Introduction to the Vanguard Method in People Centred Services Joanne Gibson Brendan O’Donovan

The Vanguard Method Intervention Theory Systems Theory Talked through systems theory as all one system but to stay sane find your boundary. Linked to Purpose and control, influence and Victim Thinking Systems Performance = Unlearn ReLearn

Changing management thinking Purpose is to move the organisation from this…. to this…. Changing management thinking Command and Control Thinking The Vanguard Method Some fundamental principles: Design – when I talk about design versus demand ,value flow then talk about nominal value – roadside resturant example Measures – talk about Purpose -Measures Method –use next 2 slides Role of management – do John Washing machine repair man – Deming 95%:5% Top-down, hierarchy Perspective Outside-in, system Functional specialisation Design Demand, value and flow Separated from work Decision-making Integrated with work Targets, standards, service levels; Relate to budget Designed against purpose; demonstrate variation Measures Contractual Attitude to customers What matters…..? Contractual Attitude to suppliers Co-operation, mutuality Make #s + manage people Role of management Act on the system Extrinsic (carrot & stick) Motivation Intrinsic Reactive, projects, by plan Approach to change Adaptive, integral, emergent Control Ethos Learning

Measures must be derived from purpose Otherwise you’ll have a de facto purpose…. “Manage the queues, meet the targets + keep the Leader happy” “Pay the right people the right money” Purpose E2E time to right decision Number right decisions Measures “Max. wait 15 minutes” Find & act on causes of variation “Give out forms, take in documents, golden tickets” Method

How do we change our thinking? Coercive Rational Normative Explanation –v- Exploration How does it happen? Is being told something enough for us to believe it? Eg the earth is round? Sometimes, if our thinking is already that way inclined. Otherwise, we usually need to have an experience of something that changes our norms/beliefs. A Normative Experience. Helps us to see and feel things from a different perspective. Normative experience example: Will in Ford – workers ignored the printed hand-out of the work flow and replaced it with their own, hand-drawn, pen version. Research shows that the pen is mightier than the keyboard. Typing notes of a lecture is mindless transcription and student show less conceptual recall than those who write by hand and synthises and select what they right. Like the difference between transactional and relational? Tell me and I will forget Show me and I may remember Involve me and I will understand Attributed to Xun Kuang, Chinese Confucian philosopher 312–230 BC

Thinking Governs Performance SYSTEMS THEORY Thinking Governs Performance Thinking Underlying Assumptions? “See patient in 8 minutes” “Everybody seen in 4 hours” “13 weeks to see a consultant” System Performance Consequences?

Check Do Plan Change must be based on knowledge, not opinion Get knowledge: How do our current assumptions affect performance? Check Make normal: How do we make this normal and sustainable? Experiment: Do different assumptions lead to improved performance? Do Plan Without Valid Data (Check) we have assumptions about the problems. Without Experimentation (Plan) we have assumptions about the solutions.

The Vanguard model for ‘check’ What is the purpose (in customer terms)? 1 Thinking 6 C U S T O M E R System Conditions 5 Flow : Value work + Waste 4 Capability of response 3 Demand : T + F, V + F What matters? 2

Digging up…

Case Study: Housing benefits (From Seddon J and O’Donovan B, 2013, ‘The Achilles’ heel of scale service design in social security administration‘ International Social Security Review, Vol. 66, 1/2013)

What you learn from Check What do customers want? “Can I make a claim?” “My circumstances have changed”

What’s the purpose? What Matters..? Pay me the right money “I get an answer quickly so that I know whether or not I’m going to get help” “Make it easy for me” “Deliver payments quickly so that I don’t get hassle from my landlord or the CTax department”

Workers’ activity ‘managed’ Learning to see HB as a System Multiple Sorts & Checks Cases fragmented Scanning/Indexing errors “I want to claim” 64% passed back Manage queues 34%V 66%F Sort Scan Index Hand out forms Take in documents Handoff 22%V 78%F HO 44%V 56%F Workers’ activity ‘managed’ Allocate 1-10 cycles to clean (ave.4) 95% cases over-specified 20% docs. duplicated HO 99% claims ‘dirty’ No case ownership CTax fragmentation Letters unclear 87% Decide HO HO HO Pay Notify Inspect 0-152 days to pay 3% visit once 60% errors Rework

Current operating principles: It’s ok to handover information unclean We work in functions and specialise the task It’s ok to do waste work We keep the people with expertise removed from the customer We measure activity and control our staff We check quality We decide what’s important to the customer It’s ok to ask for more information than we need

Exercise: Why do managers like targets? Questioning assumptions Exercise: Why do managers like targets? Thinking What are our assumptions? How do they affect the system? What are the consequences? System Single loop and double loop in VM Also linked to PPI, Assumptions, actions, consequences Linked to M4C as method for ensuring challenge to assumptions Performance

The Vanguard Method in People Centred Services Course starting at Kingston University in May 2017 Contact office@vanguardconsult.co.uk