This is the last of a series of six case studies where we address common problems experienced by voluntary and community organisations by looking at how an infrastructure organisation experienced the same problem and came up with a successful strategy to overcome it.

6.

Spreading the load

When faced with a demand to change your ways of working to meet some new requirement or attain a new standard, there is sometimes a temptation to tick the boxes to get the process complete and move on to something which may be more pressing. Doing it this way may be a quick fix but will it really benefit an organisation in the longer term? And what happens when the organisation is working across semi-autonomous departments and on split sites? This is what one organisation found: Organisation:
Voluntary Action Rotherham (VAR) 40 staff governed by a Board of Trustees.

Quality Management Status
PQASSO Level 1 complete and working towards level 2. IIP certificated 2006, Customer First awaiting final assessment. Voluntary Action Rotherham is the lead body for supporting, developing and promoting the voluntary and community sector in the Rotherham borough. Its core activities and associated projects are a keystone for local community engagement and development. Its mission is to promote, support and develop the voluntary and community sectors in Rotherham to bring about positive change in the lives of people and their communities. Linda Haynes has the title `Quality Development Officer' and had worked in this sector for a number of years before joining VAR in August 2006 just after the organisation had gained IIP certification for the first time. One of her first tasks was to pull together a Quality Working Group ­ known internally as the `Quality CEO Janet Wheatley and Chairman Peter Broxham celebrating Forum' - which, while it did not VAR's achievement of IIP include a member of the Board of Trustees, fed its findings directly to the Board as recommendations. In addition, VAR's bids for funding from Yorkshire Forward meant that they had to become Customer First compliant in a relatively short time. She was helped in this by Keith Dodson, Head of Business Development. Together with four other department heads he and Linda constituted the Quality Forum. The process was made more complicated by the two-site operation that VAR was forced to use in advance of the building of their new purpose-built premises.

Towards Effective Quality Management ­ Case Studies for Success

Their approach to the assessment of Customer First was to pass the standards out to the four teams for them to self-assess and then meld the resulting four assessments into an organisational plan. Keith oversaw this process and coordinated the responses. All four departments accepted the importance of the quality management process, not just as a hoop through which a funder wanted them to jump, but as a valid method of determining the way in which the organisation responded to ­ and ultimately served ­ its customers. Support from ChangeUp through South Yorkshire's Infrastructure Quality Project was beneficial. Nat Thompson from the Project assisted first in understanding and then promoting the chosen quality management tool to staff. The outcome of the Customer First assessment, which took only three months from start to finish, was a need for improvement in internal and external communications and the demand for a customer database to track contact, support and service demand. Although the assessment had not involved the Board of Trustees, all the staff of the four departments had pulled together. The Quality Champion, Linda, sought to build a safe environment of open constructive self-criticism and this led to an approach which staff reported as being `quite refreshing'. One of the lessons which Linda has learned is that projects need to be integrated into the overall quality improvement "Individual projects need plan as they are developed and come on-stream - earlier to be integrated into the rather than later. She is enthusiastic to report that the next overall quality part of the quality improvement process is to move from reactive to proactive planning ­ in part to meet the improvement plan" procurement needs of the Local Authority. The organisation has found the process of meeting the requirements of Customer First so beneficial that it has prompted the desire to go for a full Social Audit.

Checklist for keeping it real
We need to ensure that the mission to improve quality is communicated well and realistically to all participants All projects should have good connectivity with the host organisation and should not become isolated or appear independent of the process Commitment is needed at all levels. The Board must understand the resource implications and staff must recognise the organisational benefits If split-site work or multi-departmental self-assessments are involved then someone must be tasked with coordinating the process to ensure standardisation of assessment There needs to be a proactive approach to change for the benefit of the organisation not a reactive response to the demand of a funder Planning, planning and more planning to ensure that the work can still go on while processes are assessed and improved.

Voluntary Action Rotherham, Durlston House, 5 Moorgate Road, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S60 2EN Tel: 01709 829821 Web: http://varotherham.org.uk