What can ‘the beautiful game’ teach us about how to unlock local capacity?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by OPM

By Sarah McDonnell, OPM senior researcher, with an introduction from Phil Copestake, OPM principal.

At OPM we know that whatever councillors and officers in local government feel about ‘open public services’ and ‘the big society’, few disagree that with much less money available, local authorities must find a way of unlocking the energy and capacity of local people. Each council is tackling this in a different way.

On Tuesday 21st February we’ll be launching a report based on brand new research with councils across England. The report will give an in-depth, wide-ranging picture of the practical ways in which local authorities are going about the difficult but vital task of unlocking local capacity.

We’ve got a fantastic panel of speakers at the launch event, including the Mayor of Newham Robin Wales, Stuart Etherington from NCVO, the leader of Oxfordshire County Council Keith Mitchell, and Matthew Gott, a senior director from complex families pioneers Swindon. The seminar will be in the early evening, in Central London, and is free, but places are strictly limited. If you’re interested in coming then please email seminars@opm.co.uk.

In the run-up to the 21st February there will be lots of posts on this blog offering different perspectives on how best to unlock local capacity, from the point of view of councils, residents and communities themselves, and local voluntary groups. To kick things off (the first of many puns: you have been warned) we have OPM’s Sarah McDonnell asking: what can local councillors and officers learn from the leadership strategies of managers from the world of… Premier League football! Continue reading →

Putting patients at the heart of changes to the NHS

Posted on January 12, 2012 by OPM

By Ewan King, OPM director, and Robin Clarke, OPM fellow

The mantra ‘no decision about me without me’ that underpins the Health and Social Care Bill is a good one – it tries to draw out in simple language the power and control patients will be afforded when it comes to decisions about their own healthcare. The goal of creating an NHS built upon shared decision making between clinician and patient cuts through many of the planned reforms, from improvements to front-line patient services (e.g. through the creation of patient reported outcomes and shared decision aids) through to much larger structural changes like the creation of clinical commissioning groups. Continue reading →

It’s time for community-led community cohesion

Posted on December 9, 2011 by OPM

By Ewan King, OPM director.

There are signals emanating from Government that we will shortly see the long awaited strategy on community integration and cohesion. This is good news, as there was a creeping sense of despair amongst some working in this field that the Government was going to abandon the commitment to this strategy completely.

Initial reports are sketchy but there is talk of a new cross-government strategy that will concentrate on four main areas:

A new drive against ‘anti-Muslim hatred’ in Britain and a recognition that anti-semitism is also growing.
Events to celebrate the Queen’s diamond jubilee and the Olympic Games that bring together different communities.
An online integration forum, which includes a ‘barrier-busting site’ to remove bureaucratic barriers and encourage different community and faith groups to come together.
An initiative to establish common ground with Gypsy and Traveller communities.

How these aims are governed, managed, delivered and measured locally is not yet known. However, if previous policies arising from this Government are anything to go by, we should not expect a detailed blueprint prescribed from the centre on how each and every element of this agenda will be delivered locally. Certainly, it is very unlikely that significant funding will be attached to this strategy. Continue reading →

What’s so good about coaching … for the coach?

Posted on December 7, 2011 by OPM

By David Love, OPM principal

Coaching is good for you. There’s increasing evidence that coaching has benefits for coachees and their organisations. I’m also seeing a diminishing sense of coaching as an expensive luxury, given its power in getting to the heart of the issues and building individual leadership capability that connects strongly with organisational priorities. More and more public service organisations are creating their own in-house coaching cadres often with the aim of creating a dramatic shift in the day-to-day ways they ‘do leadership and management’.

But what’s in it for those doing the coaching? Continue reading →

The NHS – a social network?

Posted on December 6, 2011 by OPM

By Deborah Rozansky, OPM principal

I realise it’s unusual to get excited about an academic article in a somewhat obscure scientific journal, but a recent piece of research about the evolution of cooperative behaviour caught my eye and got me thinking. (Please stick with me here!)

‘Cooperative behaviour cascades in human social networks,’ written by Fowler and Christakis in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, describes a set of laboratory experiments testing how people cooperate and behave towards each other while playing a series of public goods games. In these games individuals were asked to make contributions to a group; some of the experiments also included punishments. Continue reading →

Vital service for public sector mutuals re-launched

Posted on December 6, 2011 by OPM

By Phil Copestake, OPM’s head of communications.

For some time now we’ve been writing on this blog and elsewhere about the importance for new public sector mutuals of knowledge sharing, peer support and joining up access to relevant expertise. Yesterday there was really good news on this front, with the Government’s re-launch of the Mutuals Information Service (MIS).

The MIS brings together information, advice and guidance, including a new website to support individuals and teams who are looking to begin the journey, a new national hotline, and – perhaps most significantly – potential access to funding for bespoke professional support (the long-promised £10m Mutuals Support Programme). Continue reading →

Putting social value at the heart of new public sector mutuals

Posted on December 5, 2011 by OPM

By Linda Jackson, OPM associate fellow.

I recently attended a great event held by the Transition Institute to launch their publication on public service spin outs called, Towards a Social Value Ethos. The lively and challenging debate focused on the different things that need to happen in order to spin out public services into a different form of ownership. Whilst the paths, processes and duration of each transition are likely to vary from organisation to organisation, there are some commonalities that need to be in place for the journey to effectively take place. Continue reading →

Patient and public involvement is becoming clearer … except for the big bit

Posted on November 30, 2011 by OPM

By Robin Clarke, OPM fellow

As the Health and Social Care Bill takes its final steps through Parliament its impact on patient and public involvement (PPI) is becoming clearer in some areas, but remains murky in one crucial area. Continue reading →

Challenges for clinical health leaders in changing times

Posted on November 29, 2011 by OPM

By Helen Brown, OPM principal

As the NHS Alliance conference begins in Manchester, participants working in primary care and partner organisations will no doubt be keen to hear from leading practitioners, politicians and commentators. We can expect discussion to be wide-ranging, informative and occasionally impassioned as people debate the future health service and their roles within it. Continue reading →