Trust
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CYPF BEST leaders, at managers network in September 08
Residential Day Care Services- putting Trust in BEST Leaders
Kevin Allen the team manager, for Residential Day Care Services in Edgbaston was new to his role and decided that he wanted to get to know what BEST was changing within his team so he decided to take the opportunity to meet with all of the BEST leaders.
Kevin decided a new BEST Team consisting of BEST Leaders within the Edgbaston Constituency was the way forward. At their first meeting the BEST Leaders decided to share views and opinions relating to BEST, to discuss BEST as a concept and look at ways of developing it to its full potential within their service area.
Kevin was thrilled with the first meeting and felt it was a great success; all of the leaders present were so motivated and very positive he found their enthusiasm truly inspiring. There were many actions that came out of the first meeting many of which, such as a communications sheet has already been put into practice. The new BEST team decided that they wanted to start a newsletter “The BEST Times”, which would contain information regarding BEST actions, upcoming events and any news or information that the teams want to share. Issue 1 was out May 2008.
After a successful visit to the South Manager’s Forum Kevin, and his team of BEST Leaders, have set up a monthly get-together for all BEST leaders from the South Residential & Day Care department. This will allow them to draw on the skills and experiences of leaders from all levels of the organisation working in a similar field. Kevin wrote a letter explaining the background to them and that there is management support for this venture and personally inviting all leaders to attend. The first meeting will be held on 12th June – Kevin is expecting a fantastic turnout.
Kevin and his BEST leaders are showing their commitment to the core values of the council and sharing this with colleagues - a great demonstration of Excellence and Trust.
Team Building Through BEST!
After Louise Barnett attended her BEST Leader training day at Birmingham City Football Club, which was useful in laying down what BEST was about and how the workshop should be formatted. Louise knew that she needed to think of a fun ice-breaker to get everyone talking.
Being a member of the Communications and Information Team, Louise was a little daunted about the prospect of preparing a presentation to the creative minds of the team. On top of that she had last years workshop to beat. Last year the previous BEST team leader, Mitch Schofield, now acting head of the Communications and Information team, and then BEST Leader, had changed the name of BEST to Bacon, Eggs, Sausage and Tomato and provided a sample of these- which proved to be a real winner!
Louise decided that one way that she could involve all members of the team was a music quiz. Before the workshop, Louise asked everyone briefly what their music tastes were which helped to make sure that she could include all her teams particular music interests in the quiz, but it also built up some anticipation and curiosity in advance about the BEST workshop.
Louise had put together ‘BEST – inspirational, slightly tacky, music quiz’. This involved playing a piece of music and then in small teams, the team had to fill in the gaps in the paragraph Louise had given them relating to BEST, using the title of each song they heard.
This worked well as people paired up with people who had different music tastes to themselves, rather than who they generally work with. This got people talking to each other and proved a good team building exercise. It was also was a good way of spelling out the reasons why BEST is a positive experience as well as being good fun!
After doing the BEST quiz, the ice had been broken and people were happy to contribute to the workshop. The team discussed lots of actions that could be put forward, to change the way that the team works in 2008 and lots of these have now been put in place.
Independent Travel Training- building Trust through sticky buns!
The team led by BEST Leader Novelette Williams, curriculum development manager, decided that one of their BEST actions would be to raise the profile of the ITT team to ensure teams across the council, especially teams working in related areas ,would be aware of the service that they provide.
Independent Travel Training Consultancy Service, which is part of the Children Young People and Families directorate works with a number of SEN schools to develop a programme promoting independence through transport and travel that is specific in meeting the needs of young people within each school.
The team came up with the idea of holding a ‘Sticky Bun Day’ at the Martineau Centre, inviting other teams working within similar service areas as well as partners such as Centro and Street wardens, to go along and find out what the team does and enjoy a sticky bun.
The day was a great success and really helped raise the profile of the team within the directorate and with partners, helping to build trust between teams.
The team also forms part of the national steering group for the Department of Transport, for their strategy paper on Independent Skills, helping to raise the profile of independent travel nationally.
The forward thinking team is also part of another national pilot - they are piloting a ‘Travel Trainers’ accredited qualification, which would be recognised nationally, with the help of Norton College for F.E. This would be a customised qualification for people involved in training related to independent travel.
If you would like any more information about the team or the service it provides then please give Irene Jones, Service Manager on 0121 675 5691.
Team Building – Army Style!
On the 16 May, nine intrepid Rapid Response Team Members attended Donnington Army barracks near Telford for something which was initially billed as a "team building exercise" - it was much more than that!
The team drawn from various areas of the city council are responsible for setting up rest centres when local residents are displaced. BEST was well represented with three of the nine being BEST leaders: Marion Beale, Mat Brown and Mohammed Rashid who were joined by Hazel Broadhouse, BEST programme manager for Chief Executive's Directorate. Accommodation the first night for the girls were small curtainless rooms with grey blankets, which the boys had to cope with a dormitory and a fire evacuation, however this was luxury compared with accommodation the next night when the team slept out under the stars.
After a briefing on Friday night, the real exercises started from 5.30 am on Saturday morning. The team was determined to do a good job from the start and everyone gave 100%. Mohammed Rashid said "I wouldn't have done this without a strong belief in myself, the team and support from Birmingham City Council". It was obvious to complete the tasks which ranged from negotiation through to vehicle recovery, the team would have to work together to get results, Mat Brown said "It was obvious from the start we all had different qualities and I felt that it was the well balanced dynamics of the team that helped us succeed. I was particularly impressed in how the team gelled in the tasks and we soon adopted our duties and communicated effectively between each other and any other contact. We got the job done - team work really does work. "
Sunday morning's 6 am start brought the dreaded army assault course. Hazel Broadhouse said "It had always been an ambition of mine to run an army assault course, but looking at the 12 foot wall I was quaking in my boots, the boys thought up a strategy of how we could all work together to get over it and I put my trust in them". The team completed the course in just over seven minutes.
The final task on Sunday before the prize giving was the bridge building competition and this took all the initiative the team could muster. Marion Beale who took command of the task said "We were faced with a task that none of us had any previous experience of. After assessing the resources we had and how best to use them, we were not afraid to look around at the progress of other teams to check for better ways of working. The result was that we were efficient as a team, we designed and built a bridge with structural integrity which was fit for purpose". The brigade commander successfully crossed the bridge. A very challenging weekend enjoyed by everyone - a better team now - you bet!
