Hello everyone! It has been a busy few months for the Change Management Team here at the Improvement Service so read on to find out what we have been up to.
Transformation!
What have we been up to?
We have been going through council committee papers to see what change and transformation plans have been published. We have uploaded these to our Change Manager's Networking group on the Knowledge Hub.
If you would like to see what local authorities across Scotland are doing, you can do so by clicking here. Please note you need to be a member of the Change Manager's Network to access the files. If you think we have missed out something or would like to share your change or transformation plan please get in touch with us by emailing changemanagement@improvementservice.org.uk. Also, please note that for some councils we have uploaded business plans/corporate plans as in some cases these are used as a framework for financial planning and transformation.
Qualifications Working in partnership with Scotland Excel we have responded to a need identified by councils across the country who are keen to develop skills in project management and business analysis. The following courses have been developed and are SQA approved. Students use live projects through the course to achieve the qualification.
Professional Development Award in Project Management
This qualification focuses on the practical application of key project management skills in a local government context. Since we launched in August 2018, we have delivered a number of cohorts with our seventh beginning this month, September 2019. Our next cohort will start in November 2019.
Business Analysis Programme
The Business Analysis Programme has a broad scope focusing on the practical application of organisational analysis through to planning and implementing outcomes of the analysis. Part 1 of the programme will focus on understanding tools for business analysis and how to apply these. The second element will look at how to make proposals and decisions for innovation. The first cohort will begin in October 2019.
Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Expansion Business Analysts from the Improvement Service continue to visit and offer specific support to local authorities as requested. Support includes the development of supply and demand analysis to prioritise capital programmes, risk analysis workshops and the provision of ongoing support with delivery progress reporting.
The next phase of delivery progress data collection is ongoing, with councils being given the opportunity to update their forecasts for the remaining reporting periods to ensure that progress is measured and reported against forecasts which reflect current expansion plans for the remainder of the expansion. Alongside this forecasting exercise, local authorities have been asked to report their actual position at the end of August 2019.
If you would like to know more about any of the above, please get in touch with the team. Contacts:
Change Manager's Networking Event We are organising a Change Manager's Networking Event, to take place early December 2019 so please keep your dairies free! We hope that you will be able to join us, either to participate as a speaker or to come along and hear from a diverse group of people. Be the first to know when registration opens, to add your name to the mailing list please let us know by emailing changemanagement@
imporvementservice.org.uk
Volunteer Participation, Volunteer Scotland Webinar (Click on the image above to see a short video introduction to the webinar)
Join our upcoming webinar with Volunteer Scotland to hear more about volunteer participation. Webinar to take place on Wednesday, 2nd October 11am-12pm. To register please click here.
The keynote speaker is George Thomson, CEO of Volunteer Scotland. George will cover the following:
Explore the future of volunteering
Talk about volunteer participation
Share his learning from a 10 week study on public value
Talk about the invention of commUnity bubbles
Share useful information and resources from Volunteer Scotland.
Dumfries and Galloway Council Dumfries and Galloway Council are running a range of transformation events during September and October. The workshops are participative and open discussions with a range of stakeholders to generate ideas on how to overcome some of the challenges the council are facing. Member of our team will be attending each of the events in a supportive role in terms of facilitation but also in terms of hearing the discussions and making any relevant links. South Lanarkshire Council Support We have recently been working with South Lanarkshire Council in a response to a request for support with absence reporting.
Support given consisted of analysis of the council's absence data, along with research work to provide examples from other local authorities on how they report their absence data.
An exploratory approach to the data analysis was taken to help identify patterns and trends that may require action to reduce absence levels. This information was provided to the council in a report which included examples of absence reporting from five Scottish local authorities.
South Lanarkshire council have fedback that the work undertaken was useful in providing considerations that could be explored further, and they have taken away some good learning from the information.
The Change Manager's Network Khub Group is an online forum where members can share information, learning and resources. It is built on good practice shared by others. If you have any issues getting started, please contact us.
