Engaging 600 staff in eight weeks to help their organisation become a great place to work

The challenge

Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust and neighbouring Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust are two large NHS organisations coming together under a new identity as the North London Mental Health Partnership.

One of the four strategic aims in their new partnership strategy is the commitment to provide great places to work for all staff.

Kaleidoscope was commissioned to help them deliver this commitment. This work needed to reflect the views of staff from each trust within the Partnership, which includes diverse professional and demographic groups.

We had to carry out the work quickly during a time of huge challenge for mental health services due to rising demands and a national shortage of skilled staff. Our approach needed to acknowledge and address this difficult environment.

Our approach

We worked with the Chief People Officer to help set the direction and develop three key products: a People and Organisational Development Strategy; a new values and behaviours framework; and a leadership skills and behaviours framework.

We had to find out what was important to staff and turn this into a set of practical behaviours and actions that the Partnership could deliver to improve the working lives of staff across their organisation. We did this in co-production with staff from across the Partnership, with the engagement process itself being as important as the final products.

We wanted to create a sense of commitment, excitement and hope among staff, and developed a vibrant programme of engagement and strategy development that engaged more than 600 staff within eight weeks.

We used a wide range of engagement methods including interviews, an online survey, team drop-in sessions, and attending existing forums. We asked staff to tell us what was important to them and what they would like to see more of to ensure the Partnership is a great place to work.

We also conducted a rapid desktop review of external evidence and best practice as well as key internal evidence, including NHS staff survey results and CQC reports. This added to our understanding of what values, behaviours and skills would be important to fulfil the Partnership’s commitment,

The engagement culminated in a ‘People and Organisational Development’ week of six events, both face-to-face and digital. At these we shared with staff what we had heard and tested draft strategy priorities and actions; a draft of values and behaviours; and a Partnership leadership framework.

We then worked with the executive team to agree on the final products, taking account of staff feedback and what was important to staff. We identified what was working well and what needs work within the Partnership.

Impact

Through this engagement, we were able to bring out the issues that really matter to staff and that have a significant impact on their working lives.

As a result, we produced a set of products that were positively received by the Partnership Executive Team and Board, and that will stand the Partnership in good stead to deliver on its commitment to providing great places to work.

• People and Organisational Development Strategy that sets the direction and describes the plans for how the Partnership will develop its workforce and provide great places to work. It outlines five key priorities as well as the deliverables that will enable progress within these areas.
• Values and Behaviours Framework that defines the core values of the Partnership and the behaviours expected of staff in order to demonstrate these. The framework was designed on a single page to be displayed throughout the Partnership’s sites.
• Leadership Framework for both clinical and non-clinical leaders at every level. This sets out seven principles that reflect what staff throughout the organisation value in their leaders. It explains the behaviours that the Partnership expects from its leaders and how leaders can develop their skills in the leadership behaviours, to improve how they lead day-to-day.

Our open and inclusive approach and process considerably raised awareness of the strategy and frameworks. Participants rated the People and OD week events highly and particularly valued the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Kaleidoscope went above and beyond to deliver what we had asked – they used their expertise, enthusiasm and skill to deliver a wide ranging, thoughtful and engaging set of activities which has created energy and excitement in our organisation.  Partnering with them was not like a ‘typical’ consultancy partnership and we would 10/10 recommend them as a partner for organisational and strategy development.

Ben Browne, Chief People Officer,
Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust

Project team

Clare Allcock
David Jones
Naheem Bashir
Rowan Collins
Sarah Moir