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