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”