case study:
Innovation and Enterprise: Unlocking potential in employed staff

A collaboration between McIntyre and Community Catalysts

Background

Founded and registered as a charity in December 1966, MacIntyre is the result of a pioneering vision to provide lifelong care, education and development to a group of people who would have otherwise spent their lives in institutions and long stay hospitals.

Today, MacIntyre provides learning, support and care to over a 1000 children, young people and adults with learning disabilities, across a range of settings from the more traditional models of Supported Living, Residential Care, residential schools and a further education college, to more innovative projects such as:

• MacIntyre’s PCP Project in Wolverhampton

• MacIntyre My Way: a separate enterprise within MacIntyre supports people to take control of their lives through individualised funding. My Way has traditionally supported young people who are in transition from our special schools back to their Local Authority adult social care services. However, we are currently working with a number of local authorities, to plan individualised services for their young people in transition. My Way ensures that highly skilled brokers work with the person, their family and care manager to go through an assessment, establish an indicative individual budget, create a support plan that details how the budget will be spent and puts the plan into action. It is not about giving advice, it is about finding solutions, which is why we refer to My Way as brokerage plus.

• MacIntyre No Limits: an innovative bespoke lifelong learning service providing a specialist programme, for young people with autistic spectrum disorders and complex needs as an alternative to traditional post-16 further education. The service supports young people who are no longer able to benefit from traditional learning environments and require intensive levels of support to access their local community and make a successful transition to an adult life. No Limits is notable in that it works closely with parents and families and ensures that young people have the opportunity to develop day living and independence skills that will be required for maintaining a tenancy in the future with appropriate levels of support.

Underlying all these services, MacIntyre’s philosophy is that everyone who uses our services should be provided with the opportunity to develop the skills and understanding to enable them to take more control of their lives and become as independent as possible, accessing the level of support they require.

The Commission
MacIntyre contacted Community Catalysts to explore whether they could assist with their strategic intent to offer more localised, personalised and inclusive support options and experiences to disabled people. Macintyre recognised that key to their success would be to understand and engage with the principles and activities associated with the concept of “social capital”. They did not consider this to be an internal strength or competence at this time.

Expected outcomes of the work:
1. Harness the ideas and talents of employees considered to be “the innovative movers and shakers” within the organisation.
2. Support and encourage creative thinking
3. Consider enterprises that would deliver better outcomes to people and deliver growth opportunities for MacIntyre.
4. Explore how the organisation will support the development of an enterprise and how a business case would be developed.

After preliminary discussions the organisations agreed to start with a two-day workshop

Two-day workshop

The workshop was designed to deliver the following outcomes:
• Delegates have a good understanding of the way in which skills, knowledge and passion can be used to establish an enterprise that will deliver a service that customers want.
• A number of ideas for enterprise have been discussed. Three ideas have been worked up in detail and a way forward agreed.
• The organisation has begun to think about the structural and other changes that may be necessary to support enterprise.

The first day of the workshop brought together perceptions of the changing requirements of disabled people with the skills and talents of staff members to generate some imaginative and exciting ideas for enterprise. Day 2 used business approaches and disciplines to refine those ideas and begin to shape new enterprises designed to deliver services that people would really want to buy. Twelve enterprise ideas were generated on day 1, all interesting and some truly innovative. Delegates worked on their ideas overnight and then spent Day 2 working on three of the enterprises that they all felt had real potential.

At the end of Day 2 Macintyre committed to allowing staff members to spend some further time working on their enterprise idea before submitting it to a mini- Dragons Den. Ideas that passed this first test would be given the further time and resources necessary to work up a proper business case for investment.

The level of commitment and enthusiasm among people attending the workshop was inspiring. Feedback from the evaluation forms suggested that all staff really valued the opportunity to meet with colleagues from across the organisation, share ideas and passions and work together on creative projects.

‘It was great to share with our colleagues about our strengths and the things we really care about, this insight will help us work more collaboratively’
‘It was great to sit in a room of individuals from different areas of the organisation and share different ideas’
‘Having an idea shared with others to find pitfalls is a good thing and is needed when looking to make things work’

Business disciplines interestingly seemed to inspire rather than crush creativity and all involved seemed to value the realism and practicality of the ideas that emerged as a result.
‘I’ve learned we can find creative solutions to overcome difficulties which you may face with an idea’
‘It’s really good to think more practically about ideas and how they could work in reality’

What happened next?
Following the workshop MacIntyre’s Director of Adult Services wrote to all the delegates to encourage them to take their ideas (existing or new) to the next “feasibility” stage as agreed at the end of the two days. She gave them a list of pointers to help them to think through and structure their ideas and also offered help from senior staff who had attended the workshop.

Senior managers provided support to staff-entrepreneurs through follow-up phone calls and meetings. This support helped staff to develop their thinking and resulted in a variety of positive outcomes. Some enterprise ideas did not survive business-testing, with good learning for the staff and managers involved. Other ideas were adapted in the light of business realities, evolving and changing in the process into something altogether more robust and creative. Four proposals have been developed more fully.

Summary of Current Position and Future Plans
One of the enterprise proposals has been included in the organisation’s business plan, one has been submitted as a TSIP bid and two are going through further testing.

MacIntyre has decided to invest in a very senior post to transform what are currently provided as traditional day services to enterprise hubs supporting micro enterprise (with micro entrepreneurs drawn from the community as well as people supported by MacIntyre). The senior manager will have a track record in spotting good business ideas and taking them to market.

Outcomes from the workshop
Macintyre decided that a number of the ideas arising from the workshop did not meet the commercial criteria set by the organisation. The focus for investment in the current climate centres on projects/services that will increase growth opportunities. The work with Community Catalysts helped define this focus and gave MacIntyre the confidence to pursue the further development of four ideas including one that is radically transforming their approach to day services.
The Shop Front is being considered alongside an extensive growth and transformation plan for the Milton Keynes area. MacIntyre intend to transform current provision across their diverse offering in the area as well as grow their Life Long Learning and personal budget business. They have made a commitment to invest in a “shop front enterprise” in the centre of Milton Keynes recognising that this will be the first point of contact for the public, prospective customers (people directing their own support) volunteers and prospective employees. The Hub structure will accommodate micro enterprises. The guiding principle is investment in supporting the gifts of the people that they support plus people in the community. This has given an important investment and planning focus for Macintyre.

There have also been some extremely useful secondary outcomes from these workshops, for example:
• Release of creativity
‘The workshops kick-started creativity which has had a ripple effect with some ideas morphing into new ideas and considered in other areas’
‘Even where an idea has proved not to stack up commercially, staff have remained creative and positive’

• Changes in staff culture and approach
‘I will talk to more people about an idea and welcome barriers which may be faced with a project and not look at this negatively’
‘I will share and explore my ideas more with others’
‘I will think about what I can do and work with people with different skills to get good outcomes’
‘I will ask about, encourage and nurture the good ideas that abound in Macintyre’
‘I will feel more confident to suggest ideas about the wider organisational development and not only my own work load’
‘I have learnt that I am part of a large cog and that I need to share my thoughts and ideas around growth and expansion’
‘Licence to think creatively – that plus current climate (have to think differently and stand things on their head).’

• Benefits of “cross role” working
MacIntyre had brought together a mixed group of front line staff from different areas as well as managers with local, regional and national responsibilities.
‘In some cases the relationship between front line workers and their mentors have blossomed leading to creative cross-role working. It was this that led to a recent very successful bid for a new project’

• More effective communication between front line staff and “corporate” MacIntyre.
‘On a very basic level people who were very busy operationally really valued being invited to a corporate workshop’
‘It helped me feel part of the larger organisation’.
‘The experience informed our 5 year corporate strategy and how we communicate to staff’
‘The workshops kick-started frank discussions about career development with some changes in people’s roles’

What have we learned?
The feedback from the evaluation sheets suggest that the workshop format worked well. Delegates valued the knowledge and experience of the facilitator and her ability to create a relaxed environment within which people could share and explore ideas.

‘Very knowledgeable and experienced. Provided the group with a relaxed, sharing and creative environment’

Two suggestions for improvement were ‘make everyone commit to doing something’ and ‘link it more into the aspirations of the guys we support’.

MacIntyre achieved the main outcomes that it was looking for from these workshops. There was a challenge however to maintaining momentum when everyone returns to their day job.

‘It has been difficult to free up staff time to allow them to develop their proposals and that has slowed down the process of enterprise development’.

In retrospect there is a role for Community Catalysts in following up enterprise ideas and acting as an organisation mentor.

You can learn more about McIntyre by visiting their website, or give us a call for more information on 01423 790126.