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Save Multi-agency services: Setting and communicating a vision
Developing a vision for your service is a vital starting point for leaders of integrated working. It is a useful unifying force, focusing people on why they are there and helping to inspire and motivate them.
Communicating a vision effectively involves encapsulating it in a broad statement that defines what your team or local area is aiming to achieve for children and young people. A vision for services working in this area is likely to be framed in relation to the five outcomes for children and young people outlined in Every Child Matters as this will be the organising framework for all local work.
A vision gives you a firm base from which to build and develop your service. It also provides a context for dealing with the inevitable differences and conflicts that emerge when people from different backgrounds interact with each other to take up their new roles. Some research indicates that the majority of difficulties experienced in multi-agency working can be traced back to a lack of clarity of vision and purpose.
Principles for successfully communicating a vision
A leading change management theorist, John Kotter, recommends the following:
- keep it simple
- use metaphors, analogies and examples
- use many different forums
- repeat, repeat, repeat
- walk the talk (lead by example)
- explicitly address apparent inconsistencies
- listen and be listened to.
If you can't communicate the vision to someone in five minutes or less and get a reaction that signifies both understanding and interest, then you are not yet done with defining the vision.
Purpose statements
A statement of purpose is also helpful. This describes what your service actually does and what it is contributing to the health and well-being of the community it serves.
For example the purpose statement of a youth offending team (Yot) might be described as: "To prevent offending by children and young people."
As another example, the purpose statement of a behaviour and education support team (BEST) can be described as: "To promote emotional well-being, positive mental health, positive behaviour and school attendance and help in the identification and support of those with, or at risk of developing emotional and behavioural problems, through the provision of multi-agency support in schools and to individual families."
Example of a BEST purpose statement from Manchester
Your purpose may have already been defined by national or local guidance, or you may have the opportunity to shape and develop one, perhaps in collaboration with the wider community. But whichever way it is done, the next step is to agree the contribution of each individual in achieving it. This avoids a conflict over whose input and output is more important, and instead focuses on what collaboration needs to happen so that people's work has maximum impact.
It helps to invest time at the start of the project sharing and communicating the vision and purpose of the service. This also means understanding the intentions and expectations of others. Don't presume to know these - take time at the beginning to understand your future colleagues' hopes, expectations and concerns and explore how these support or constrain people's ability and willingness to work to a common purpose.
Reading and resources
Kotter, J., 'Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail', Harvard Business Review (March-April, 1995), pp. 59-67
Hutton, J. M., Working with the concept of organisation-in-the-mind (2000), London: The Grubb Institute
Hutton, J. M., 'Re-imagining the organisation: Management in human service institutions' in Smith, E (ed.) Integrity and change: Mental health in the marketplace (1996), London: Routledge
Hutton, J. M., Bazalgette, J. L. and Reed, B. D, 'Organisation-in-the-mind: A tool for leadership and management of institutions' in Neumann, J. E., et al. (eds) Developing organisational consultancy (1995), London: Routledge
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Last updated on 30/04/2009
