Monday, June 22, 2009

Six months of the review

We are now six months into the review of the organisational design and governance structure. It’s been a really busy six months of activity, including; 

• My roadshow of meetings across the Network to talk about strategic direction and hear the views of staff and trustees
• Two Open Space meetings – open to all – which raised some fascinating questions about the way Brook works
• Research with trustees, local and national commissioners and stakeholders about the opportunities and challenges for Brook in the future,
• Visits from Helen Finney, Chair of the Network to all centres to meet with staff and trustees to get views and ideas about the future of Brook
• A web based survey has been set up here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Y0OfHd02d2bRPgvRjoXpwQ_3d_3d I really encourage you to take part – the responses we’ve had so far have been really useful.

 All of this work has generated a lot of information, ideas and intelligence about Brook's strengths, areas that we need to address and the way the external environment will impact on Brook in the future.  Key issues that come up time and again are;

 

• A renewed commitment to being a brave, outspoken organisation
• Money! Where will it come from and what happens if it runs out?
• The need for young people to be involved in all of our work
• The importance of evaluating the difference we make for young people
• We must have the ability to recruit, develop and retain a gold standard workforce with the right skills
• The importance of high quality clinical governance and client care
• The ongoing need for a mix of campaigning, advocacy, education and clinical and support services
• The impact of the changing external environment including safeguarding,
• Competition from other services working in Brook's traditional territory
• The implementation of the ‘You're Welcome’ criteria.

 All of this information will be used to inform the next phase of work which began last week. This includes:

• Exploring the range of ways that some other organisations are set up and whether these are possible models for Brook. 
• Developing some tests against which we can judge which of these could be an effective organisational design and governance structure for Brook (for example, any new design must enable us to continue to provide the highest quality of services for young people). 

We will be sending the results of this work to all staff and trustees for comments in July. 

Do keep your ideas and views coming by completing the survey or emailing me at