Case studies of Management Futures Programmes

1. Improvement Partnership for Ambulance Services
Senior and Middle Managers Development Programme

Evaluation Report

Background

Ambulance trusts and ambulance staff have contributed significantly to the modernisation of the NHS and participated in many modernisation initiatives. However, there have been very few initiatives, which have been targeted specifically to support ambulance staff to modernise their own services.

The Improvement Partnership for Ambulance Services (IPAS) commissioned the Senior and Middle Managers Leadership Development Programme (SaM) in February 2004 after identifying the need for development at this level through the IPAS Learning Exchange events held in November 2003 and the initial engagements evidence reports conducted on the eight zero starred organisations by the performance development teams.

Management Futures Ltd, the programme providers, were tasked with designing and delivering a bespoke programme for the then fourteen zero star and CHI challenged organisations.The resulting programme consisted of 2 three-day residential modules for senior managers and separate modules for middle managers, which were designed with involvement from the participating trusts.IPAS also ensured that leadership and management development tools and techniques suitable for both senior and middle mangers were included in the programme.

The timescale for this crucial project was very short to ensure that support could be delivered before the next star ratings were announced in July 2004 as the trusts requiring support may have changed.The programme therefore commenced in April 2004 and was completed, on schedule, in mid July.Two ‘mop up’ modules are being held in September/October for staff who were unable to attend their second module due to work pressures.

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the effectiveness of the IPAS SaM in meeting the established programme and participant aims.

The programme aims for the Middle Managers were to enable the managers to:

• understand and take responsibility for their managerial role
• enhance self awareness and increase personal effectiveness
• manage relationships and partnerships within their teams, their Trusts and the broader health community.

The programme aims for the Senior Managers were to enable the managers to:

• develop strategic thinking
• enhance self management and personal effectiveness
• manage relationships and partnerships within the Trust and the broader health community

Summary

Middle Managers
The programme has clearly had a positive impact on people’s perception of their own competency. When comparing people’s evaluation of themselves before and after the event, significant increases can be seen in their competency ratings. The same is also true of people’s self belief, post event there was a marked increase in managers rating their self belief in the 8 – 10 category. Much the same pattern can also be seen in manager’s feedback on awareness and self-management.

The programme has clearly motivated middle managers and also given them the belief that they can carry out certain areas of their job more effectively. Even in areas such as ‘drive for results’ where pre-course ratings were high there was still an increase in people’s evaluation of themselves.

Senior Managers
A similar pattern to that of middle managers is visible in the feedback obtained from senior managers. Overall the programme had a positive impact on senior managers. Their most popular response pre event to the question on their experience related to the programme was ‘some experience’; post event the most popular response was ‘significant experience’.

Whilst in most cases the post event responses were better than the pre event there are several cases where the ratings of nine and ten have not improved and in certain aspects the instances of people awarding themselves this rating is rare. For example on the question marked self-belief there was only a slight increase in people marking 9 or 10.There were also some questions where percentages of people rating themselves 8, 9 or 10 dropped. This either indicates that the programme was less well received by senior managers or that they had over estimated their ability in the first instance. However, it should be noted that overall the feedback was still extremely positive.

Overall
Certainly the impression given from manager’s specific comments is that the programme has enhanced them and their ability to do their job in one or more areas. This is true both when considering responses from middle and senior managers.

There was also excellent feedback given by both response groups on the effectiveness of the tutors. This, combined with positive feedback on the venue, was clearly conducive to a good learning environment. There were a couple of comments highlighting certain issues with the catering and some delegates felt the programme was too intense. However, on the whole feedback was once again extremely positive.

2. Highlands & Islands Enterprise

Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE) is the development agency for a diverse geographic area covering more than half of Scotland.Ten Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) are supported by a core office based in Inverness. LECs offer customers access to a range of specialist information, professional advice, help with training and financial assistance to start or improve a business.

In 2005 HIE made a strategic decision to target investment on major projects which would build the economic infrastructure within the region.This demanded a significant shift in leadership competence to deal with a much higher, and at times more controversial, public profile, as well as a greater internal focus on performance and budget management.

HIE issues an ITT early in 2005 and against stiff competition we won the tender, along with our associate company Genesis Consulting Ltd., based in Glasgow.

From the start the client wanted a multi dimensional approach to learning and the delivery of measurable results. The programme we designed therefore involves four four-day modules spread over one year and supported by Action Learning Sets and executive coaching.  The 100 managers have been split into five cohorts of 20 participants and the programme as a whole is phased over 3 years, from 2005 – 2008.

Module 3 of the programme covers coaching skills.This a major feature of HIE’s investment and the 40 managers already trained are making a major impact on the organisation.One example is that more junior staff are being empowered to identify and think through issues for themselves and take ownership of the resulting actions.

From the start our aim was to make a bridge between learning in the ‘classroom’ and application in the workplace. To facilitate this we built in the following features:

• 1:1 coaching for all participants between each session focussing on applying skills to real issues. Participants are able to use a 360 degree online evaluation to help them identify strengths and weaknesses and have this fed back and discussed at coaching sessions
• Facilitated action learning sets for all participants in groups of 5/6. We build on this during classroom sessions, where we start each 4-day module with an action learning set focussing on what they have applied since the last module.
• Action planning which grows increasingly sophisticated at each module
• Focussing on a real and substantial project in module four that is worked on during the module to ensure success.
• Further reading materials and checklists to be used between modules

Measurement of success is also important and we are using a number of methods.

• Feedback forms following each module
• A climate questionnaire completed by all managers online twice a year to track organisational changes
• A competency questionnaire issued between modules to check how confident and competent participants are in applying skills. This feeds into coaching and action learning sessions

A quote from a participant who had to deal with a difficult issue demonstrates the connection between the ‘course’ and the real world of participants.

I know that I could not have handled this situation - as a leader - without the training. A year ago I suspect I would have been one of the crowd rather than a part of the solution.The leadership stuff makes you more aware of your responsibilities all round, helps you take stock of the situation, make a plan, LISTEN to what people are saying, communicate better and aim for an outcome

The Chief Executive has backed this programme from the start and has asked us to help him set up a parallel development process for himself and other Chief Executives of key public bodies including charities and other agencies in the region.He has stated publicly that this is the single most important investment HIE has ever made.

One of the techniques we often use in leadership development programmes is Action Learning.