Building capacity for sustainable change
Introduction
The review identified major changes requiring a real and lasting commitment to transform services at all levels and in all parts of the system. Achieving that will require:
- clear and effective leadership at all levels;
- a new focus on performance improvement;
- support for transformational change; and
- modernised legislation to consolidate change.
10 Services must develop enabling leadership and effective management at all levels across the system
Our goal is to empower workers, people who use services and managers to promote partnership and provide a supportive environment where creative solutions can be developed to meet people's needs. Developing both services and workers will require visionary, creative leadership and effective, supportive management. In order to do that we will need:
- to develop a national framework for leadership and management development that develops leadership skills at all levels including:
- professional and practice leadership;
- political leadership;
- strategic leadership;
- operational management;
- academic leadership;
- citizen leadership, enabling people who use services to influence their design and delivery; and
- a leadership style within organisations that gives staff, users and managers the power to develop creative solutions.
11 Services must be monitored and evaluated on the delivery of improved outcomes for people who use services, their carers and communities
A major driver for the review has been to develop a performance improvement culture in social work to complement the establishment of the new Social Work Inspection Agency. To do this we will need:
- a performance improvement framework for all social work services, based on outcomes. Work on a framework for children and families is almost complete. Work on other areas of practice will be completed in 2006;
- elimination of unnecessary information gathering, using an agreed framework of outcomes to inform a national dataset;
- development of tools to share learning and support practitioners to improve and evaluate outcomes, allowing them to improve their practice;
- an annual performance improvement report, peer assessed and published by chief social work officers, setting out achievements and future plans; and
- inspectorates to use performance improvement frameworks as a means of reducing the regulatory burden on services, ensuring that duplication is eliminated.
12 Services should develop the capacity and capability for transformational change by focusing on service re-design and organisational development
Achieving lasting change requires organisations to look at the way services are designed and organised and make sure that they are organised around the needs of people who use them. In order to do that we will need:
- to develop both the capacity and the skills to re-design services through the creation of networks resourced to support organisations to make change;
- to develop organisational development and change management skills within organisations;
- to use evidence based approaches to support the re-design of services and improve performance;
- to make effective, proactive use of technology to transform the delivery of services; and
- develop local and national social work fora which provide a means to engage practitioners, leaders, academics, policy makers and partners in transforming practice.
13 The Scottish Executive should consolidate in legislation the new direction of Scottish social work services
Although all of the changes we propose could be achieved without new legislation, it would make a powerful statement about the contribution of social work in the 21st century. It would create a new landmark in Scottish social work, consolidating the significant changes we propose. In particular it would:
- provide a new foundation for personalised services;
- embed performance improvement;
- enshrine citizen leadership;
- establish new governance arrangements; and
- develop social work practice.