his love of music, my Granddad would often be found at family occasions with microphone in hand belting out ‘Oh Flower of Scotland’ the strong memories come flooding back even as I type these words. 

The track that helped me when he passed was ‘Jon Allen’s – In your shadow’ http://youtu.be/T82c-CeQDDc I even had the pleasure of writing to Jon via social media to tell him this and I received a lovely response saying that he was glad that his song writing had contributed as a positive influence.

It is true that music has played a huge part in my life, being brought up in a house of music ranging from my parents love of the Mersey Beat scene to an older brother who led me down the path of Paul Weller (my favourite musician of all time) and the early 80’s new wave scene such as Sigue Sigue Sputnik, there has always been a soundtrack playing in the background.

To this day it has rubbed off on my children. They are always curious about new music and there is never a point in the day where a variety of music isn’t played in all rooms of the house. This interest has also led me to chatting with them over where the music or musician comes from the background or genre of the music and has led to some really interesting conversations, especially in the case of PSY!

I am always amazed by music and the impression it leaves on people so please feel free after reading to leave your favourite piece or a track that evokes a strong memory, it would be great to hear them,

Take Care, till next time,

And remember ‘With Hope and Belief there are no Limitations’

#SupportingLocal

Earlier this year as always in our household the children where deciding what to give up for Lent. I must make an admission that I am not the most religious type however Lent has always been good period to teach the children the values of what they have, take for granted and to really get them thinking and talking about certain aspects of their own lives.

Every year without fail I get the ‘Daaaaaddddd (always in an elongated way I hasten to add) what are you giving up?’ and as the saying goes I never ask my kids to ‘do something I am not prepared to do myself’.

Every year does get harder and harder to find something to do though and this year was no exception – abstinence on alcohol (I don’t drink that much honest!), give up smoking (I have never smoked), give up chocolate (I’m no chocoholic), give up TV (never been a Telly Addict).

So what to do, well we were if you remember this year at the height of the Horse Meat scandal and during this period via Twitter I had connected with Charlotte Farringdon (@charliegeorge1) who was the co-founder of the campaign @Local4Lent.

Now in my business and my own life values I am a huge advocate for #supportinglocal #shoplocal and this campaign, which was to give up supermarkets and buy all food, produce and services from local retailers, really looking to inspire local communities to look locally at supporting themselves, was indeed positive and hit a chord with me. 

‘Eureka!’ I said in an almost Archimedean way ‘That’s what I am going to do’

So that’s what I did, but that would be a very boring blog post now wouldn't it so why have I felt the need to speak to the masses well this #Local4Lent continued long after the period of Lent and has almost become a way of our family life now.

Several things have happened as a direct result of our change to shopping local:

• We now know our local butcher, fruit and veg shop, local coffee shop/restaurant owners by name and often talk about various things happening in our community. Indeed as part of my business support I have connected a local residential home with several of these local businesses and developed better service provisions for them as a result – #communitybuilding
• We have saved money!!!! Yes I know it maybe does not seem possible to many “Oh using local shops you have to pay more” I hear often. Yes that might be the case sometimes but we don’t throw half our food away now – ONLY BUY 1 APPLE IF YOU WANT/NEED 1 APPLE for example. And on more than one occasion as regular customers we have been asked to try different things or have additional things put in for us (but best not say where this is just in case everyone starts going there J)
• Whilst visiting anywhere with the children now they will always be on the lookout for local shops, coffee shops, restaurants and the such like and will often say we can’t go in there it’s not a local shop (I fear a positive brainwashing has occurred)
• I have always been a keen cook and baker of many cakes and breads however all meals within our house are now made freshly made with local shop bought ingredients and again my children do take a keen interest on where the food has come from and what is in the meals prepared.
• Finally we even, as a family, took it one step further and as a mini-experiment and a great game for the kids whilst on a holiday break here in Lincoln we set ourselves the task of just going to shops, cafes, restaurants, activities that where both local and recommended via local people on twitter or in the local establishments we went into (a future blog will appear on this, watch this space). Some amazing businesses and people we met too!

After doing some research and due to my love for all things Twitter related I know that each area of the country indeed the world has different campaigns, movements, organisations set up to encourage people to #shoplocal or #buybritish or #supportlocal my challenge to you dear readers is this call to arms:

Think about what you can do!

Think about what you can change!

and go and find out about things, talk to people and above all

Engage in your local community!

you never know you might just find something you never knew existed

Thank you for reading and remember,

“With hope and belief there are no limitations”

Stephen