Our vision · Web viewPhase 1 starts now and during May and June 2018 Visionary and TPT are seeking...
23
Transcript of Our vision · Web viewPhase 1 starts now and during May and June 2018 Visionary and TPT are seeking...
Contents
Overview, 3
Conference outline, 4
Main report:
Opening comments, 5
Leadership forum, 6
Member engagement, 7
Governance and succession planning, 8
Technology - apps, goggles, books & pockets, 10
Dig deeper into GDPR, 12
Your feedback, 13
How we will take forward your feedback, 15
Emerging themes for leadership conferences, 17
Visionary’s vision, mission and values, 18
2
Overview- Leadership conferences are created by Visionary as an opportunity
for sight loss charity leaders to come together to learn about new initiatives and support around certain areas of work as well as an opportunity for networking between Visionary members.
- Key sessions: Leadership forum, Member engagement, Visionary update; GDPR, Governance and succession planning and technology
65 delegates (19 in Birmingham, 22 in Leeds and 24 in London) came together over three conferences, to problem-solve, network, feedback to the Visionary team about their needs, learn something new and find out about new initiatives in the sector.
NB: Other represents non full members
Conference outline3
Birmingham: 23 April
Leeds: 30 April
London: 3 May
19
22
24
60%22%
14%3%
Delegates JOb roleCEO Trustee Manager Other
Plenary:
Opening remarks, Visionary update/plans and Q&A
Leadership forum
Member engagement – a new strategy
Lunch and networking
Afternoon workshops:
Option 1: Governance and succession planning
Option 2: Dig deeper into GDPR
Option 3: Technology - apps, goggles, books & pockets
Closing remarks
Thank you to all our speakers at the conferences: Fiona Sandford, Darren Paskell, Carla Whalen, Robin Spinks, John Worsfold, Andy Haynes, Lesley Smeardon and Gareth Brydon.
4
With a nearly all-new Visionary staff team, the leadership conferences were a great opportunity for members to speak with open minds and find out about Visionary’s plans to support members and disseminate information from national, regional and local.
Opening commentsVisionary’s CEO Fiona Sandford opened the conference reiterating Visionary’s strategic priorities and vision as well as outlining plans moving forward.
Having been the CEO of Scottish sight loss charity Visibility for almost 20 years, she brings to the organisation a deep understanding of the sector and the leadership role that CEOs play. She reiterated her passion for the mission of Visionary, in developing a strong national network of good quality local sight loss societies covering all parts of the UK.
Regarding new projects she outlined a partnerships initiative from Thomas Pocklington Trust. This she described in interstellar terms seeing Visionary and its members as the VI rocket and Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT) as the funding rocket fuel.
TPT partnerships initiative and the role of Visionary and member organisationsTPT and Visionary are working together to support local sight loss charities to develop effective local partnerships which, by working together, will improve the lives of blind and partially-sighted people throughout the UK. The programme will roll out across three years, and we hope that everyone who wants to participate and have a voice, will have the opportunity to do so within the three-year timeframe.
Phase 1 starts now and during May and June 2018 Visionary and TPT are seeking proposals from the geographical regions listed below:
Vision Wales Vision North East Scotland Vision West Midlands Vision Greater Manchester Vision Lancashire and Cumbria
5
Visionary and TPT are looking for partnerships between local Visionary members which will bring organisations together and develop a way of working to increase reach and impact, improve quality with the long-term aim of ending the postcode lottery of service provision for blind and partially-sighted people.
We are looking for a local commitment to new ways of working and evidence that ideas will make a positive difference to blind and partially-sighted people.
The partnership development programme will fund collaborations which builds capacity within local sight loss charities, embeds quality standards and develops a way of working which will standardise processes, evaluation and monitoring.
Leadership forumThe leadership forum was a chance for delegates to discuss issues in a safe environment with fellow leaders in their sight loss charities. The forum was conducted through whole group discussions as well as scenario setting, with some key themes emerging over the three conferences:
- How organisations and CEOs deal with conflicts of interest.- The need for leaders to be supported by their trustees.- The desire for trustees to be supported in order to deliver good
governance.- The importance of safe spaces for CEOs to discuss issues.- A trustee forum to debate issues.- The wish for skills training for trustee Chairs to conduct appraisals.- A desire among leaders for greater showcasing of best practice.- Desire to be connected to a mentoring service for CEOs and trustees.
6
Member engagement Visionary’s Member Engagement Manager Lesley Smeardon ran a session to discuss with delegates what they felt were the most important member benefits Visionary could provide for them and how Visionary could help to strengthen the existing member network.
7
The subjects you raised as most important
Please see page 15 for full details on how we will support these moving forward.
Governance and succession planning workshopsThese two workshops were run by Andy Haynes, Head of Income Development (Governance/income development) and Fiona Sandford, Visionary CEO (Succession planning).
The presentations sparked several conversations around how Visionary might be able to support members more in these areas.
Governance/income developmentAndy presented on an array of support that Visionary can provide for members on both income development and governance. This included income development support for members around fundraising, charitable trading, grants and contracts and commissioning.
Regarding governance, areas of support for members include CEO/SMT/Leader support around staffing, Board and HR issues,
8
trustee/Board engagement, access to specialist advice, support with regulatory compliance and a list of trusted suppliers in different areas of work.
Ideas of how Visionary might support further were discussed and included:
Signing up collectively on behalf of members for one of the funding databases, eg through the Directory of Social Change.
Use Visionary’s national reach to fundraise nationally and then share this funding/delivery through the membership
Sharing best practice ideas for funding and projects, technology etc... throughout the membership - especially the innovative, weird and wacky!
Sharing docs or templates, via the Knowledge Hub around disaster management & succession planning in particular.
Succession planning
Fiona presented her workshop on succession planning with a firm emphasis that organisations should see key people leaving, not as a disaster but an opportunity. She talked about how different approaches are needed depending on whether a departure is planned or unplanned and some practical steps that can be taken before anyone even suggests they might leave. Some of these included:
Detailing critical functions in the organisation and who carries these out currently.
Understanding the qualifications which are essential to the organisation and who else in the organisation has them.
Listing competencies and who else shares the competencies. Listing and describing key strengths and weaknesses. Ensuring a plan to maintain key contacts, institutional knowledge,
diary commitments, passwords. Who is anyone could be available temporarily to carry out these
duties until a replacement can be found.
Crucially, Fiona stressed the importance of keeping all staff and service users in the loop as they are often left out or not told about the changes until the last minute.
9
Several ideas of how Visionary might support further were raised by members in this area:
There was support for the idea of Visionary offering an interim CEO programme and support to Boards when a long-standing CEO leaves to help bridge to gap while recruiting for a new, permanent CEO.
Support with Board recruitment would be welcomed. Working with Visionary to find a way to champion and recognise
the work of trustees across local sight loss organisations.
Technology - apps, goggles, books & pockets The technology session was run by Robin Spinks (RNIB), John Worsfold (RNIB), and Darren Paskell (TPT) and gave delegates the opportunity to experience RNIB’S Eyeware app and get their hands on a limited number of 'In your Pocket' devices.
Eyeware
Eyeware is a visual impairment (VI) awareness tool which provides an immersive way for a whole range of people and organisations to experience what it is like to live with sight loss. It simulates all the main sight loss conditions by prevalence and to varying degrees of onset and is designed primarily to stimulate thinking that makes society a more inclusive place for blind and partially-sighted people.
Interest from members across the six workshops was strong with 12 expressing an interest in future project work which would include full training in the use of the technology. Some delegates felt this could be a useful tool for relatives, friends and colleagues of someone newly diagnosed with one of the conditions to try to understand the nature of the impairment. Others felt it could be a great tool to run as a training programme for businesses and raise some potential income.
10
In your pocket
In your pocket is a phone and accessibility tool for those with visual impairment that is subject to ongoing development with the latest version available from RNIB’s online store. It enables those with VI to have access to RNIB’s large library of talking books and newspapers as well as providing a competitively priced, accessible calls and texts package through 02.
Ten members took a device to test out with their service users and feed back to TPT to inform ongoing dialogue with the developer. A meeting with the developer is scheduled for June with some members interested in a commission-based arrangement for the demonstration and sale of the product locally.
11
Photo shows a demonstration of Eyeware technology.
Dig Deeper into GDPRLawyer, Carla Whalen was on hand to provide some expert advice for delegates in the run up to GDPR becoming law on 25th May. Discussions were varied at each session. Carla did highlight two key documents that might be of use for Visionary members if they are still unsure of certain procedures:
1 The ICO’s overview GDPR guide
The ICO has many comprehensive resources available for organisations to clarify certain aspects of GDPR.
2 What to do when consent can’t be obtained for keeping important patient information
A recent change to the Data Protection Bill, following lobbying by a member of UK Genetic Alliance, provides a way for not-for-profits working with people who have a medical condition and/or are disabled to process health data for raising awareness or support (not for fundraising).
Please refer to the press release for more information on Genetic Alliance website
Your feedback
12
Evaluation survey
Our evaluation survey was completed by 36 delegates.
Overall you rated the leadership conference 8/10 89% of those answering our survey went away having learnt
something new and useful and felt this knowledge would make a difference to their work.
83% of delegates rated the networking opportunities at the conference good or excellent.
Some specific comments from the survey can be seen on page 14.
13
14
Lots of new learning coupled with
strengthening of existing knowledge and
understanding.
Would like more information on support for trustees and guidance on what is expected on the
roles.
It improves my skills, knowledge and confidence as the CEO and that has an
immediate impact on the organisation I work for.
Excellent GDPR session but
heavy going as a subject.
We can build from the networking to share
experiences and ideas to deliver a more comparable service delivery across the
region.
…it was good to stress that
members views matter and influence.
The case studies provoked a good level of debate and sharing of experiences. They also elicited
impromptu examples of issues other CEOs were facing.
Great to demo new tech, lots of scope for new services.
I would have liked more leadership, strategy and
direction and less operational.
Success planning is a hot topic for us at the
moment, so this session was extremely useful to
me!
Always good to get updates on what's happened, what's planned and why
members are important to that plan - otherwise
there's no plan!
How we will take forward your feedback
Immediately (next three months)
We will:
- Investigate providing an HR consultancy service for members via a third party. We are currently in talks with a supplier and hope to be able to offer members some free consultancy time on all things HR in the immediate future.
- Continue to support you on your funding needs when requested.- Ensure all regions have a Visionary regional network set up. - Set up a system where we can put members, who are happy to
participate, in contact with each other to provide peer to peer support on specific projects.
- Ensure that Visionary regional leads are set up and all members know who their Visionary representative is and how to contact us for further support needs.
- Ensure all members who did not receive an annual visit last year receive a visit in 2018 if they wish it.
- Pull together a one-stop resource on GDPR consisting of Q&As that have come up from members over the past year through our podcast, webinars and meetings and further signposting to other resources.
Medium (3-9 months)
We will:
- Review and start to revamp the knowledge hub on Visionary’s website.
- Create a bank of consistently-designed resources on a range of issues highlighted in the conference sessions.
- Start to develop a bank of templates around operational needs.- Set up an area of the website dedicated to member success stories
with top tips for members interested in the same type of project.- Provide ‘hot topic’ workshops around your requests at this year’s
annual conference.
15
- Pilot trustee-specific, CEO-specific and operational-staff-specific workshops at the annual conference with a view to developing online forums or webinars in the future.
- Work with groups of members in the ongoing development of a quality framework, a common outcomes tool and impact measurement.
Longer term (9 months+)
- Increase our supplier network to pass on their benefits to you.- Investigate collective purchasing options to pass on benefits to
members.- Develop our associate membership to provide members with sight-
loss specific resources in key areas.- Greater understanding of our membership to tailor our support to suit
your specific needs according to your size, location and service areas.
16
Emerging themes for leadership conferences Your individual feedback at the conferences and from the evaluation survey points to some emerging themes to consider for the leadership conferences in 2019.
- Diversity of the organisations attending – some smaller, others larger and potentially some different needs.
- CEOs, trustees and managers would benefit from separate sessions.- A greater strategic focus would be good for CEOs around leadership
and training. - Views on venues were mixed depending on which conference was
attended.
Looking forward to 2019
Visionary will be looking closely at the evaluations from our three conferences as we draw up our conference programme in 2019.
We very much wish to continue to offer three conferences in three locations to enable all members that wish to attend to do so. Given the emerging themes, we will be look at the options to create specific sessions for the three main groups that attend these conferences, namely:
CEOs - sessions strategy and leadership Trustees – specific trustee sessions on governance Operational lead sessions around funding, marketing and HR
We will also consider whether we can run a session in the plenary that splits between smaller and larger organisations to tailor more to their needs.
17
Visionary’s vision, mission and values
Visionary is a membership organisation for local sight loss charities. We are a locally led movement of national significance and, by joining Visionary, we believe that the voice of your organisation will be stronger and louder.
Our visionA world in which people living with sight loss can access the services they need at local level where and when they need them.
Our missionTo develop a strong national network of good quality local sight loss societies covering all parts of the UK.
Our valuesOur organisation is built on quality, collaboration, inclusivity and trust.
Our three strategic priorities Identifying the unmet needs of blind and partially sighted people
Developing the roles of local sight loss charities in meeting these
needs
Developing a strong national network and working with partners to
support the effective delivery of consistently high quality services for
people with sight loss.
18
19
