From: Vanguard
[info@vanguardconsult.co.uk]
Sent: 03 April 2012 18:06
To: Summers, Paul
Subject: Vanguard News - April 2012
Vanguard
News – April 2012
In
this issue:
NAO
– good data, wrong conclusions
Plan
for sharing goes awry
More
on ‘tell us lots’
Pass
the parcel?
One
success under threat
Scots
minister illustrates
Vanguard
Method: manifesto for Policing in Sussex
Hull
seminar
Vanguard and IT: Iceland and the USA
Benchmarking:
a fast way to mediocrity
***
NAO
– good data, wrong conclusions
It
saddens me to say that the NAO’s report on shared services reached the wrong
conclusions. Replete with compelling evidence of the cost of failure, the
report concludes that shared services ventures have been too soft on customers
by ‘customising’ services for them, when standardising the services would have
been better; not just because the NAO (wrongly) thinks that standardisation
means cheaper, but also, alarmingly, because, they say, the IT platforms
require standardisation. Further, the report concludes that the Cabinet
Office’s move to make government departments share services, combined with
stronger governance and project management, will do it.
The
report reads like it was written by the IT industry. I used to have enormous
respect for the NAO. Recently it has begun promulgating its opinions about
‘best practice’ as we see with this report; it is becoming like the (dreadful)
Audit Commission; a pity.
Read
the news report here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2012/mar/07/shared-services-erp-nao-report
Read
the NAO report here:
http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/1012/shared_service_centres.aspx
It
illustrates the power of narrative over evidence. Ministers think shared
services will work, if only they are ‘done right’; and so they lead the charge
on doing the wrong thing righter. We need the NAO to be an independent voice
more than ever.
***
Plan
for sharing goes awry
Two
councils clearly have been duped by their IT suppliers into believing that the
way to save money is to have more people join a shared services venture. This
is the less-of-a-common-resource argument (see ‘Why do we believe in economies
of scale’ in articles section of web site).
East
Lindsey and South Holland have spent £600K on marketing, trying to attract
other councils to join their venture, but no one has come forward. Boo-hoo. Who
will pick up the tab for that then? And when they are left with their
investment not attracting others, who’ll pay for that?
***
More
on ‘tell us lots’
I
wrote about the failure of the ‘tell-us-once’ initiative back in February (the
idea is that if you have a death in the family you can tell someone once and
public-sector departments that need to know will be sorted). In short, I
described how this much-vaunted ‘flagship’ example of new government service
isn’t actually working.
Thanks
to readers, I can tell you that so far ‘tell us once’ has cost £111m, it has
been trundling on for six years, the IT promulgators (largely ex IT-industry
people now with big jobs in government) continue to talk it up and local
authority people keep the whole thing going by doing workarounds.
The
workarounds are indicative of the central problem – a perennial problem with IT
– the failure of IT systems to be capable of absorbing variety. It is the
people in local authorities who are best able to determine how to deal with the
variety of needs people have when notifying a death. This conjures a picture in
my head: IT promulgators and ministers crowing about the brilliant
‘tell-us-once’ scheme while lowly local authority people run like hamsters on a
wheel keeping things going. Hamsters treated like that have a tendency to bite.
***
Pass
the parcel?
The
King’s Fund reports that elderly people are being passed around hospitals like
parcels, often going without treatment because of ageist attitudes. The report
calls for better training of staff, leadership and involvement of patients;
three tired and worn out interventions.
It
is certainly true that elderly people are being passed around; it is also true
that they are being readmitted at alarming rates and, astonishingly, are
treated each time as thought they are not known to the service. Aside from the
fragmentation of the health service, the underlying problem is that many of the
services provided don’t actually solve peoples’ problems, hence readmissions;
and all of these things are driven by the system promulgated into elderly
health and social care services by the departments of health and local
government. Staff and leadership training and ‘involving’ patients, won’t do
anything about that.
I
am pleased to say an interested member of the House of Lords is hosting a
one-day event to illustrate our work in health this July; more information in a
later newsletter. Meanwhile you can follow our health blog at: http://vanguardinhealth.blogspot.co.uk/.
The scope for improvement is astonishing.
***
One
success under threat
One
of our experts in health wrote to me:
“I
spent the past 2 days working with a dementia care home in Bradford. They are
incredible! Natural system’s thinkers who have created a place which is
genuinely full of joy. It was like a 24 hour party. Guess what? They are at
risk of being decommissioned because their unit cost is £575 and other dementia
homes are a bit less. Guess what? The unit cost is an unbelievable distortion
of the truth. They hardly pull on any other services (including GPs), their
placements never break down, they don’t use agency staff ever and social
workers say that when they place there they never need to turn up again. Also,
their approach is massively topical. Fiona Phillips (the newscaster) was in the
news recently (she claimed anti-psychotic drugs killed her dad who had
dementia). She met with the minister, Paul Burstow. He’s having to pay
attention and is sending his advisor on dementia care to this place next week.
They refuse to use anti-psychotic drugs, don’t lock anyone up and manage all
dementia through behavioural approaches. When I was there 4 residents were
playing air guitar to Status Quo in the hallway!”
But
how will the minister behave when he learns that commissioning is at the heart
of the problem?
***
Scots
minister illustrates
The
health Secretary for Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, illustrates how ministers
behave when confronted by the reality of their policies. Sturgeon has been an
advocate and driver of targets in NHS Scotland. She reacted to the shocking but
entirely predictable news that targets for waiting times led to cooking of the
books in NHS Lothian by blaming the local health leaders.
Sturgeon
ought to have Deming’s famous description of the three ways anyone can react to
targets on her office wall:
“Will
a numerical goal be achieved? Anybody can achieve almost any goal by:
Redefinition of terms; distortion and faking; running up costs” Deming 1994,
the New Economics.
It
appears NHS Lothian did all three. And all because the minister believes in
targets.
See
the news story here:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/probe-as-thousands-of-patients-forced-off-waiting-lists-1-2188770
Minsters
believe that targets hold people to account, but who should we hold to account?
***
Vanguard
Method: manifesto for Policing in Sussex
A
councillor has put himself forward as a candidate for Police Crime Commissioner
in Sussex and on his ticket: the Vanguard Method! I have not met him but I
guess he’s read all of our published work on policing and can see that much can
be (and is being) achieved. Well, you never know...
You
can read his manifesto here:
http://pauldendle.blogspot.com/2012/03/systems-thinking-how-it-could-help.html
You
may have read about police forces out-sourcing custody work to private-sector
providers. Ministers like it because the promise is to send police back out on the
beat instead of them being tied up with custody work. The private-sector
providers make claims to have ‘continuous improvement’ cultures and they report
making great savings in the time taken to process people taken into
custody.
Sounds
great doesn’t it? Until, of course, you ask what they know about demand. What
you find when you study police custody is that many people go into custody for
no practical purpose. Having been ‘processed’ they are released. And, guess
what? The contracts are based on activity volumes. So the private sector is
being paid to process failure demand.
***
Hull
seminar
As
one of my duties as a visiting professor, I shall be speaking at Hull
University Business School on 25th April (1-30 to 3-00 pm). All
welcome. To notify of your attendance please email: Susan.Humphrey@hull.ac.uk
***
Vanguard and IT: Iceland and the USA
Regular readers may have followed my presentations to
IT audiences in Europe. I have been asked to present to an IT audience in
Iceland (May 2nd) and Tripp Babbit, our man in the USA, will be
delivering a keynote address at the CAST conference during July 16-18th
in San Jose.
More information for Iceland here: http://www.lean2012.is/namskeid
And USA here: http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/conference/cast-2012/
***
Benchmarking:
a fast way to mediocrity
I
wrote an article on the folly of benchmarking for Management Service magazine.
You can access it here: http://bit.ly/wLQciD
***
Systems Fundamentals – open programmes
As regular readers will know our open programmes run
in Hull and Derby Universities and in the Waterton Centre in Bridgend. The
Systems Fundamentals programme is something we developed to run in-house; it
gets leaders started and causes them to ‘pull’ the Method (important because
you have to want to change your thinking). It serves as an introduction to the
power of the Vanguard Method and it is, essentially an action-learning
programme, it is the work participants are given to do back-home that gets them
learning.
The open programmes run according to demand, if you
have an interest you can register as follows:
Hull: http://www2.hull.ac.uk/hubs/short-courses/courses/systems-thinking.aspx
Derby: http://www.derby.ac.uk/dbs/systemsthinking?csId=&courseQuery=systems+thinking
***
Other Forthcoming Vanguard Events:
Process Mapping and Analysis for Performance
Improvement
Thursday 26th April 2012 – Buckingham
Thursday 24th May 2012 – Buckingham
Thursday 28th June 2012 – Buckingham
Thursday 27th September 2012 – Buckingham
Thursday 25th October 2012 – Buckingham
Thursday 22nd November 2012 – Buckingham
For information and
bookings: office@vanguardconsult.co.uk
***
Profound Results event
Thursday 26th April – Manchester
Thursday 24th May – Newcastle
To express an interest for more information as soon
as available, please email pr@vanguardconsult.co.uk
***
An Introduction to The Vanguard Method – Wales
Tuesday 18th September 2012 – Cardiff
For information
and booking form: pr@vanguardconsult.co.uk
***
Are
you prepared to change the way you think?
The
Vanguard Method: Delivering efficiency beyond imagination in your organisation.
A
four-day action-learning programme.
Birmingham:
FULL
Day 1 –
Thursday 19th April 2012
Day 2 –
Thursday 26th April 2012
Day 3 –
Thursday 3rd May 2012
Day 4 –
Thursday 17th May 2012
Cardiff,
Wales:
Day 1 –
Thursday 14th June 2012
Day 2 –
Thursday 21st June 2012
Day 3 –
Thursday 28th June 2012
Day 4 –
Thursday 5th July 2012
Birmingham:
Day 1 –
Thursday 13th September 2012
Day 2 –
Thursday 20th September 2012
Day 3 –
Thursday 27th September 2012
Day 4 –
Thursday 5th October 2012
For
information and booking form: pr@vanguardconsult.co.uk
***
Vanguard
Network Day
Thursday
21st June 2012
Exclusive
to Vanguard Network members, for more information about membership email pr@vanguardconsult.co.uk
Thanks
for reading!
John
Seddon
Author:
"Systems Thinking in the Public Sector”, available from Triarchy Press: www.triarchypress.com
and “Freedom from command and control: a better way to make the work work"
available from Vanguard (www.systemsthinking.co.uk).. “Freedom
from command and control” is also available in the US from: http://www.productivitypress.com/productdetails.cfm?SKU=3276
For
independent evidence of the benefits of systems thinking in the public sector
see the case studies: http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/Systems_Thinking_Case_Studies.htm
Vanguard
Consulting: Developers of the Vanguard Method, helping organisations change
from a command and control to a systems design. Beware of imitators, as
Vanguard has developed solutions for sectors others claim to be able to provide
the same service. If providers are not accredited to the Vanguard Method you
should not expect a Vanguard service.
www.thesystemsthinkingreview.co.uk
A web-site devoted to Systems Thinking in the public sector.
Systems
Thinking People – a service helping systems thinkers find suitable work and
helping organisations fund suitable systems thinkers. www.systemsthinkingpeople.com
Vanguard
Capchart – simple-to-use tool for creating capability measures. http://www.vanguardcapchart.com/
Other
Vanguard sites around the world:
Ireland:
www.vanguard-ireland.com
Scotland:
www.vanguardscotland.co.uk
Netherlands:
www.vanguardnederland.nl
Denmark:
www.vanguard-consult.dk
Sweden:
www.vanguard-consult.se
USA:
www.newsystemsthinking.com
Croatia:
www.vanguard-savjetovanje.hr
Belgium: http://www.vanguardbelgium.com/
New
Zealand: www.systemsthinking.co.nz
***
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