Children’s Services & Education
Organisations addressing the children’s services agenda believe that the core challenges facing them are to create a strong leadership group and develop an aligned culture. Central to achieving this is the need to merge the different beliefs, values and operating methods of all the agencies involved, identify best practice, and form a single culture, free from internal conflicts.
At GatenbySanderson we specialise in this sector and are assisting many authorities to build high performing strategic leadership teams and effective partnerships. We are one of the ODPM’s preferred suppliers and have experience of attracting ODPM capacity building funds for individual organisations and regional partnerships.
We have a proven track record of success in integrating and aligning top teams and equipping them to drive the corporate culture in the right direction. In response to the children’s services agenda we work with organisations and local partnership teams to ensure they excel at:
- Delivering high performance transformational leadership
- Strategic visioning and planning
- Clarifying their core purpose
- Developing ‘one culture’
- Setting high performance standards and leading measurable improvement
- Optimising communications
- Removing barriers to improvement
- Building effective partnerships
Structural design: Reflecting the thematic approach in ‘Every Child Matters’
Our experience of assisting a number of authorities in developing their organisational structures, systems and processes, has taught us that, when it comes to children’s services, one size definitely does not fit all.
There are a variety of structural options to choose from and selecting what best suits your authority is likely to be one of your most significant challenges. Achieving integration, not just internally, but across a range of partners, requires:
- A structure which is designed to reflects the ‘Every Child Matters’ themes
- Effective working across organisational boundaries
- Working with different Trust models to meet local needs
GatenbySanderson is perfectly placed to provide advice, support and assistance to help you identify and process map what can work best for your authority. In addition, the change required by ‘Every Child Matters’ will depend on specific skills targeted at clearly defined projects or change programmes; these skills are sometimes best met by resources from outside the organisation.
We have a great track record of sourcing the best change managers and transitional leaders to support organisations in their drive for successful outcomes.
Social care and education from an interim perspective
There are always recurring and generic issues that are catalysts for interim management requirements, but the social care and education sectors have seen more than their fair share of change and new agendas in recent years. Departures of key staff, sickness, and imminent inspections and interventions will always prompt the need for interim managers.
Within the social care and education sectors there are also other key challenges to service delivery. These have increased the need for strategic advice and operational support from individuals outside the organisation who are experienced in managing major transitional change programmes.
These key challenges to service delivery include:
- Service integration, modernisation and reprovision to bring about profound change
- Supporting the development of innovative approaches to service delivery
- The moving of centralised service structures to area or district models
- Joint commissioning
- Partnering arrangements and collaborative working to bring about sustainable service improvements
- Unitary status
- Outsourcing of in-house services to private and voluntary sector providers
If you would like to learn more about how GatenbySanderson can help you, contact us on Leeds 0113 205 6071, London 020 7426 3960 or Birmingham 0121 644 5700.
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