2013 APPLICATION FORM
Please refer to the ‘2013 Guidance for Applicants’ before completing this application form.
The deadline for submission of entries is 5pm on Friday 12 October 2012.
The application form is split over four sections to reflect the assessment
criteria, and to facilitate the judging process. It is up to you to decide
the content and length of each section, but your application
must not exceed three pages in total (excluding the cover page).
Further guidance is available at www.awards.cosla.gov.uk. Submission arrangements are
detailed at the end of this application form.
Please provide some further details about your application:
Category applied for
Project Name
Lead Organisation
Department/ Team
Participant Names or
Partner Organisations
Contact Name
Contact Details
5 Securing a Workforce for the Future
Postgraduate Certificate in Collaborative Leadership Programme
Fife Council
Workforce Development, Human Resources, Corporate Services
1. Fife Council
2. NHS Fife
3. St Andrews University
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Claire McWilliams
Claire.McWilliams@fife.gov.uk
Can we publish this application form on our website?
FOR INTERNAL USE
www.awards.cosla.gov.uk
08451 55 55 55 ext. 442690
YES
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
In one short paragraph please describe this project is about, what it has achieved,
and why it is delivering excellence.
The Postgraduate Collaborative Leadership Certificate Programme is the first of its kind in Scotland. It directly
addresses the spirit of the Christie Commission report to equip leaders in Fife with skills to ‘….embrace a radical,
new, collaborative culture throughout our public services…”.
The creation of the programme has also required it’s developers to walk their talk, bringing together expertise from
St Andrews University, Glasgow University, Strathclyde University, NHS Fife, Fife Council and the Private Sector.
Early outcomes indicate positive impact is being achieved at a service delivery level as well as shifting mindsets and
better equipping participants with the sophisticated skill sets required to achieve effective partnership working.
Scottish Government departments are funding stakeholders for the programme because they have an interest in
learning from this programme and replicating it nationally.
The programme skills and equips managers, within the Fife Partnership, to lead collaboratively on the most complex
cross system service delivery issues. The theoretical underpinnings, techniques and tools taught on the programme
are new and at the cutting edge of research and practice. The process of recruiting participants in pairs and groups
with a joint, job related issue to progress or resolve, is also innovative. Success is assessed individually and as a
group. Essays are required to reflect project progress as well as individual and collective contribution to the
Collaborative Leadership process.
PLANNING
· a clear rationale, defined processes and focus on stakeholder needs
· contributes to organisation’s goals and addresses current or emerging challenges
A strong foundation of collaborative learning already exists within Fife through the ‘Fife Leading and Learning
programme’ delivered between 2004 and 2009. An Appreciative enquiry methodology was chosen by the
collaborative design team to create an updated and improved programme. Interviews were conducted with Senior
Managers and Partnership co-ordinators in 2009The research indicated that people needed help to work more
effectively where partnership working was difficult, yet vital. The design team concluded that they needed to help
equip managers with the skills to lead through times of uncertainty and the ability to influence and deliver where there
is an absence of hierarchy and clear reporting lines.
While the programme concept was agreed in 2009 actual delivery did not commence until March 2011 due to
funding challenges. Steep cuts in public sector budgets at that time meant that the usual way of funding, in house,
would not be possible. The design team had to spend time growing awareness of the cutting edge nature of the
conceptual base and delivery design and grow and bring together a collaboration of 7 sources of funding.
Persistence and developing joint understanding of the nature of the leadership challenge of the future and a way to
start to address it, created the agreement to fund jointly.
A key selling point was that the skills taught would help to deliver the agreed outcomes for the community reflected in
the Fife Community Plan. This was demonstrable from the design of the programme which requires participants
work on their live collaborative projects from their day jobs and reflect on their capacity to lead with others. Examples
of projects chosen during 2011/12 included Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) and Reshaping older peoples’
care. Both are highly organisationally relevant as well as being the type of complex and large scale project requiring
a wide range of partners to work jointly for successful delivery. These are not tasks that many design teams have
tried to develop in people.
An invitation to apply was sent out to all the people working in the Partnership organisations and a total of 19
participants from across Fife Partnership organisations successfully completed the programme between March 2011
and March 2012. Clear measures outlined in the University Student Handbook indicate the vital intellectual,
professional, practical and transferable skills that will be achieved through successful completion of the programme.
Other programme objectives are to:
 develop knowledge and skills in influencing and change management
 develop skills in reflective practice
 develop participants ability to think together to develop new and existing services
 enable participants to develop skills in dialogue to encourage new ways of working to emerge
 encourage participants from partner organisations to review and develop practice collectively
 encourage participants to use action research principles to progress partnership working
 embed theory by applying it into practice through the assignments completed
 increase participants awareness of organisational metaphors
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DELIVERING
· implemented in all relevant areas and across all the required stakeholders
· carried out in a structured and logical way , using robust and sustainable methods
The delivery of the programme is unique. The tripartite delivery approach through St Andrews University, Fife NHS
and Fife Council has also challenged how the delivery team applies its own approaches to working collaboratively.
A structured approach through regular evaluation meetings, using dialogue techniques have encouraged an
authentic conversation to resolve any issues arising and create a mutual win. This has also been extended to the
wider group of funding stakeholders of the programme who are equally as interested in the experience of the
collaboration work within the delivery team.
Delivery of the programme is structured around three taught modules each of 5 days, broken down into one or two
day workshops, over the period of a year. This allows the participants to study together in depth, observe their
individual and group process re leading collaboratively and progress their organisational issue over a 12 month
period. Participants are supported through action learning sets as well as with individual and group feedback
sessions on the Behavioural Propensities Profile during the first module. This gives additional information about
individual and Dialogue styles and Structural Dynamics preferences.
The admission criteria for the 2011/12 programme were based around:
 Middle/senior managers with partnership working experience
 1st degree or equivalent
 People were to apply in groups of 2 to 5 to work on a multi-agency project determined by the group
before applying that would improve service delivery in different areas of Fife Partnership
 Senior Management Support required to indicate the importance of the topic for consideration
throughout the programme and the suitability of the participant
 Voluntary organisation participants are encouraged and financially supported to participate
This criteria was agreed by the delivery team and funders in order to target the right level of manager onto the
programme with emphasis on a high quality group issues to be resolved. Assessment criteria for the postgraduate
certificate is also rigorous and aligned to the high standards and robust procedures associated with St Andrews
University qualifications.
This criteria still applies to the recent 2012/13 programme intake and will be strengthened in 2013/14 where a key
target group will be senior managers who will be instrumental in the establishment and delivery of outcomes within
the new Health and Social Care Integration model.
The University delivery and accreditation costs £60,000 at present The places on the programme are fully
funded for participants at present, this may change in future as the funding model is reviewed The programme
is less of a personal development programme than most other leadership courses and more of an
Organisational development intervention. Not everyone who might be suitable to study on it would be chosen as
it will increasing depend on the nature of the joint project and organisational priorities for the Fife Partnership.
INNOVATION +
LEADING PRACTICE
· Demonstrates leading practice, and is capable of replication elsewhere
· Achieves genuine innovation or new ways of working
Given the unique approach and content of this programme it has been difficult to gather any benchmarking
information. This was recognised early by the delivery team and a structured independent evaluation process was
introduced to identify key areas of innovation and leading practice. The evaluation found that innovation is being
achieved on three levels through:
 The customers / stakeholders engaged through the live projects
 The participants on the programme, recruitment and make up
 The design, delivery and funding team
The programme has only been made possible by the interest of national funders who are co stakeholders
interested to learn if this model of development will work. National funders, include Joint Improvement Team (JIT),
and NES (NHS Education for Scotland). Others interested and informed but unable to fund, have included the
Scottish Government Leadership team, SSSC and The Local Government Improvement Service. The collaborative
nature of the creation of this programme means that it is already influencing:
 NES who are currently designing the shape of future leadership programmes for the NHS using in
part the learning from this programme.
 JIT senior staff are using the findings to inform their interactions across the public sector
 Scottish Government have used the findings to inform their programme Collaborating for outcomes
 The Scottish Improvement Service now aspire to have more groups of workplace colleagues attend
their leadership programmes
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
The Arts sector in Scotland are also aiming to replicate the collaborative design of the programme
and are fundraising and trialling out a mini version this year for a small group of practitioners
The dialogue theory and techniques are designed to help participants notice and improve the quality of their current
conversational process to speed the progress of live change practice and achieve better outcomes for the customer.
Participants are also equipped with better methods to understand the complexity of collaborative working and work
with the inevitable pain that results as a consequence, to take it less personally and to use new theories to aid their
thinking. This shifts the focus away from seeing things as personal difficulties, to seeing them as structural issues
that can be resolved. This is key in navigating complexity that exists with any multi-agency approach.
RESULTS + IMPACT
· a convincing mix of customer and internal performance measures
· demonstrates how better outcomes are being achieved
· a full range of relevant results– either already achieved or with potential to deliver over time
The results and impact of the successful completion of this programme are felt on four levels:
1. Individuals
Increased confidence in their ability to understand others contexts and react
Stronger influencing, listening and conversational skills to support a solution focus
13 of the 19 participants received merit awards from St Andrew’s University
Direct evaluation quotes from individual participants have also been positive;
“This course offered me the opportunity to step out of my role and consider issues from a
much wider perspective “
“….technology is changing the way we work dramatically so we are developing new ways of
working together to improve the services we provide for the people who need and use
them…”
“I gained a great deal of knowledge of the policy direction of the care agenda involving all
partners….”
Groups
Benefit of being supported to lead collaboratively on a live project
Increased peer support personally and cross organisationally as the groups had to deliver a
real project for customers and apply collaborative methods to this
Better sense of How group dynamics enhance or block progress and how to address this
Live project
Services for People in crisis in Fife (delivered by Fife Council and Fife Public Health)
delivery
Better understanding of services delivered, satisfaction rates and service gaps
Clearer collective responsibilities across the partnership organisations i.e. police, ambulance,
voluntary sector, NHS, social work, housing and advocacy
Impact of reshaping care for older people
Better understanding of where blocks occur in the system of delivery
Concrete plan to resolve blocks and navigate areas of blurred responsibility
New structure of working allowing partners to better prioritise and secure funds
GIRFEC (Getting it right for every child)
The introduction of a ‘Child’s Plan’ improved information sharing and increased ownership of
the plan by all involved – including child and carers
Evidence of improved assessments and case management where a Child’s Plan exists
Consistency in use of GIRFEC terminology required
Scope of ‘Getting it Right’ groups locally to be widened to develop GIRFEC processes
Delivery and
funding teams
Collaborative Partnership Tasking – Community Safety:
Stronger collaborative leadership achieved
Revised role and remit for Area Community Safety Groups developed
Collaborative tactical problem solving achieved
Agreeing area of strong interest that requires a partnership working approach
Understanding context of the organisations involved
Achieving the goal of delivering the first two programmes
Working across partners to deliver a seamless programme
Being able to demonstrate cutting edge research and practice that will be replicated by the
Scottish Government and other national bodies
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Next steps
 Have you answered the assessment criteria set out in the guidance?
 Is your application form 3 pages or less? (anything more, including appendices, will
be automatically rejected)
 Has your application form been authorised by an appropriate person?
 Have you indicated whether you wish the application form to be published?
 Have you provided details for someone we can contact about your application?
Submitting your application
Please email your application by 12 October 2012 to:
Category
Email address for applications
1
Service Innovation and Improvement
exawards2013-1@cosla.gov.uk
2
Achieving Better Outcomes
exawards2013-2@cosla.gov.uk
3
Tackling Inequalities & Improving Health
exawards2013-3@cosla.gov.uk
4
Strong and Sustainable Communities
exawards2013-4@cosla.gov.uk
5
Securing a Workforce for the Future
exawards2013-5@cosla.gov.uk
6
One to Watch
exawards2013-6@cosla.gov.uk
Queries about the submission of applications can be made to:
awards@cosla.gov.uk / 0131 474 9275