Getting it right for every child:
managing the change – ideas from
theory and experience
Jane Aldgate
Professor of Social Care
The Open University
Why change?
• Children have a right to reach their potential
• Children do best when they meet their well-being
indicators throughout childhood
• Children are our future
Change takes time
Transformational change does not come easily but
requires a raising of awareness, a redesign of how
practitioners go about their business, multi-agency
training that is based on common language and
processes, and the fostering of trust and understanding
across services and with children and families
Adam Ingram, Minister for Children and Early Years
What will help agencies work together?
• A common purpose – to promote children’s well-being and
achieve the best outcomes for a child
• Shared principles and values of Getting it right for every child
• A common language and theory– the components of the Getting it
right for every child practice model
• Mutual benefits
• Changes in culture, systems and practice
How will changes be achieved?
• Lifting constraints on workers’ professional creativity and
innovation
• Accountability linked to managers’ trust in professionals’
autonomy and judgement
• Career structures that support professional leadership/mentorship
skills
• Managers who respect and work alongside practitioners.
promoting life long learning
• Changing governance from a culture of blame to one of learning
and improving performance
• Valuing input from academics and service users as part of the
learning agenda
Adapted from Changing Lives, the 21st century review of social work, Scottish Executive
2006
Two key agents of change
• Transformational leadership
• Changing through learning
Main sources
A Guide to Getting it right for every child, Edinburgh, Scottish Government
(2008)
Aldgate, J., Healy, L., Malcolm, B., Pine, B., Rose, W. and Seden, J (eds)
Enhancing Social Work Management – Theory and Best Practice from the
UK and the USA, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, (2007).
Changing Lives, the 21st century review of social work in Scotland, Edinburgh,
Scottish Executive ,(2006).
Transformational Leaders in
Children’s Services:
• Recognize that they are operating in permanent ‘whitewater’.
Change is constant
• Know that most children’s services jobs are high stress with high
potential for burnout
• Understand that a positive workplace starts with a management
philosophy that values individuals and views staff as competent
and responsible
Transformational Leaders:
• Develop participatory structures
• Believe that participation is an ethical imperative
• Recognize that their most valuable resource is the individuals who
work in the organization
• Know that feelings of achievement and satisfaction are essential
to high morale
• Strive to attain a learning organisation
• Act out the values and principles of Getting it right for every child
Qualities of effective leadership
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Dedication
Values
Integrity
Charisma
Bravery
Motivation
Credibility
Leaders and managers - effective style
Leaders aren’t all at the top. People at all
levels should be given opportunities to lead.
Leadership is about doing the right thing. A
good leaders sticks to their values and isn’t
knocked off course.
Leaders need not necessarily be managers
but all managers should be good leaders
From Changing Lives, the 21st century review of social work in Scotland,Scottish
Executive, 2006
Learning to change
Service improvements will not take place unless
those who work together in the human services are
willing to learn together
From Aldgate, Healy, Malcolm, Pine, Rose and Seden (eds).2007
Enhancing Social Work Management: Theory and Best Practice from
the UK and the USA, London, JKP
Appreciative Enquiry
• A strengths based approach out of action research
• Both a theory of change and a methodology for
fostering innovation
• Begins with assumption some things are working well
• Invites stakeholders to share what is going well
• Asks questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to
discover and develop its potential
• Invites participants to think differently about the
organisation
• Creates enthusiasm and commitment
• Change is inevitable
Translating the theory into
practice
Using Appreciative Enquiry in the Highland Pathfinder
• What is going well in implementation of change?
• What would you like to see more of?
• What needs to change further?
Changes in leadership and
systems
• Chief officers owning and supporting change
• New focused job descriptions to help people feel safe
championed by chief officers
• Interagency project team recognised as leaders on
behalf of their agencies
• Reference groups single and multi agency
• All agencies, including vol sector included
Changes in practice and culture
• A common practice model and practice tools
• Moving from child protection to protecting children
• Children and families are included and valued as
stakeholders
• Single child’s plan meeting focuses everyone
• Permission to share information early on
• More positive individual responsibility
• Valuing professional skills and judgements
• Improved communications within and outwith Highland
as common language spreads
Including children and families
• ‘We feel more equal’
• Young people chairing their own meetings
• Single meeting at times to suit families means more
involvement
Valuing people rather than
procedures - 5 questions for all
practitioners
• What is getting in the way of his child or young person’s
well-being?
• Do I have all the information I need to help this child or
young person?
• What can I do now to help this child or young person?
• What can my agency do to help this child or young
person?
• What additional help, if any , may be needed from
others?
Working together and learning
together
• Multi-agency training essential to recognise skills of
different agencies
• Single agency training to discuss the detail
• Understand everyone has a positive contribution that is
valuable
• Learn how to collaborate and share knowledge
A Positive Culture and New
Directions
If I could ask one thing in any situation
…it would not be ‘What’s wrong and
what will fix it?’ but ‘What’s possible
here and who cares?’
Weisbord 1987, quoted in Aldgate et al. Enhancing Social Work
Management – Theory and Best Practice from the UK and the
USA London, JKP, (2007)