Improving systems for cascading information through the organisation

Transcription

1 Improving systems for cascading information through the organisation The arrival of a new CEO was recognised as a great opportunity to revitalise internal communications within the organisation and to use it as a strategic tool for change. A two phased approach was developed: Phase 1 to begin a cultural shift by: creating high awareness of the change at the top giving staff a feel for the new CEO s style and approach capturing staff views and opinions first hand on what needs to change Phase 2 to demonstrate tangible action by: being clear with the organisation of what the key priorities are going forward establishing the CEO as the owner of the major actions increasing advocacy of the organisations intent Pre-work An assessment of communication channels was undertaken which included all those currently in use across the organisation as well as those which had potential future use. See Annex 1. From this, a number of channels were identified as having the most potential in helping to meet our aims (under Phases 1 and 2 above) These were: Face to face recognised as the most effective means of communicating albeit the most time consuming, the CEO would have informal lunch with staff at staff restaurants across all sites. This would enable to CEO to have direct dialogue with staff across the organisation (mass) this would take the form of an all staff every week directly from the CEO. This would allow for regular communication to be sent directly to all staff as well as encouraging a two way dialogue (individual) a Chief Executive address would be promoted to encourage direct dialogue with the CEO

2 Twitter this would be a new mechanism for the CEO to communicate immediate messages internally as well as externally Intranet a dedicated section of the organisations intranet would be developed to support key messages from the CEO as well as provide a platform for staff to get to know the CEO The importance of removing any barriers for staff to communicate directly with the CEO was also recognised. To achieve this, simple steps were taken to help humanise the CEO. This included: Creating a personal section on the CEO s intranet pages i.e About Me, Career Ladder Having a picture of the CEO on all CEO intranet pages and all staff s so that staff recognised the CEO Avoiding the use of titles (hierarchy) in s to staff just call me Allison All of the above would be a significant change from previous forms of internal communication. Progress to date The first week of Allison Williams being in post as CEO was seen as a significant period in terms of impact. A number of communication initiatives were put in place for that week: Date March 4 th March 7th March 7th March 7th March 9th March 10th March 11th Action Allison Williams signs up to Twitter and sends first tweet Allison Williams takes up post as CEO Allison Williams sends first All Staff Allison Williams first intranet pages go live Allison Williams sends second All Staff an Interview with Allison goes live on intranet Allison Williams has first lunch session with staff at Royal Glamorgan Hospital 17 tweets sent in total by this period The above actions have now formed the foundations of a rolling weekly action plan. Face to face The CEO has now met with staff informally over lunch periods at all major sites across the organisation. This continues to take place and has proved to be an invaluable means to generating two way dialogue up and down the organisation.

3 I would just like to thank you for coming to talk to us on Friday in the 'Dining Hall'. I am one of the Physiotherapists' you spoke to and it was really nice to be able to talk to somebody about some of the issues that we so frequently moan about in the staff room. After our discussion I came away feeling a little more positive, and although realising that a lot of the long term problems probably have no solution it was reassuring to know that they are recognised. Thank you for joining us for lunch. It was great to meet the new Chief Exec who is not only very approachable, but has a great sense of humour. The site visits are also a great idea - I do hope you continue to do these as it may be that some staff are too nervous at first to approach you directly, or possibly feel uncomfortable in coming forward with suggestions for improvement and change in case it may be seen as going outside the usual 'chain of command'. (mass) The CEO continues to send an all staff every week. Each message is a mix a key organisational information as well as a means to recognise successes across the organisation. See Annex 2. Thank you for your personal message. I have to say that I personally have high expectations of you in your new role and you have not disappointed your message ticks all the boxes for me - as I knew it would!!!!! Thanks for the excellent message to all staff which has been very well received indeed. This has struck a chord. What you are doing with your various visits and weekly E mails is great. I am sure your continuous effort to inform, involve and ask for feed back is appreciated at all levels. I hope this continues. Just wanted to say how lovely it is to get these s from you, it really does feel like we are working as a team with little snippets of info delivered directly to the mail box! fab. You sound like a human, which is so lovely. I think these communication briefs are good. They keep me well informed of the broader picture. The personal touch I feel is helping to break down perceptions that higher management are out of touch with what s happening on the ground.

4 (individual) The CEO now receives individual s from a wide variety of staff up and down the organisation each week via the Chief Executive address. Staff are progressively becoming more and more comfortable having direct dialogue with the CEO. Staff are beginning to share more ideas for change through this process Thank you for your willingness to look into some of the suggestions made by the staff. Having read your sent out to staff this week with regards to doing different things, I have a suggestion to make I hope you do not mind me putting a few points together after reading your e- mail. I have tried these ideas before but fell on deaf ears Have just been reading your latest message and this time just had to respond Twitter Social Networking tools have historically been difficult to implement in NHS Wales. Since March 4 th, Cwm Taf has successfully established a Twitter presence via the CEO. This is an open Twitter account which allows any member of the public and staff to read tweets. All tweets are also made available to staff via a live feed to the organisations intranet. Since commencing the Twitter account we have: Sent a total of 51 tweets Acquired 51 followers (as this is an open account so followership is not necessary) Had 12 retweets Had 12 mentions (by 7 followers with a combined followership of 4363) I do hope that we will be able to have a regular dialogue with you through Twitter (connected leadership) what a fantastic start Allison for the future. I very much feel energised by what is to come. Great to see tweeting Chief Exec of Cwm Taf Health Board. Welcome to

5 @allison_cwmtaf. I m on the coal face in PCH. I don t envy your task but connection is sorely needed. Good Luck Intranet A dedicated Chief Executive intranet section has been developed to support key messages from the CEO as well as provide a platform for staff to get to know the CEO. This is also the platform where the CEO communicates major actions for the organisation such as the Turnaround Programme. See Annex 3. CEO Intranet Pages Live Total Hits Homepage March 7 th 6624 Career Ladder March 7 th 912 Close Up March 7 th 742 Interview March 9 th 1948 Knowledge Bank March 15 th 1117 Turnaround (homepage) May 6 th 2563 Turnaround>what is it May 6 th 479 Turnaround>60 day cycles May 6 th 422 Turnaround>working 60 day May 6 th 827 Turnaround>component parts May 6 th 363 Turnaround>different May 6 th 342 Turnaround>how will May 6 th 417 Turnaround>who s who May 13 th 342 Total cumulative number of page hits 17,098 I read with interest your interview and was very heartened by your approach to managing the substantial changes we will all need to support in the future. I am enjoying your weekly s and webpages and feel that in the short time you have been in post you have done a lot in terms of communication with staff. Next Steps Early indications from both qualitative feedback and quantitative data show that the recent improvements in systems for cascading information through the organisation (both upward and downward) as described above are:

6 Reaching a wide audience across the organisation Improving an understanding and awareness of key messages Helping to develop dialogue across the organisation Removing hierarchical barriers Improving motivation and advocacy for organisational change Each of the approaches above will continue to be evaluated to ensure they are effective as will the potential to use other channels. Early discussions are already taking place with the Medical Director to establish an internal social networking platform to support clinical engagement. New Communications Strategy The work described above is helping to inform the development of a new communications strategy for the organisation. This work is in its early stages and will take in to consideration the various communication functions currently within the organisation, the ongoing development of others and their interrelationships. See Annex 4.