Minney.org Ltd

Many grand plans for service improvement have been brought to a stuttering halt because the right staff, the staff who have to implement the proposed change, weren't involved at the right time.

Front-line staff, the ones doing the work everyday, are the ones who know what will work and what won't. Perhaps more importantly in public service, front-line staff are the ones who will (or won't) make it work - they will exercise their professional autonomy and if they can't see a good reason, the change won't happen. It's vital to listen and understand what will/ won't work and what can/ can't be implemented. Many a service improvement initiative has foundered on this important principle.
The difficulty is, there are many theories around how to engage clinicians (in the Health Service),and front-line practitioners, together with their managers, but far too many of these theories work for the author and not for anyone else. Some haven't even been tried; they are just theories.
This section draws together our own experience of projects that have positively worked to engage staff, be they clinicians, management or other professionals, and across organisations as well as within organisations