OHC Final Draft

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Contents

The LSIS Organisational Health Check

Welcome and Overview 3

Background to the Organisational Health Check programme 4

Introduction 5

The team and how it operates 5

Pre-visit preparation 6

During the OHC 6

Verbal feedback 6

The OHC report 7

Evaluation and impact 7

OHC sample timetable 8

Briefing note for participants 11

Record of meeting12

Regional Development Manager contacts14

The LSIS Organisational Health Check

Foreword

Welcome to our handbook of guidance for those participating in, or considering joining, organisational health checks.

The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) wants to promote further, and use its resources to enhance, the sector’s own undoubted ability to help itself.

We have been working closely with a number of organisations to develop the organisational health check (OHC) model. We are indebted in particular to HOLEX, one of the foremost adult learning sector bodies, for trialling the OHC across their own and other parts of the sector, with much success and appreciative feedback.

The pilots indicated that the process and outcomes were highly valued by participants, team members and the organisations concerned. I would emphasise the value to those participating of experiencing an impartial and external professional challenge, and hearing the voice of the ‘critical friend’.

In this first 6 months, we have chosen to work with organisations where it’s been two years or more since their last inspection, covering those across the spectrum of performance, from outstanding to inadequate. We need organisations to share thoughts or experiences with other providers after the OHC takes place, but we won’t pressure them to publish the report we’ll provide. We must work together to analyse the whole organisation to identify opportunities for improvement and further action.

I hope that some of those improvements can help whole organisation change and efficiency of performance.

I commend to you the benefits of a health check, based on my own experience. I would be particularly pleased to see the sharing of outcomes and results that can help us all exemplify the modernised learning and skills sector: the sector that continues to deliver best value, high quality provision to every individual learner.

Dr David Collins CBE

Chief Executive, LSIS

Background to the Organisational Health Check programme

The Organisational Health Check (OHC) has been developed to complement the LSIS offer and will be available to all learning and skills funded organisations from September 2010. The OHC model has been developed following extensive piloting, research and evaluation. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the model will still be reviewed and improvements can be made to enhance the experiences of organisations.

The evaluation of the pilotsindicated that the process and outcomes were highly valued by all participants, team members and the organisations concerned. In particular, the benefits were seen to be:

• The provision of an impartial and external, professional challenge, which can operate beyond the requirements of the inspection framework
• The opportunity for organisations to re-consider their strategic positioning with regard to priorities and future directions
• Support for the process of embedding the “SAR” culture across the organisation
• A “measure” that is non-threatening and honest for senior management teams
• The invitation to all staff and stakeholders to be frank and open with the team, thus enabling a rapid analysis of the key issues
• A report that is couched in language that is acceptable to the organisation and is not automatically in the public domain
• The identification of any serious areas of weakness that had not been apparent gives the provider the basis for an immediate action plan, as part of their existing quality improvement planning process and documents.

Introduction

An LSIS Organisational Health Check (OHC) offers sector organisations an opportunity to receive objective feedback about their organisation, in relation to meeting their current and future strategic requirements. A team of trained senior practitioners drawn from the learning and skills sector will tailor the support to organisational needs.Some of these teams will also be led by LSIS staff. Where feasible, LSIS programmes and services will be recommended as part of the support and development package following an OHC.

An OHC is intended to:

-Help prepare for self assessment

-Help plan for a quality review

-Look at plans for organisational development and offer a critique

-Provide an impartial, external, professional challenge

-Help identify strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities, for the organisation to respond to, within its own quality improvement plan.

An OHC is neither an inspection nor a benchmarking process, designed to compare organisations to its peers. It will not intrude into the performance management or day to day governance of the organisation. An OHC would not look in detail at finances, capital projects, health and safety, equal opportunities, safeguarding or detailed data issues although these areas may be highlighted.

The team and how it operates

The OHC team will comprise three members. At least one of the team will have had previous experience of undertaking OHCs. There will be a lead person nominated and this will be someone with the sector or subject expertise as identified by the main focus of the OHC. In some cases, this may be the LSIS Regional Development Manager (RDM).

Every volunteer organisation will be contacted by your RDMto agree the dates for the visit and they will also finalise arrangements for the OHC and answer any queries you may have. The RDM may not always form part of the OHC team, but they will remain in communication with you and with the OHC team throughout.

The role of the OHC lead is to have a detailed conversation with you to agree the focus and arrangements for the visit and ensure that all team members are fully briefed.

The team will transport themselves to the location you have selected for their base. The team will require a minimum of two base rooms for their meetings and one of these rooms should accommodate up to 12 people, the second room could be smaller accommodating up to six. Aday to day contact person should be identified before the visit in order to negotiate and agree any possible changes to the timetable.

Pre-visit preparation

At least two weeks before the OHC, the RDM will request key documents from your organisation to support the preparation for the OHC. These should include, depending on availability, the self-assessment report, most recent inspection report, quality improvement plan, annual report, Minimum Levels of Performance (MLP) and Qualification Success Rate (QSR) reports and any relevant local reports and a structure chart with the names of key staff.

During the OHC

The OHC model is based on a timetable of meetings with key staff and, if agreed that their perspective will add value, you may decide that learners or stakeholders would like to attend meetings. The first meeting of day one is scheduled to be with the head of your organisation in order to raise any key issues that emerge from the key documentspreviously issued and to further clarify the focus of the visit. This is followed by a meeting with the full senior management team which gives an opportunity to test out their expectations of the OHC and to confirm the focus of the meetings which follow later on.

The OHC visit is of course by invitation and is not an inspection. The resulting feedback and report will be aimed at helping your organisation to improve. It is therefore vital to create a relaxed atmosphere, the OHC team members are dependent on people being open and honest to ensure the report is an accurate reflection.Anything identified in the report will not be attributed to a named individual.

The OHC team will endeavour to keep strictly to the timetable for everyone’s convenience but if a meeting indicates that further exploration with a particular person would be beneficial, it is possible to consider further meetings, which can be arranged at a separate time, possibly on the final morning.

During the meetings notes will be taken. There is a sample record of meeting form attached (page 11) which may be used by the OHC team to capture the key points of conversations.

Verbal feedback

At the beginning of day two there will be a brief meeting with the lead contact and or Head of your organisation to share emerging findings. At this point, it is important to ensure that the head of the organisation is comfortable about the audience for the formal verbal feedback session planned later in the day.

The findings will be based on the format of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The verbal feedback is best arranged in an informal setting. Normally, the feedback is then split between OHC team members, each covering one or two sections. The OHC team will not be leaving any formal written documentation with your organisation at this stage, although of course you may wish to take notes during the feedback session.

The OHC report

The report will be internally moderated by LSIS and your RDM will send the report to your organisation within 10 working days. The RDM will also signpost you to sources of good practice and further support if required.

LSIS will not put the report in the public domain without agreement from your organisation. The role of LSIS relates to maintaining an overview of the process and keeping an eye on the key messages emerging from the sector in terms of further development needs.

Evaluation and Impact

Your RDM will be in contact with you immediately following the OHC to gather feedback on your experience . The RDM will also contact your organisation within a six month period to assess impact and to identify any further LSIS support activity required.

SAMPLE TIMETABLE FOR PILOT ORGANISATIONAL HEALTH CHECK

• Structure chart with key staff
• Self-Assessment Report
• Post Inspection Action Plan
• Quality Improvement Plan
• Any Internal reviews, reports or business plans

Briefing note – for OHC participants within the organisation

It is important that all participants of the OHC are fully briefed and aware of the purpose of the process and what is required of them. Organisationsmay wish to use this information as an overview of the OHC, when confirming arrangements with participants for their meeting time and venue.

The purpose of the Organisational Health Check (OHC) is to give our organisation an objective, independent view of capacity to face the future and to reach new and different markets as well as offer feedback on where we are in terms of quality processes and improvement.

The visiting team will be with usfor two days and, in addition to reviewing key documentation in advance of the visit, they will be conducting a series of meetings. They will be meeting groups of staff, learners and stakeholders, all of whom will bring a different perspective. The OHC team should be viewed as external professionals and as perhaps “critical friends”. Members of the team are likely to be from organisations similar to ours.

During the OHC, you are urged to be frank and open in your responses to questions. There is no need to prepare for the meeting but if there are any papers that might be of interest to the OHC team, do please bring them along.

Unlike inspection, where inspectors are making judgements on everything they see, the OHC team will be assisting us to identify our strengths and address any weaknesses, at the same time looking at how to prepare for the opportunities that are out there and avoid any external threats that may be on the horizon. Nothing that you say will be attributable.

The outcome of the activity will be a report which will identify the team’s perception of our main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

ORGANISATIONAL HEALTH CHECK

Record of meeting

Date and time:

Focus (If applicable):

Staff member:

General Notice to the interviewee

An OHC is not an inspection but is the result of an invitation by the provider to examine its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Whilst notes will be taken during this session no points made within the final report will be attributed to any person. Therefore in order to make the most of this exercise I would ask that you respond as candidly as possible to any topic that we explore during this session.

Who is my Regional Development Manager?

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East Midlands

Lorna Freakley

07799478215

East of England

Sylvia Gentleman

07919 101416

London

Abigail Lammas

07825 933774

North East

Paul Cook

07825933 775

North West

Jo Higgins

07770 488854

South East

Pamela Lumsden

07825 933 771

South West

Deborah Farley

07825 933772

West Midlands

Sue Blake

07920 710584

Yorkshire and Humberside

Colin Forrest

07795 496 262

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Where can I get more information?

Please visit

LSIS helpline 024 7662 7953or your Regional Development Manager

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