Interview: how to be change ready

Lindsey Dawson Head of Area (North West) at Skills for Care talks about the importance of change in social care and how managers can be change ready.

Why is change important and how can it be a positive thing for people working in social care?

Change is all around us, we’ve recently experienced some of the biggest changes within our own lives during the pandemic. This has included self-isolation, lockdowns, and changes to keep people safe but also changes in terms of how we can adapt - learning new technologies, for example, and demonstrating immense resilience.

Change is also constant. The complexities and ever-changing nature of adult social care mean that commissioning and delivering personalised, preventative, and good quality care and support services in any local area is an evolving landscape, requiring effective change and transformation. Change is how we learn, lead, adapt, and grow, and it can present opportunities for people working in social care and the people who draw on care and support.

What sort of change can people working in the social care sector expect to see this year?

As we continue to understand, learn from and live with COVID-19, change will continue. As a result of the pandemic, one of the positives has been the increased focus on adult social care; it's never been more prevalent or more talked about.

The recently released Government white paper, ‘People at the heart of care’ sets out a 10-year vision for adult social care which recognises the importance of adult social care to us, our families, and communities. This includes the commitment to invest in our workforce’s professional development, and in our key leaders like registered managers which presents opportunities for social care and the social care workforce.

So, I think there's a lot of potential coming over the horizon as well as learning to live with what’s been happening over the past two years.

Why is workforce planning important?

Social care managers and providers can think about these potential changes and what this means for their workforce by developing a workforce plan. Workforce planning is the system and process used by employers to ensure they have the workforce needed to meet their business objectives or personal care plans.

Our ‘Practical approaches to workforce planning’ resources support workforce planning using the ‘analyse, plan, do, review’ method. These resources have been designed to help you to pull together a clear picture of what your organisation looks like now so you can think about and plan for the future.

Workforce redesign and transformation is a process that follows on from the creation of a workforce plan where you consider what help you might need with implementing it.

Transformation and change are constant in people’s working lives. Ideally these happen in a planned way, with time for people to be properly involved. Sometimes that’s not possible, but this doesn’t mean that the principle of recognising the different ways people, organisations and partnerships respond to change should be ignored. Even when things need to be done quickly, or with very limited options for what will happen, the way changes are managed can make a difference, and have a positive impact on people and organisations.

This is something we explore as one of our Principles of Workforce Redesign – a resource to help organisations who are undergoing any form of organisational restructure or transformation.

People in the workplace respond differently to change. During any time of change people will accept and absorb it at different speeds; some will adopt it straight away, others will wait until the last minute, so in this guide we have a range of things to consider against the principles to help you consider and plan what you can do to be change ready.

What does it mean to be change ready and how can managers do this?

That workforce plan and shared vision is an important part of being change ready. It means we kind of know, ‘this is what we need to change’ and we have clear leadership around that with everybody being involved.

We all know that when we work to a common shared goal and when we understand reasons for change, we might respond to them differently. If there’s that shared vision and good leadership about why that change is happening, plus opportunities for staff to be involved in that dialogue around change, that all makes a difference to how we respond and prepare for change.

If we have a shared vision, workforce plan, clear values and behaviours around how we work together, an understanding of what good looks like, open dialogues, and a positive workplace culture, we’re putting in place an environment which will be able to adapt more easily to change.

Why is change important to improve?

By gaining feedback from people who draw on care and support, which should be done as part of workforce planning, and feedback from staff, which should be done as part of workforce redesign, social care managers can identify any changes needed to improve. Receiving this feedback and making change is a way to make things better for everyone.

Our Guide to Improvement explains how to identify, plan, and implement improvements across your service, to ensure that it delivers high-quality care and supports and meets the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) fundamental standards. It draws on ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ practice to help your service to, not only meet CQC expectations, but exceed them.

What principles need to be in place to introduce and manage change effectively?

The key principles that need to be in place to introduce and manage change are:

• a strong effective shared leadership vision and a commitment for the change with a focus on continuous improvement, quality, and outcomes for people supported
• a positive workplace culture and shared values and behaviours
• effective communication and information sharing with everyone, internally and externally, throughout the whole process to build open and honest working relationships
• positive appreciation for the contribution each party makes to the delivery of person-centred care and support.

How can social care managers engage their teams in change, and manage resistance to change?

It’s important to consider and understand how different team members react to change and then to tailor how you engage them. The principles of workforce redesign can support managers to consider examples of how different people react to change.

Managers need to spend time discussing and communicating change with their team. People learn and change at different rates, so change programmes need to be flexible enough to accommodate this. Engage your team in change and utilise their strengths, skills, ideas, and experience in your workforce plan, and to support with change.

Regular and effective two-way communication that keeps people involved and updated will help to reduce negativity and anxiety. Opportunities to support individuals in developing the confidence, skills, and expertise they need to work in redesigned services also need to be incorporated into all plans.

Find more support and resources to help with managing change on our #ManagingChange spotlight.

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