Ageless at Work - Skills for Care

More documents

Recommendations

Info

project was set up in recognition of the fact that whilst older Youth Workers provided much needed stability and experience, they were sometimes frustrated by their lack of progression, and were cynical about the benefits of new initiatives which changed the structure, context and, potentially, the content of their work. Youth Work employers frequently note that older workers in this tier of staff can act as a significant barrier to changing how work is conducted. The project used an action learning based approach to help participants: Reflect on their positive achievements and experiences in youth work and in other areas of their professional and personal life Identify positive and negative factors in the development of their professional careers Develop personal strategies for second half career planning Develop peer support and challenge networks at the sub-regional level. The programme evaluation (Stevens, H and Denbigh A, 2007) found that the sets had provided participants with a timely opportunity to reflect on their response to organisational and culture change within a confidential and supportive environment, providing what one participant described as, “emotional time off”. The project generated lessons about the barriers preventing older Youth Workers from engaging in the process of structural change currently underway in Youth Services. The lessons are discussed fully in a final project report (Riley, undated) and are highlighted briefly here: “The issue is not about age. It is about valuing staff and recognising and utilising their skills and talents.” This same feeling of the need to be recognised and complimented also came out of the Skills for Mature workers project, also undertaken by Learning South West. It was not enough to receive funds for training as a reward for good performance; people needed recognition, support and follow up. The implication was that it was assumed that older people did not need this as much, but a consistent sense of decline in confidence levels suggested, it was important to compliment and reassure older workers. Some of the issues for Youth Workers directly reflected the fact that they were at the end of a decision making chain with limited opportunity to influence, something that they had in common with many other public sector employees. Decisions determined by annual budget allocations set by councillors are overlaid by national policy changes. Some of the issues raised by employees could be interpreted as potentially contradictory and perhaps characteristic of any employee criticising management: (going through major changes and upheavals versus not enough change; too much management versus not enough), However, the sessions had a potential revitalising effect, endorsed by the suggestion that employers should develop the concept of ‘kick-start’ or motivational training for those staff, of any age, who find themselves in need of a professional restart. The idea of ‘Second half career planning’ was warmly received by project participants Ageless at Work: Change workplace cultures, development skills. Good practice report 23
Table 7 Engage the workforce What needs to be done in securing workforce involvement and participation? • Involve the workforce in developing both the overall direction of change and the specific actions needed to achieve it. This involvement will help create a sense of ownership. • Make sharing the responsibility more than just rhetoric – it needs to involve relinquishing control, trusting individuals and providing support. Establish a structure than encourages engagement. Consider how the current structure might help or hinder the planned changes. Make sure that whatever structure is in place genuinely supports two-way communication. Real participation of both the workforce and the wider stakeholder group, including people who use services, is best achieved through a more ‘horizontal’ or ‘circular’ structure. Get the communication channels right. • Make sure that all members of the workforce have the ability and opportunity to access and use the chosen communication methods. • Be aware of the range of ways to communicate, and tailor your choice according to the message and audience. For example: meetings with each individual, group consultations with the workforce, including brainstorming exercises, newsletters for the whole workforce, including volunteers; emails and text messages, road shows, personal telephone conversations, group meetings and consultations and away days. • Check the message has been understood, and repeat if necessary. Work with resistance • Resistance can be helpful in the process of change and improvement. • It can be used and handled in the following ways: to give people who disagree a platform to air their views; as a useful process to identify potential barriers and key flaws in improvement initiatives; as part of the process of giving people time and support to come on board; as an opportunity to discourage inappropriate behaviour – for example, making no attempt to become involved in the changes, or offering no reason for dissent. • Be clear that resisting the underlying purpose of the organisation is not acceptable. Give people support to adjust and adapt • Work out what the planned changes mean for individual roles – can current skills be adapted or is there a need for significant development? • Possible methods of support include: personal coaching, role play (to try out new roles), self-assessment and reflection, training courses, shadowing, and briefings – verbal or written and one-to-one discussions. • Ensure individuals receive general support, as well as that specific to their role. Examples of this from the case studies include: listening to concerns; attending staff meetings; being approachable – an ‘open door’ policy; compromising when appropriate and explaining the reasoning behind decisions. • Support individuals to make time for development activities • Make it acceptable for individuals to admit they do not feel confident with new roles and responsibilities • Appreciative inquiry (AI) workshops can be useful to encourage communicate about change. 24 Ageless at Work: Change workplace cultures, development skills. Good practice report
Page 1 and 2: we help create a trained and qualif
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS 1. Introduction ..........
Page 5 and 6: Index of Tables Table 1 Six things
Page 7 and 8: While organisational change had bee
Page 9 and 10: 2. POLICY CONTEXT Why and how is ad
Page 11 and 12: Ensuring the right steps are taken
Page 13 and 14: Table 3 Workforce remodelling: prio
Page 15 and 16: What is already happening to suppor
Page 17 and 18: Personalisation agenda as set out i
Page 19 and 20: Responses to an open question about
Page 21 and 22: What works in enhancing leadership
Page 23: Skills for Care London also trailed
Page 27 and 28: Table 8 What needs to be done to in
Page 29 and 30: • Support and enable people to us
Page 31 and 32: People who use services as drivers
Page 33 and 34: There is also evidence that older p
Page 35 and 36: - Training conflicted with the work
Page 37 and 38: articulate the experience, knowledg
Page 39 and 40: ‘unlikely’ learners 12 aged 55
Page 41 and 42: personalisation’. The results of
Page 43 and 44: Mentoring is cited as a “fundamen
Page 45 and 46: • Yearly (or more frequent) suppo
Page 47 and 48: Secondly, the project could test ne
Page 49 and 50: Figure 2 Vacancies notified to Jobc
Page 51 and 52: A recent survey by the ADASS/LGA (2
Page 53 and 54: Figure 5 Projected working age popu
Page 55 and 56: Table 15 Trends and drivers affecti
Page 57 and 58: Table 16 Health status of the popul
Page 59 and 60: Table 16 Main features of the ‘in
Page 61 and 62: 6. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROJECT ACTI
Page 63 and 64: Activities that challenge older wor
Page 65 and 66: ECOTEC (Undated) European Social Fu
Page 67: Tick Tock (2007) Tick Tock: An EQUA

Ageless at Work - Skills for Care

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?