Leadership

Coming on the heels of years of reorganisation in public services, "change" is almost a dirty word to many in the social care sector. However, it is a word practitioners will have to get used to as children's services across the UK undergo a radical overhaul.

In Every Child Matters: Next Steps, the Government spells out a vision for change in England (and, to some extent, in Wales). So committed is the Government to this vision of reform that it's setting up a £20m change fund. It aims to create regional change advisers, drawn from local authority or health backgrounds, to advise councils and primary care trusts on local change programmes, to facilitate partnership working and to share best practice.

Consequently, change does not have to mean restructuring. According to those professionals who have been involved in change before, effective change management can result in staff development, joint working and finding new solutions to old problems.

1. Highlight the benefits

"There's always resistance to change so you need to point out the benefits, and show staff how it's going to enhance their work," says Rachel Shaw, head of child and adolescent nursing at Conway and Denbighshire NHS Trust.

The trust has recently reorganised its safeguarding children services to better meet North Wales' benchmarks around child protection. It's created two new posts and delivered a comprehensive programme of training - from a basic induction at level one for all staff, through to level four for specialist advisers.

During the process, staff have been kept informed through team briefings, and being involved in evaluation.

"Staff know who to contact for routine and ad-hoc supervision around child protection issues," explains Shaw, "and while there's never any room for complacency when it comes to child protection, it makes them feel safer in their work."

2. Create a shared vision

Keeping staff on your side can be tough if the process of change does not meet their expectations. This is why it is essential to create a shared vision through close consultation with colleagues, believes Jackie O'Brien, family therapist with Newham's central early start team.

This central team, which was created 18 months ago, offers strategic support to staff working in the borough's eight Early Start programmes (formerly Sure Start). "Staff were keen on our roles and valued them - but it was important for us to be clear about what we could realistically offer," admits O'Brien. "So we had to continually clarify the roles' boundaries."

For O'Brien, it is vital to keep connected with colleagues, to hear what they want and to make them feel listened to. "You can't always implement what people want," she adds, "but you can create a sense of shared responsibilities and accountability where people feel part of a bigger picture."

3. Keep it practical

In the process of change it can be the small details that upset the apple cart. As a result, focusing on practical issues and looking for common-sense solutions can be the key to keeping everyone on board.

"It's about having transparency and creativity, so the workforce sits down as a team and looks at ways of improving the system," advises Carl Whalley, service manager for the RU-OK? team in Brighton.

The team, which was set up to meet the needs of young people misusing substances or affected by drug use in their families, is a partnership between social services, the South Downs NHS Trust, Hove YMCA, and Brighton and Hove Connexions. Whalley reveals that taking a practical approach has helped to minimise the problems of multi-agency working.

"We work in a building that we lease from the trust," he explains, "so staff agreed it would be best to follow the trust's health and safety policy while we're here, rather than every agency following its own.

"And senior managers in each agency were happy to go with such a simple solution."

4. Break into bite-sized pieces

"We're trying to see it as work in progress and break it into bite-sized pieces," explains Pat Clewer, children's services development manager for Devon, who is co-ordinating the development of the county's children's trust.

Clewer feels that it is better to tackle change in stages so that there are no overriding goals but interim arrangements. In this way, staff can pilot new ways of working, then evaluate and build on these for the next stage. "People think that change has to be structural but that needn't be the case," says Clewer.

"Change is best driven by staff looking at the outcomes they want to achieve for children, and then making suggestions about how to get there.

For instance, staff start saying things such as: 'Wouldn't it be better to have a single management structure?' Then they look at how we can align our services to achieve that."

5. Include children's ideas

How can you be sure change really meets children's needs? In East Riding, Yorkshire, consultation with young people has been core in setting up a central enquiry line, to be provided by the Children's Trust. Launching this month, the line will be a referral point for any child parent or professional wanting information or access to relevant services.

Richard Vickers, manager for the trust, explains how staff have been holding workshops at Children's Fund consultation days. "The children wanted it friendly and not too formal, and explanations of issues such as why staff might consult with another colleague about their enquiry. The information they gave us was very basic, but important," he continues. "So we videoed it, and we're using it for staff training."

6. Prioritise communication

According to Isobel MacDougall, integrated children's services manager in South Lanarkshire, good communication is key to bringing about positive changes in children's services. Scotland has its own agendas around integrating children's services, and South Lanarkshire has pioneered work in this area.

MacDougall says one of the first decisions among partner agencies was to divide South Lanarkshire into four local areas - and to make health, education and social work boundaries co-terminous. Each of these areas has its own representatives from local agencies, who are developing action plans tailored to local children's needs. Groups are chaired by an elected member and supported by a co-ordinator, employed by MacDougall's team.

"Communication and interpersonal skills are key to the work of our team," says MacDougall, "and having a multi-disciplinary perspective so you can bring together a holistic approach."

MacDougall understands change can frighten people, so she advises managers: "Reassure staff that you recognise they have skills and experience, and give them opportunities to be consulted to express concerns and opinions."

7. Build solid foundations

When change is in the air, it can be easy for core services to fall apart.

So it is vital to plan ahead and lay foundations. According to Andrew Webb, county manager for children's services in Cheshire: "If we get regional government reorganisation in the North West, then shire counties will go and we'll have to think about reconfiguring our services - alongside implementing Every Child Matters."

Consequently, local shire counties have been getting together to examine ways they can ensure continuity of children's services if these changes take place. "We've looked at the service to make sure that services can endure beyond restructuring," explains Webb. "We're looking at developing extended schools, which offer services to children in the community. By having shared priorities we all sign up to, we can keep the focus on outcomes for children." P

CHANGE AGENTS ...

- Consult rather than trying to impose change from above

- Demonstrate good communication skills

- Work across all agencies to be accepted

- Support staff to look at outcomes and identify changes for themselves

- Are not in too much of a hurry, but take things in stages

CASE STUDY - How to make effective changes

"The biggest change was the conceptual one of moving away from providing mental health input to looked-after children who were having a problems, to creating an environment that supports children to grow healthily," explains Chris Burrows, systemic family therapist with the Help 4 U team.

Formed in 2003, the team provides therapeutic services for children in care in Tower Hamlets. It is part of the local child and adolescent mental health service, and is funded by health and social services. There is a team co-ordinator, a systemic therapist, an adolescent mental health worker/play therapist, and administrator.

Dedicated team

Before the team was created, one part-time social worker offered help to looked-after children, foster carers and families, as part of a child and family consultation service. But health and social services recognised the need to create a dedicated team with its own identity, and Help 4 U was born.

It has changed the way of working by providing outreach sessions where children and young people feel most comfortable. To get other colleagues to accept these changes, staff established their team identity and informed colleagues about their roles.

"We talked to a range of teams - health, social services, hospital services, foster carer groups and voluntary agencies," explains Linda Barlow, adolescent mental health social worker and play therapist, "and we spend time building relationships with colleagues when we're visiting clinics." Finding out about other people's roles in a child's life is key to the way the team works, and also provides an opportunity for Help 4 U's staff to explain their own roles.