Dimensions (Provider)

Last Spring, I wrote about how we were putting in place the foundation blocks to enable the organisation to move forward on our personalisation journey:

• We were starting to train our own trainers on person-centred thinking tools  - and we've now been able to train over 300 of our staff face to face and are developing an e-learning course which will go live this summer
• We were developing a One Page Strategy for our personalisation journey - which is now on display in our offices and workspaces
• We were asking the leaders in our organisation to pledge their own support to 'spring' things forward in all departments - we have over 140 pledges from our leaders, with local teams developing their own promises and pledges.

Fast forward almost a year and we've achieved a lot. Our Personalisation Blog written over that year charts the recent journey and adventures we've been on.

In summer last year, we also introduced you to John, a family member who is involved in the journey for Emily, along with other members of her circle of support.  John was excited about personalisation because our approach reflects the aspirations that he, and others, have for Emily.

Below is an update from John about what's been happening recently. It tells the tale of his experience of 'Planning Live' - the event written about in our last blog.

Whilst John's experience highlights what a positive event Planning Live can be, it is also a useful reminderthat you need to know the allocation of money before you start, and that this can be a challenging process.

"The Planning Live! Event took place over one day. Emily's supporters were us (her parents), her brother, another member of her Circle of Support and her key worker. Our starting point was an understanding of what is important to Emily and what is important for her, derived from work already done by her Circle of Support. The process then took us through a series of steps which led to defining a Perfect Week for Emily and the actions necessary to put that into practice, which clearly present a number of challenges.

The Event showed that the Planning Live! process could be fully relevant for Emily, who has complex needs, provided all those supporting her understand and are realistic about her skills and abilities. The discussion on Hopes and Dreams in particular focused strongly on the aspiration of her supporters that she should receive care and support which is both high quality and delivered consistently, independent of us as parents.

The Event did not include consideration of funding for the activities in the Perfect Week ("In My Control" Costs) because the results from the Care Fund Calculator had not yet been finalised. Further discussion will inevitably be required when the results are available. We also thought that "Core Support" Costs may be an issue if we are to establish funding which fully reflects Emily's need for extensive staff time for meals and other personal care, for a proactive approach to health care and for very specific communication needs.

Overall, we felt that the process could provide a real opportunity to move towards a more personalised service and sits well with the objectives and actions of Emily's Circle of Support."

So, a year on - the foundation blocks are now being built on, and hopefully all of the processes and systems and strategies we have put in place are helping other people, like Emily, to move towards a life with more choice and control.

Over the past few months, I've talked about how we have launched our Personalisation Guide internally, so that our regions can continue on their personalisation journey at the local level. I've also talked about the preparation we've done to ensure the skills and resources are available to make this real.

Beyond all of this preparation there are a number of stages on the journey. 'Planning Live', shown in our Journey diagram below as 'plan' - is one of those.

Once you know what a person's allocation of money is, 'Planning Live' it is a planning event that brings all the people who are important to a person together, to listen to what is important to them and discuss a range of life and support options.

It culminates in a set of outcomes that the person wants to fulfil in the coming year and a template for a 'perfect week' on which to base the planning of the person's support.

The event brings everyone who lives and shares support together into one place, each with their own support circle made up of family, friends and supporters. This produces a great environment for learning and sharing and the days end up being very engaging, and at times fun.

Not only do people come up with a person-centred plan for their life and support, but they all have their own allocation of money for support. This is essential for when they begin to plan what support they need to make the changes they wish for in life.

Planning live is not a professional's event, it is not stuffy, or too formal. It is facilitated in a way that puts people we support and their families first, and stimulates ambitious and helpful ideas.

One of my colleagues, Paul, recently facilitated a Planning Live event with a group of people we support and their circles of support. In listening to his experience of the event, it highlighted what things are important to make an event like this go well:

- People! Those we support and their circle of support - the event was an equal partnership with families, managers and support staff, all working together to make it a success and to get the desired outcome for people we support. When a group of people come together and find a common purpose they can become very resourceful, more so than when working as independent forces in someone's life.

- Great facilitation - the facilitators' role is to provide structure and flow to the event, as well as setting the right tone. At the same time however, facilitators will need to be flexible to deal with the times when things don't go quite as planned. Upholding person-centred principles is the number one priority for the facilitator. Paul and another colleague facilitated the event. Someone we support was late arriving, so the rest of the group sat around watching Oklahoma - a favourite film that someone we support had brought along and everyone else was able to enjoy, rather that sitting around waiting, or the person arriving late feeling left out.

- Creativity - people we support had things at hand to make them feel at home - their drawing materials, music and headphones, their favourite film.

- They worked hard and had fun in equal measure, in the right atmosphere, with food and refreshments and a good space to work and record information in.

So, why do all of these things matter?

To get the most out of Planning Live, thinking and preparing for the day carefully will make it a success:

• It opens up a creative space for people to think about their life and support in a comfortable and reassuring environment

• People let us know how they want to spend their money

• People get the chance to think about community connections and non-paid support

• It is a good way to use information people have developed in My Support Plan

• It creates person-centred objectives for support teams to follow.

A lot has happened this year.

I've said this before here, but over the last few weeks we have been reflecting on our personalisation journey.

A year ago, I wrote a piece which described my own introduction to our personalisation journey and considered whether I was up for the challenge.

Taking stock, like we have done now, is when you realise how much progress has been made, but also the work that is still to do.

Whilst the project team has been working away in the background over this year, developing strategies and templates and processes, and all the other 'stuff' that helps provide frameworks within which to deliver our personalisation journey, our operations teams have been preparing the ground locally, helping to embed person-centred thinking tools and habits and continuing to be there for the people we support.

Developing Our One Page Strategy has been a key focus over this year - this document captures how we define success, how we will work to achieve this and how we can tell whether we've been successful or not.

As I write, these posters are being put up in our offices and workspaces across the organisation.

However, putting up a poster is not enough.

We have been gathering evidence from our colleagues to see how far we've come:

- around 300 employees trained face to face on person-centred thinking

- around 2000 employee one page profiles

- around 400 people we support attending Everybody Counts groups

Those are only a few of the measures, and we're currently defining the key indicators that will show us how we've improved and changed the lives of the people we support, so that they have choice and control. We still have a long way to go, but compared to what these numbers would have been a year ago, we have made progress.

We have also been reflecting on how we've engaged people (our employees, families, people we support) in our journey so far and how we can best communicate the reasons for the journey and what it means.

This blog is meant to be a way to do that, and we know that some posts are more popular than others. We're written about the meaning of personalisation, explained some of the tools and talked about the activities of the project team.

But having got all the 'stuff' in place, we need to make this journey real, so that everyone is motivated to make it personal.

What would make it real for you?

I spent a day earlier this month with some people we support and their support workers at an Everybody Counts group. These groups come together so the organisation can hear what's important to people we support at a local and national level, and so we can share with them things that are happening within Dimensions.

It is also, though, a great chance for people to re-connect with friends or support staff who used to support them - each time someone enters the room and are recognised, they are given a loud, warm, welcome greeting.

Everyone took their turn to say hello to the group - and sing a song or tell a joke. There were some classic choices - Elvis, Cliff - along with some gospel, Patsy Cline and Hakuna Matata from the Lion King.

We heard about our Social Care Charter, and the experience of some people we support who visited MPs at the Houses of Parliament, telling their story about what's important to them and the pledges that have been developed - things that other people might simply take for granted:

- I want choice and control over my money
- I want opportunities for greater independence
- I want to be a part of my community
- I want to have control and choice over my relationships
- I want to have a voice and be listened to

The people we support at the Everybody Counts group, who contributed to the development of these pledges, talked about the choice and control they have in their own lives, including choosing who they share a home with, getting their own money out of the bank, buying a cappuccino, going dancing on a Friday night, making tea, going on holiday and staying up late to see an Elvis tribute.

We listened to what's working for people in terms of these meetings - "everything!" - and what's not working - it starts a bit too early, and the access to the room is very important.

After a lovely lunch and hearing about the plans that people have for this weekend - having nails done, seeing friends, going on a boat trip - it was time to say goodbye.

Listening to the things that make people happy, it demonstrated so clearly the importance of the Social Care Charter - giving people with learning disabilities and autism the chance to live the life they choose, and making sure that their choice and control is protected in any future policy reform. Everybody should be signing it.

When I got home that evening, I watched incredibly talented athletes with a learning disability compete in the Paralympic Games.

The possibilities are endless; and so they should be...everybody counts.

Earlier this week, we brought together 60 of our senior managers to launch a guide and toolkit for our personalisation journey.

This Guide reflects the learning we have experienced in our personalisation journeys so far.  Making it Personal: A provider's journey from tradition to transformation and Making it Personal for Everyone

As well as operational colleagues, the workshop involved managers from our resource ring, including HR, performance, compliance, training, housing and marketing.

This is important because our mission is to make a difference to people by delivering personalised support that improves their quality of life, therefore every single person who works for our organisation is part of our journey and our commitment to being a person-centred organisation.

Our operational regions will now be progressing the journey with their staff teams, the people we support, their families/friends and commissioners, but we know this isn't something 'new' because there's already a lot of excellent work being done that is helping to deliver personalised services for the people we support.

Our journey will face challenges, but despite the concerns that were raised during the day, there was motivation and enthusiasm to make progress, and an appreciation that personalisation is 'what we are about'.

It was a packed agenda, and we covered a lot of ground at a fair pace, but there was lots of time for reflection, and in response to our title question, we know that:

• We are excited that all departments from across the organisation are engaging in our journey

• We are excited that we have a clear message about the journey and the positive impact it will have on peoples lives - this should be fed back to all our teams

• We are excited that we have the opportunity with the guide & toolkit to introduce personalisation properly, so that it works for the people we support and their families

• We are excited that we can achieve positive outcomes for the people we support

What excites you about personalisation?

There's lots going on, isn't there?

I don't know about you, but life seems hectic.

Even when you think outside your own world and everything you've got on, the news is full of stories about life for the people in countries where conflict rages, and they must just be battling to get through each day.

Closer to home, there's been the Jubilee celebrations and now the Olympics is about to start in our own backyard. Add to that the great British summer - all of that rain and the damage and chaos it's brought.

The planning that must have gone into putting on a competition of the scale of the Olympics is almost unimaginable.

The stories we've now heard about how some things haven't all gone according to plan does make you wonder about part of their planning process, and fans of the BBC comedy 'Twenty Twelve' will be questioning whether fiction has actually turned into reality, but there must be so many things to take into consideration that we should give them some slack, and a lot of positives have already materialised.

Next week it will all come together. The participants have been training and working so hard for so long to compete in their chosen activity, and this is their chance to hopefully reap the rewards of the hard work. For the spectators, an opportunity to take part in the events and support those involved is also exciting. I know I'm looking forward to cheering on our paralympians in the Aquatics Centre on 5th September.

In our own organisation, and on our personalisation journey, there's a lot going on too.

We've been writing a lot in our blog about the strategic planning we've done over the past 6 months or so to carefully consider how best to roll out our personalisation journey across the whole organisation, taking account of the challenges we face in terms of scale, resources, etc.

However, it feels like we've picked up more pace and momentum, particularly over the past month.

Just as the Olympic Deliverance Committee - sorry, the Organising Committee - get ready to see their plan get implemented, although it's not quite the same as an Opening Ceremony, in the middle of August we're going to be launching a step by step Guide & Toolkit for our 17 regions to roll out our personalisation journey locally.

We don't have as short a timeframe as the Olympic athletes to make this happen, but we are going to be closely monitoring progress over the next 4 years to make sure we're able to realise our vision and commitment to enable the people we support to have choice and control in their own lives.

We're also not going to be awarding gold, silver and bronze medals, but we are going to be recognising and rewarding staff who best demonstrate our values, including personalisation. For our Inspiring People awards in September, there are some wonderful nominations for individuals or teams who are doing an amazing job to enhance the lives of the people we support, for example:

• the team in Lincoln who have supported 3 young people to move into supported living, 2 of them leaving home for the first time

• the support worker in Slough who has worked closely with a person we support as they engage in social community activities, such as karaoke, that previously they wouldn't have wanted to do

• the support worker in Norwich who gets up at 3am to help a person we support to get ready and travel to Birmingham to take part in Council meetings

At the start of the Olympics, athletes and judges will be taking an oath to confirm that they "take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."

Last month, over 45 senior managers in our organisation each made their own 3 pledges as to how they would support and advance our personalisation journey. We've already seen progress being made, and will be encouraging local teams to make similar pledges as they roll things out.

We have also launched our Social Care Charter, which contains 5 pledges, identified by the people we support as the things that would best enable them to live the life they choose. We are asking everyone, including MPs, to support this charter, ensuring that the needs of people with a learning disability and autism are central to any future reform or commissioning decisions.

So, there is lots going on, but it is positive and it is progress.

If you're reading this, then you will have heard the word 'personalisation' but do you know what it means?

When I was at school, and we were asked to describe something, we were told to imagine that someone has come down from outer space, and doesn't know anything about what you're talking about. I used to think that was a strange thing to do, but in a world full of jargon and buzz words, perhaps it's not such a silly approach after all.

In a recent survey of staff about our personalisation journey, we asked them to define what personalisation means:

• "Ensuring we work with the person to make sure we are meeting their specific needs"

• "To meet the needs of the individuals in ways that are best for them and for their wellbeing"

• "For the people we support to engage in meaningful relationships and activities"

• "Ensuring that the people we support are listened to and have a choice in their everyday lives"

• "Putting people at the centre of their support"

At the same time, we asked staff about the person centred thinking tools - we've been using them within Dimensions for a number of years, and have talked in earlier blogs about the training we have started rolling out across the organisation and how we use the tools.

Although we were encouraged by the number of people who could name the tools and demonstrate using them, we are less sure if people understand the connection between the use of the person centred thinking tools and our personalisation journey.

In Making it Personal for Everyone, Chapter 4 talks about using person centred thinking to gather information. As is clear from the definitions that our own staff have identified above, in order to put people we support in control of their life and what they want to do, we need to find out what's important to people, how they want to be supported, what they want to do with their life, what a good day and perfect week looks like for them.

Therefore, the person centred thinking tools can help us gather this information, but in a way that gives the person we support as much choice and control as possible.

For each area we need to learn about in someone's life (such as important people, important places, where they want to be in a year's time), then there is a person centred thinking tool to help gather the information.

We also need the support of all our colleagues in the business support teams (such as finance and HR) to help us on our journey, and as a person centred organisation, we also use the person centred thinking tools and approaches in our everyday working life in the office.

In Making it Personal - our Personalisation Journey, we're going to be spending some time explaining the connection, and helping people make sense of all these buzz words.

We've also just asked 45 of our senior managers to make 3 pledges to help us on our Personalisation Journey. We're creating a buzz of our own.

What does personalisation mean for you? Could you describe it to the person from outer space?

Have you ever taken part in an activity, a discussion, a project, or some training, and then been asked to give your thoughts on the outcomes, or how you have found it?

Sometimes, it's the question you hope you're not asked, because it can be difficult capturing your thoughts and feedback in a concise and helpful way.

I often found this to be the case - until I started at Dimensions and was introduced to the 4+1 tool.

When I first heard the words '4+1', I admit I had no idea what they meant or what they referred to - and I was a little bit apprehensive about using the tool the first time around.

In that situation, we were reviewing quite a difficult process that had taken place - there were lots of sensitivities and I was struggling to see how the review was going to be constructive or positive.

I am pleased to say, however, that after answering the 4+1 questions, and using it in a number of different situations since then, I am a convert and have found it to be a valuable and straightforward tool for reviewing situations in a positive and productive way, and identifying actions which are meaningful and make sense.

The '4' questions you ask are:

• What have we tried?
• What have we learned?
• What are we pleased about?
• What are we concerned about?

The '+1' question is - Given what we know now, what's next?

We use the 4+1 tool in many ways across our organisation, including after project reviews, in appraisals, following training, in team meetings, etc.

As you know, we are on our personalisation journey, and have started providing training for our staff on person-centred tools and practices. Many staff are already using some of the tools, so as part of the training we use the 4+1 tool to capture feedback.

Here are some of the quotes that have featured in the 4+1 responses about the training we are providing on the person-centred thinking tools - it will hopefully show you how useful this tool can be, encourage you to use it and demonstrate why person-centred thinking is so important.

Some questions for you to consider:

• How much time do you spend in meetings?
• Are you clear on the purpose of your meetings?
• Is everyone clear on actions and responsibilities arising from your meetings?
• Can you sing any ABBA songs?

Ok, so perhaps the last question doesn't immediately make sense when considered alongside the others, but these are the sorts of issues that we had to ponder last week, when attending a training course about Positive & Productive Meetings, facilitated by Helen Sanderson Associates.

The Positive & Productive Meetings process "helps groups stay focused on their larger purpose and the outcomes of each meeting. The tools and techniques foster an environment where people can contribute and feel valued. Creative problem-solving and collaboration flourish within the structure of the meeting."

We used some of these tools and techniques in our training:

Creating a welcoming environment

Although we held the training in a hotel meeting room, which can, even at the best of times, be cold and soul-less, our facilitator (Michelle) had made the room very welcoming. There was music on arrival (and at all the break points) to help energise people. There were posters on the wall ready for the group exercise, which added colour to the room and were something to keep you alert. Most importantly (for me!), there were sweets on the tables - something to touch and enjoy! All the senses were covered.

Opening and Closing Rounds

We each introduced ourselves to the group and were asked to say one good thing that had happened - this could be either work or home related. This helps people to stay connected to the meeting and creates a positive tone. The closing round gave people an opportunity to tell the group one thing that they would take away from the training and use. Everyone had learnt something, and could see how best to implement it.

Review Meeting Map

Michelle outlined the purpose of the meeting and clarified the Agenda and timings at the beginning of the day. We also agreed the ground rules. This is where the ABBA song comes in - we agreed that, if a mobile phone went off, or someone was seen looking at their e-mails on their phone during the session, that they would have to sing an ABBA song! We agreed circumstances (e.g. if a family member is in hospital or labour) under which phones might need to be answered, but no-one in the room was in that position. It was fascinating - I didn't see one person fiddle with their phone, and no phones went off during the session.

We also agreed the start and finish time of each part of the day, and that if people were late back from a break, we would start regardless. At the morning coffee break, only a handful of people were back on time. As agreed, Michelle started the next session, and people hurriedly, and a little bit embarrassed, walked in. After that, and for all the other breaks, people were back on time.

Timed Talk

We undertook a number of group exercises during the day, but one of them was Timed Talk:

• A question is posed - in our case it was about how our own team meetings operate.
• People break into pairs and sit facing each other.
• The first person speaks on the topic for 3 minutes, whilst the other person sits quietly and listens.
• The second person then speaks on the topic for their 3 minutes and the other person listens.
• We then shared in a round what we had found out.

Generally, people found this a useful way of giving people space and a chance to have their say. Some people found it frustrating, because it's difficult when you want to verbally agree with something someone has said, or ask them a question. It does, however, also allow the person listening to refine their thoughts and consider carefully what they are being told.

Putting it into Practice

Our last exercise of the day was a mock meeting, putting into practice everything we had learnt during the day, including the allocation of roles, agenda development, the use of rounds and meeting evaluation.

There is a lot of tools and techniques that can be used to achieve Positive and Productive Meetings. What we hope now, is that everyone goes away from the training and models the behaviours and approach, drawing on those tools in the right way, and at the right time.

You might be wondering what all of this has to do with our journey towards personalisation...Well, in our commitment to embed person centred thinking tools and approaches, we want everyone using the techniques, role modelling and showing the way. Our message is clear - there is no escaping - wherever you sit, whatever you do, we are heading your way!

We are using different approaches and tactics to reach out to everybody - this is another one of the ways we are attempting to do this.

In previous articles, we have written about how we are gearing up to introduce person centred thinking tools and individual service funds throughout our organisation, which is made up of a number of regions across the country.

The planning of this is challenging and like other organisations, there are always other things happening at the same time - important activities or projects which cannot be forgotten, but which we work hard to ensure don't become too much of a distraction from our personalisation vision - to enable the people we support to have choice and control over what they do, how they spend their time, who supports them and how they are supported.

Spring-time is said to represent renewal or the start of better times. It is a time of changing weather, extended daylight and (hopefully) some sunshine. In every day terms, it might provide a chance to clean out those cupboards you've been meaning to sort out all year, or see a glimpse of daffodils and blossom on the trees.

Even with lots of challenges, it has felt, particularly over the last couple of weeks - which perhaps coincides with a feeling that spring had sprung - as if we are moving forward:

- With the start of the regional training events, the person centred thinking tools course has given people an opportunity to stop and re-focus on the people we support, remembering what it must be like to view the world through their eyes. Although only a few sessions have been completed, the feedback has been positive and constructive.

- At our Leadership Group meeting last week, we tested our leaders on their knowledge of personalisation, and the person centred thinking tools and we were encouraged by the results; we affirmed our commitment to being a person centred organisation.

- Our One Page Strategy, which defines what success means and how we will measure our success, is almost finished.

We have a planning session this week to look at the next steps, and in particular how we can roll out training in an effective and efficient way to our 4,000 staff.

We are 'springing' forward.