Emma Rundle and Louise Rayment from our Commissioning Support, Transformation Team have taken the Leadership Charter to their hearts, taking forward a true commitment to listening to and engaging with their colleagues to find out what matters to them.
What began with the Stop the Clock event has grown into a system where people feel able to give honest feedback about working for Devon County Council, and that feedback is taken forward, both to senior colleagues and to workmates, opening up discussion about improvements.
They have thought creatively about how to work with their colleagues, and have the beginnings of a listening process which promises to become very powerful.
Their tips for successful listening and engagement are:
- If you want to talk about it, start the conversation.
- Pick out a theme to allow deep discussion of the subject.
- Use the right language.
- Provide different avenues of communication for different people.
Their working model is a six month cycle of:
- Considering the contents of a number of ‘feedback boxes’
- Using that information to give a presentation to senior leadership and picking out relevant themes
- Taking those themes back to a ‘bring and share’ drop-in lunch for discussion
- Displaying the progress with ‘you said, we did’ noticeboards in break out areas
Contact emma.rundle@devon.gov.uk or louise.rayment@devon.gov.uk for their tips on successful engagement.