Learning Labs in Suffolk

What Was the Stimulus?

In seeking to modernise its services, Suffolk County Council is using learning labs to encourage innovation and cultural change throughout the Council. Recognising that these changes are often only possible when pursued with partner organisations, the Council wishes to apply the approach increasingly in multi-agency settings.

Learning labs enable front-line staff to bring forward ideas and see them through to fruition. Central to the concept is that the labs are:

• intended to implement and evaluate new ways of working, potentially involving increased operational flexibility
• driven by the people who best understand the services they are delivering and the needs of users, and who can propose solutions to overcome barriers to delivering a better service
• given support and priority within the organisation or partnership
• capable of offering lessons for broader dissemination and wider learning The Council is targeting service areas where there are public concerns, poor performance and/ or little innovation.

How Was The Need Tackled?

The Learning Lab pilot consisted of three labs (one of which involved other agencies):

• planning the roll-out across the whole county of a "Customer First" pilot (a 'one-stop shop') for older people and people with physical disabilities). Social care managers and practitioners came together to learn from existing practices inside and outside the pilot area, focusing particularly on making more efficient use of resources.
• Assessment of Children in Need, where the lab addressed the implementation of new national assessment procedures for children in need (fitting in with training and implementation of legislation in April 2001). It involved social care, education, health, the Probation Service and the Drug Rehabilitation team operating around one secondary school 'pyramid' (ie, a secondary school and its feeder primaries) in Ipswich to look at how to improve joint working.
• financial planning within Social Care Services, where the Lab consisted a cross slice of Business Support staff who worked together to look at ways of dealing with a difficult financial situation, seeking medium to long-term efficiency gains/ savings. They explored ways in which systems and processes could be changed and improved to become more cost effective; what systems work and do not work; and what changes could be made to save time and money.

(The three labs were independently evaluated as part of an MBA thesis, which assessed the impact of Learning Labs on Organisational Development in Suffolk Social Care Services, Suffolk County Council)

Subsequently, learning lab techniques were used in preparing the Suffolk emergency plan (a statutory duty of the council) to enable all agencies to work together after an emergency. Participants comprised representatives from all the major voluntary organisations in Suffolk, the emergency services, health and local authority. It was designed to look at perceptions and realities of each other's roles, and to look at how all the agencies might work together in a co-ordinated way following a major incident.

In all the labs, activities were designed to stimulate creative thinking and different approaches to problem-solving. Exercises encouraged participants to use 'left and right brain' thinking, ie, exploring emotional and intuitive responses as well as logical and rational ones, to formulate a range of answers to questions rather than single conclusions. They were also asked to consider why they responded to certain situations in particular ways, and to examine any stereotypical ideas they had about services, agencies or colleagues.

Approaches used included De Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats”, visualising current and desired situations and expressing them as drawings, or using sculpting (a ‘musical statues’ exercise to express relationships and processes), recording thoughts and feelings experienced in unsatisfactory conversations alongside what was actually said); story telling; word association; and sharing perceptions of each other's role and function. The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (by Peter Senge and others) has been a good source of activities.

The County Council has also invested in the training of Change Champions, staff who are encouraged to play a key role in bringing about service improvements. They were recruited through an e-mail to staff which asked questions such as: "Do you think you are a catalyst of change? What do you think could have been done better and how? How do you think you could help others manage change?". A 2-day, "outward bound-type" of training course was devised, and by July 2001, over 50 employees had taken part, with more courses planned before next year.

What Were the Outcomes?

The main benefits of learning labs in Suffolk have been to:

• identify scope to improve services from a customer/ user point of view
• clarify what's needed to support and bring about change in front-line service delivery

The Council is anxious to build up momentum: "when labs are seen to be working, it will give senior managers greater confidence to let front line staff look at other things". The participants in the first three labs have been recognised as 'Beacon Employees' as part of a Council's scheme.

The "Assessment of Children in Need" lab led to joint training for frontline staff in all the agencies concerned, to ensure that a better service is provided through joint assessments. The Emergency Planning lab improved understanding of agency perspectives and how their roles fit together.

The pilot has highlighted a need to offer related training opportunities, which the Council is acting on:

• "Training the Facilitators" (to develop the skills involved in running labs and related change workshops)
• decision-making and delegation for senior managers (to support the move towards greater freedom and authority for front-line staff)

Learning labs are now being promoted as part of a roll-out programme across the county and is part, along with Change Champions, of the GOLD programme (Gaining Opportunities in Learning and Development), offering personal development opportunities for Council staff. The Labs Co-ordinator sees scope to strengthen the link between learning labs and change champions, with the latter acting as sponsors, supported or facilitators of labs.

Future labs will be generated by front line staff and will be supported by the Learning Lab Project Co-ordinator and by existing and new facilitators. Cross-departmental and cross-agency labs will be encouraged to assist in breaking down departmental barriers, improve service delivery and challenge individual and organisational assumptions to develop new ways of doing things. Support will also be provided to ensure recommendations are implemented - "if we don't close the loop, people will wonder, what was the point of the Lab?"

What Was Learnt?

Keys to success are reckoned to be:

• involving the front-line staff in devising the initiatives and deciding who should be involved. The briefs for the pilot learning labs were drawn up by managers - "it was top-down, and needs to be 'bottom up' if the Labs are to succeed"
• choosing topics for labs which can be followed through by participants, or where there is a clear path to decisions and progress where others must be involved
• the need for rapid, speedy feedback from senior managers in response to recommendations for change
• being clear in explaining what a learning lab is intended to achieve (is it simply to provide a learning opportunity, or is it about making recommendations and acting?). The brief must be specific and achievable, and not part of something larger brief or being looked at elsewhere
• the continued strong commitment from the County Council Chief Executive who wants to break down barriers, streamline and improve service delivery
• a dedicated staff resource to co-ordinate and champion the initiative, and act as advisor, supporter, ambassador to oversee the process across the County to interested staff members/ teams
• winning staff support to guide the initiative, engaging a cross-section of front-line staff across the County Council. Past participants are seen as having a crucial role in spreading the word

Contact

Debra Lawrence
Learning Lab Project Co-ordinator
Corporate Services Directorate
Suffolk County Council
St Helens Court
Ipswich IP4 2JS

tel: 01473 584141
fax: 01473 258885

Debra.Lawrence@secsolr.suffolkcc.gov.uk

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