Inverness College UHI – External review (6 May 2016)
Excellent practice
Staff engagement with improvement of college processes
College senior managers have addressed key procedural issues which were having
a negative impact on learners. They developed a method of using the collective
views of staff and learners to identify the reasons behind procedural problems,
develop solutions and ensure immediate improvement.
Starting in 2013, the college facilitated a series of events involving mixed focus
groups of staff and learners. Facilitators used the Customer Service Excellence
framework to map key issues identified from sources such as the all-staff
conference, learner questionnaires and analysis of complaints. This has ensured a
clear focus on the needs of customers, for example learners. Importantly, it has
enabled all participants to identify objectively where current college processes either
match or run counter to recognised best practice. This has helped everyone to
identify ways of aligning college practices with those of the best organisations.
Event facilitators also provided clear diagrammatical illustrations of college process
flowcharts and interdependencies. These ensured that participants had a clear
understanding of the rationale behind different processes before they proposed
changes to them. Facilitators structured discussions so that while participants
shared their individual perspectives, they primarily generated creative and realistic
solutions to problems. This open-ended, collaborative way of working has been
critical to the success of the events. It has ensured that everyone’s views have been
heard and people have felt confident in challenging the status quo. Furthermore, the
clear focus on improvements to the learner experience has had the effect of pulling
everyone together and channelling all discussions towards one end point.
A further success factor of the project was that college senior managers endorsed
and implemented very quickly many of the changes which were proposed by
participants. This impacted immediately and positively on, for example, admission
procedures, learner induction and on-line programme resulting. It also identified
longer-term issues, such as timetabling and room utilisation, which have become live
projects for those undertaking leadership training. This rapid response aspect has
been a major contributor to re-building staff confidence in college management and
to staff engagement with constructive, well-informed solutions. Most importantly, the
learner experience of college services in several areas has improved significantly
over the past few years.