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Save Targeted youth support (TYS): 'Develop' activities hints and tips
This section contains hints and tips supporting the activities in the 'Deliver' stage of the targeted youth support (TYS) change process. The hints and tips come from partners in children's trusts who are redesigning their TYS.
The hints and tips are not exhaustive, and while they offer useful guidance and help to accelerate and deliver effective and sustainable change, there is no obligation to follow or implement them.
If you would like to add to this list of hints and tips, email writing@remodelling.org.
Click to go back to the 'Develop' activities page.
Mobilise for the Develop stage
- Understand the implementation constraints before you start developing solutions. Understand the constraints that may have a significant impact on the solutions you develop and implement. These could include the authority's budgetary cycle, the type and level of resources available to implement the solution, and the impact of other activities, eg those arising from a joint area review.
- Ensure you take options for decommissioning into account. In many cases, the reality of redesigning services is that there is no new funding available. This means that the findings of 'Decision point 2' are particularly important in informing decisions where services are candidates for decommissioning as part of the service redesign.
- Identify the experience and skills needed in each change team. Identify practitioners who will participate in the 'Develop' and 'Deliver' stages. Secure their involvement at a personal level and with their managers.
- Ensure representatives from all relevant agencies are in the appropriate change teams and invited to Fast Start. This will help each team make informed and focused decisions, generate solutions, prioritise and implement sustainable and long-lasting changes.
- Where necessary, separately brief any invitees to Fast Start not aware of the TYS process to date and the key elements of the 'Decision point 2' meeting. This allows the Fast Start event to focus on the future and not spend time bringing people up to speed.
- In two-tier authorities, mobilise the district councils by providing briefing sessions to councillors, officers and practitioners.
- Brief and engage other related project. For example, lead professional, Common Assessment Framework (CAF), extended services for schools.
Hold a Fast Start workshop
- Ensure that the right people are invited and have the right expectations. Once you have identified people to participate in the change teams, the project sponsor and project manager need to dedicate significant effort to explaining the purpose of the event to the participants and their managers beforehand. This is often best done on a one-to-one, ideally face-to-face, basis. Make them realise that they have been chosen because of their expertise and that they can have a real influence in the future of service provision. It is also vital that participants understand the commitment required after the event, which is typically a half day per week for 6–8 weeks.
- Make it a practical, working session. Generate momentum by making visible progress on the day, rather than spending time talking at the audience. For example, ask the change teams to generate ideas for quick wins and allocate responsibilities to implement them. At the end, you should agree clear action points including a schedule of meeting dates for each change team.
- Focus on future activities not what has already happened. The Mobilise for Develop activity recommends that you pre-brief any participants who are not aware of the TYS process to date and the key elements of the 'Decision point 2' meeting. This allows the Fast Start event to focus on the future and not spend time bringing people up to speed.
- Make sure the sponsor is fully behind the outline remit for each change team. It is critical to set up the change teams with a clear remit from the start. The sponsor should be fully supportive of each team's remit, and be available throughout the day to respond to any challenges to the remit as these are fleshed out. Together the remits should fully address the critical questions agreed at 'Decision point 2'.
- Ensure you have strong facilitation. The Fast Start can be a challenging couple of days, as people understand and internalise what they are being asked to do. This means that many participants are likely to experience an emotional dip at some point. Experienced facilitators will help carry people through these dips and make it a positive experience at the end.
- Give the change teams the tools they need. Ensure that you reserve enough time to train the change teams in the tools that they will need to develop their solutions effectively. If this is not feasible in the time, organise separate sessions to train at least one member of each change team, or an external facilitator, in their use.
- Give the change teams examples of good practice. Offer the change teams access to existing good practice. This should include examples of good multi-agency working within the area, as well as examples from outside where appropriate. See the additional resources page for a range of helpful material, including the joint planning and commissioning site.
- Acknowledge the emotional curve. For many, the Fast Start will be a difficult event. There may be a feeling of being overwhelmed by the amount to do or at the difficulties ahead (lack of budget, entrenched positions, resistance to change). People may also feel that they don't have the skills or authority to make real change. You should ensure that the event addresses these concerns openly, and finishes with a clear set of next steps so that the change teams begin the 'Develop' process with positive momentum.
Run the change teams
- Set up a change team lead group. You should set up a group consisting of the change team leads and chaired by the project manager. This group should meet regularly to ensure that the work of the change teams is dovetailing effectively no overlaps and no gaps.
Hold an Options Development workshop
- The sponsor, Director of Children's Services and other senior stakeholders should attend. To challenge the teams if their options are not radical enough it can be difficult for practitioners to see beyond their day-to-day constraints to radical new ways of working.
- Participants should be encouraged to challenge their colleagues as well as support them. They may need some briefing on how to give and receive constructive feedback.
- Ensure that there is a structure and enough time. For change teams to work together and to create action plans at the end of the event.
- Keep the focus on what is needed for 'Decision point 3'. See the 'Decision point 3' page to ensure that you are covering all the elements of the model (implementation plan, business case, performance measures, etc.).
- Where the workshop identifies a cross-cutting theme, then the sponsor should take this to the senior management group. This helps provide clear direction and boundaries to the teams. One way to do this is to have a moderation panel (consisting of the senior management group) towards the end of the workshop.
- Ensure that there is a clear plan for who does what by when at the end of the workshop.
- Consider having a young person at the workshop. They can contribute very effectively and their perspective is very valuable.
- Emphasise that this is work in progress. So participants should not be discouraged if things seem messy.
- Emphasise that this is a chance to have things done differently
Develop and deliver the Decision Point 3 presentation
- Make sure that the implementation plan emphasises cultural change. Organisational structures, processes and technology are all important in redesigning services. However, improved outcomes for young people are unlikely to be sustainable without a strong culture of collaborative working and respect between agencies. Developing such a culture may be a big task and should form an important part of the implementation plan.
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Last updated on 11/04/2009
