Multi-agency services: Training opportunities

This section has more information on personal and team development, including training on integrated working processes and tools, and behaviour, skill and attitude training. It then discusses the key features of an effective induction programme, informal training opportunities and continuing professional development (CPD). Particular considerations for training of staff in multi-agency panels are included.

Personal and team development

'The overwhelming significance of training in multi-agency teams is to enable workers from different disciplines to familiarise themselves with the concerns and expertise of their peers... an opportunity to dispel and demystify negative perceptions of the role of others. It built on the training received in the [home] agency and many respondents said they appreciated having both sorts of training opportunity.'
National evaluation of Sure Start

Implementing Sure Start local programmes: An in-depth study (2005) found that programmes that took a systematic and proactive approach to training appeared to be more successful at ensuring staff had appropriate skills than those that took a more ad hoc approach. This approach also ensures that training resources are used in a targeted way so that the budget is spent in the most effective manner and is not 'wasted' by providing unnecessary training. It also means that staff are less likely to miss out on training as their needs are constantly updated.

Traditionally, personal development is planned by assessing learning needs with reference to individual and service-level objectives, current levels of competence and levels of competence required for future performance. But these approaches can be mechanistic and formulaic. In the case of multi-agency working, it can be more helpful for the group to define their collective learning needs which arise from a shared reflection on the realities of working together.

A personal development plan that emerges out of this kind of collective understanding will highlight knowledge and skills that will benefit everyone in the service. For example, if they identify a need for restorative justice training, then a staff member attending a course is there to learn on behalf of their colleagues. That knowledge enhances the collective capacity of the service as soon as it is brought into any discussion of their activities. In effect, their individual learning becomes corporate learning for the whole service.

Joint training with partner agencies and with home agencies is another good way of sharing skills and knowledge and building links.

Training on integrated working processes and tools

The work of multi-agency services will be supported by key integrated working processes and tools, for example information sharing, the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and the lead professional. Staff working in multi-agency services will therefore require priority training in these areas.

Click for more on integrated working or to access guidance and training materials on information sharing, Common Assessment Framework and lead professional.

Behaviour, skill and attitude training

Kotter (1996) states that we often don't think through carefully enough what new behaviours, skills and attitudes will be needed when major changes are initiated. As a result, we don't recognise the kind and amount of training that will be required to help people learn these new behaviours, skills, and attitudes.

Leaders and managers need to consider what is required, both for themselves and for their practitioners, in terms of new behaviours, skills and attitudes and how best to achieve this. These are obviously major considerations for planning training and team building exercises. These should also be a consideration when recruiting the team what sort of attitudes and behaviours are best suited to the new situation.

Training programmes need to be structured to challenge stereotypes and to break down traditional barriers between professional groups.

Induction

'I've had a lot of training. The training that I've been helping to organise in the Sure Start programme has been an exciting opportunity for me to look out of my own silo and learn from some of the other staff.'
Sure Start manager quoted in national evaluation

People joining a service need opportunities to get to know their colleagues, to find out more about the context they are working in, and to share their views and experiences. If your service is completely new, the induction process offers huge potential for getting the team 'forming' stage off to a good start. People will need both formal and informal occasions to get to know more about each other, why they are there, and who they need to know in partner agencies and elsewhere.

In established services, a new colleague will alter the existing group dynamics. To minimise potential disruption, get things off to a positive start by offering a comprehensive induction. First impressions play an important role in shaping someone's views of an organisation. A good induction programme will show that your service is organised, that you want new people to settle in quickly and develop a shared understanding of why they are there, and that you take their personal development needs seriously.

Induction can include:

providing information on administrative and domestic arrangements

providing information about the team's work and other agencies

work shadowing with other members of the service

work shadowing in other agencies, for example schools and social services

welcoming and understanding the new staff member's skills and perspective, and considering this in the context of the existing organisational culture.

Informal training opportunities

As well as formal training events, there are numerous other opportunities to help team members get to know one other and develop as a more effective unit, for example:

regular whole staff meetings
allocated time for open discussion, robust debate and enjoyment, for example group lunches or evenings out
through a culture of openness and sensitivity to the different starting points of group members, so that people have the confidence to say when they don't understand something
a weekly lunch or other informal 'team building' time.

Continuing professional development

In some disciplines, for example psychology, CPD is necessary to maintain professional status. These requirements may not fit neatly with the whole staff approach to training identified above, but they need to be considered to avoid tensions and to work out the training budget. It helps to consider the following issues:

Is there a need for a ring-fenced training budget?

What training does the group need, and what will any additional CPD requirements cost?

If staff members can still access training opportunities through their parent agency, can you agree staff release for the days required?

It is helpful to discuss this situation openly with everyone in the service, to alleviate any tensions that may arise if some people receive more training than others. However, these tensions should be minimised if there is a corporate approach to training where an individual's personal development is seen as directly beneficial to the capacity of the whole service.

Training for multi-agency panels

There are specific considerations for training in multi-agency panels, where opportunities for joint training and development can be limited because the members are not based together and their time commitment to the service is generally focused on attending meetings and carrying out casework.

Joint training can help panel members move through the 'norming' stage of team development as described in the model developed by Bruce Tuckman. It can also help meet individual learning needs. Training opportunities can be formal or informal, for example:

an induction to the panel and its work

a regular slot once or twice a year where all panel members get together for a few days for a set programme of training which they have jointly agreed

opportunities to do specialist training, which an individual then cascades to the rest of the panel

opportunities to do joint training with partner agencies

a weekly lunch or other informal team building time.

The precise balance of training will need to reflect the needs of the panel and the availability of and budget for training. It is also worth recognising that the time available for a multi-agency panel to train together is likely to be more limited than the time available to other multi-agency services that are based together and work together all the time.

There is an ongoing debate in training circles about the best way to integrate individual and organisational learning needs. As a manager of a multi-agency panel, you are likely to be more focused on training that can help all your panel members work together collaboratively, rather than skills-based training which relates to their professional roles and will be delivered through their home agencies. In multi-agency working, it can be helpful for the group to define their collective learning needs which arise from a shared reflection on the realities of the work of the panel.

The more individual members of staff are able to work in their roles, but on behalf of the service as a whole, the more their individual learning will become corporate learning for the whole service. Effective multi-agency services develop their collective competence through a process of reflecting together. Try to find opportunities for acknowledging and recording the new skills and competencies that people are developing, so that they can use this as a way of demonstrating how their personal practice is developing during their time in a multi-agency setting.

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Last updated on 10/04/2009

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