The magazine for staff of the RNIB group of charities

Engage Issue 13 May 2016

My story launches

What’s “What’s what”?

Building skills for the future

2Welcome

Welcome to the May issue of your staff magazineLast month saw the launch of My story – a pilot project in partnership with Guide Dogs to improve customer referrals to both national charities. We talk to Adam Greatwood and Shaun Bashum from Action and Guide Dogs respectively to hear more about the project.

Many of you took part in workshops late last year to work on how information could be provided to support the queries you and volunteers receive from customers. Since then, we’ve developed “What’s what”, an information tool to help you find answers to customers’ queries quickly and easily. Find out about our plans to launch “What’s what” more widely.

Staff also share their stories of on how they’re building their skills so they can be the best they can be.

Best wishes, Steve Griffin, Editor, Engage

Concept celebrates its 10th anniversary

Action for Blind People’s Concept Conference Centre in Birmingham celebrated its 10th birthday recently and highlighted the inspiring stories of its blind and partially sighted trainees.

The centre was set up in 2006 to provide training to people with sight loss and to challenge misconceptions about careers in the hospitality industry for blind or partially sighted people. Trainees are given the chance to gain experience in the kitchen or office to kick-start their career in catering and hospitality. The hard work of the centre and trainees has resulted in an 80 per cent employment success rate for the 32 paid trainees who have passed through the doors.

Joanna Parsons, Concept Team Leader, said: “Concept Conference Centre has been a joy to work in with such talent coming through our doors. We’ve helped rebuild people’s confidence and teach them the skills they need to consider a career in catering or hospitality. It’s also a great way to challenge misconceptions about how blind and partially sighted people can work to achieve their career dreams.”

Penny Buykx, entrepreneur, said: “After I graduated as a trained baker, I found out I was losing my remaining sight. I thought my career and my life were over, but then I met Jo. Through tears of laughter and frustration, the long hard road to recovery seemed less daunting and less lonely. The confidence Concept instilled in me paid off – in six months I was working part-time at an artisan bakers. I went on to run the

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3 Independence

bread department for high end restaurants, and now I’m setting up my own business in luxury biscuits. I’ve been given the chance to do what I love: baking.”

Martin Pugh, Chef de Partie added: “Concept isn’t just a matter of employment or money in your pocket, it changes people’s lives.

“I used to work in catering before I lost my sight. It’s not easy for someone with sight loss to walk back into a job. I came to Concept as a trainee, and I’m now Chef de Partie. I mentor some of the new trainees, and I see the stages they go through because I went through them myself.

People start at the sink, washing up and not speaking to customers. As their confidence grows they get stuck in to the middle of the kitchen. It’s fantastic to educate delegates by showing them what we can do and also giving them a nice hearty meal.”

Left to right: Joanna, Martin, Mary, St. Clair and Penny

If you’d like to book the venue for a conference, meeting or team away day email: info@conceptconferencecentre.com

My story goes liveOur customers told us they don’t want to have to keep telling their sight loss story. Things can get lost through the need of repetition, stopping them receiving the right referrals and some of the services they need.

In conjunction with Guide Dogs, Action launched My story on Monday 18 April. This pilot project will see the two national charities working together to directly refer customers between each other, and to other charities and organisations that may be able to help them. Our collaborative approach means new customers will only need to tell their story once and will receive the help and advice they need more quickly.

The initial pilot will take place in London, the Thames Valley and Birmingham for 12 months, with frequent evaluations of both customer experience and the impact on both organisations.

Partnerships 4

Working togetherAdam Greatwood, Development Manager for Action says: “Action wanted to develop a consistent assessment process. After talking to Guide Dogs we decided to do something innovative and ambitious together to make the most of our work and our resources, and design a customer pathway based on common principles.

“We share many customers and wanted to have an assessment process that is holistic, identifying as many areas of support as we can as early as we can, to support people to achieve their aspirations and identify barriers which prevent them from achieving their goals.

“My story is piloting a specific person centred approach, using a well established model which has been used across many other sectors. At the end of the process, each person will have a one page profile describing themselves and what they need support with, as well as an action plan identifying how that will be done. These are owned by the customer and can be taken away to share with anyone else.

“The complete involvement of the customer encourages and empowers them to identify their own needs and prioritise their goals, and when appropriate involves their support networks, considering the need of their family and carers.”

Partnerships 5

For more information about My story email adam.greatwood@actionforblindpeople.org.uk

Improved referralsShaun Bashum, Development Manager for Guide Dogs says: “With quicker, more efficient referrals, more areas of support can be identified earlier and therefore met more quickly. This helps support a person to adjust to their circumstances, and find solutions to barriers preventing them from living the life they choose.

“The pilot is being evaluated for 12 months by Action’s Service Development team and the joint Action/Guide Dogs project team, who will be reporting regularly to the project board. We’re confident that it’ll be successful and rolled out wider throughout the organisations, though the final decision will be made by the board after the pilot.”

If you work with new customers, you don’t need to refer them to the new pilot. All new customers contacting either Action or Guide Dogs in the pilot areas will automatically be included in the My story project. Both organisations have signed up to a data sharing agreement which means information can be shared as a referral, directly between them, with customer consent.

Building on our workThe pilot has also been integrated into the launch of OV2 (One Vision 2), ensuring a seamless customer experience. By using an enquiry type specific to the project, OV2 can be used to monitor the number of referrals being made. My story will be fully reportable from the system, and can be filtered out of full system reports if required.

Lessons learnt from the pilot, including customer plans, will be fed into any future development of OV2, so the system evolves to work as efficiently for us as possible.

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Building skills for the future Hi, I’m Cyril, one of the Consultants in the Learning and Development Team. We’re here for your personal and professional development, to support you in gaining skills, knowledge and confidence to be the best you can be. This year, we want to work more closely with you to ensure you get the guidance, information and learning you need.

Rather than me tell you the benefits of continuous learning, I wanted to share the experiences of colleagues who have benefitted from learning and development activities we provide. Hopefully their stories will inspire you to look into development opportunities to build your skills and experience.

People

Josh Feehan from Engagement is part way through the Disability Rights UK’s Leadership Programme, he says: “The Learning and Development team told me about the programme which I believe is very helpful for people living with sight loss. It’s about inspiring disabled people to become leaders across the public, private and voluntary sectors. The course helped me address two challenges I face: career progression and overcoming barriers. This ILM accredited course also strengthens my CV and hopefully will help me build my career in RNIB, or anywhere else I choose to build my future.

“I like to be proactive and engaged in any development activity I’m involved in and being on this programme is no exception. I’ve had the opportunity not only to benefit from the programme (I found the mentoring really beneficial) but to proactively demonstrate my leadership skills by making contributions to ensure that it really meets the needs of blind and partially sighted people. I’ll be contributing feedback to the programme about ways in which it can be further developed to meet the needs of delegates with sight loss.”

7 People

Tracy Pearson from Reading Services Library said: “I attended the Recruit Right First Time course which I found really interesting and engaging. What I took away from the course wasn’t just the how to recruit properly, but how easy it is to make unconscious snap judgements when you first meet someone. The course taught me how to be much more aware of my thoughts and gave me some techniques to use to make sure I give everyone the consideration they need when I’m interviewing. This way I can make sure I not only recruit the best people fairly and consistently, but I’m aware when I’m making these judgements about others that I meet. This has been a really useful realisation and will help me build better relationships in the future.”

Contact us on 020 7391 2204, or email PeopleDevelopment@rnib.org.uk

Richard Louis from People was one of 16 colleagues who applied for the government’s ‘Day in the Life Of’ scheme last November. Richard said: “I saw the ad in Global weekly news and thought it was a great opportunity to spend a day with another organisation. In March, I was invited to spend the day with the Diversity and Inclusion Team at the Home Office. It was a really powerful insight into a large, very publically accountable organisation. I’ve come away recognising the multiple challenges all organisations face when promoting and supporting a diverse workforce.”

Listen to Anne, Martin and Laura from RNIB Northern Ireland talk about developing their coaching skills: bit.ly/23rpqK6

How can we support you? Speak to your manager about the many different ways you can learn and develop. For example working on a new project, work shadowing, taking on new responsibilities etc.

Look out for information on training courses on InterAction or iSite as well as the weekly news.

For information and advice about your development you can email me cyril.husbands@rnib.org.uk or anyone in the Learning and Development team, we’d be happy to discuss learning opportunities available.

Benefit is paid directly to you by direct credit into your bank account – and is tax free.

Further informationThe HSF booklet and application form can be found on iSite and InterAction. We’re working with HSF to produce these in accessible formats. If you have any difficulty accessing this information or have any questions about the scheme, the HSF Sales Support team are happy to help. Call them on 0800 917 2208 or email rnib@hsf.eu.com.

Supporting the cost of your health care It doesn’t take long for the cost of everyday healthcare, like dentists or physiotherapists, to mount up; a filling at an NHS dentist could set you back as much as £53.90.

To help you spread the cost of health care not covered free by the NHS, we’ve teamed up with the Hospital Saturday Fund (HSF) Health Cash Plan, which is available for all RNIB group-wide employees to join.

How does a health cash plan work?It’s simple: you choose the scheme that suits you best and pay a monthly amount directly from your salary into the HSF health plan.

If you need to go into hospital, have dental treatment or visit the optician, physiotherapist, osteopath etc, the scheme will assist with the bills. It also gives you support for more serious healthcare issues. Depending on the plan you choose, you could get half or all of the cost back.

Does it cover my family too?Yes – you can claim for your partner and any dependent children under 18 still living at home at no extra cost.

How much does it cost?Your plan could cost as little as £1 per week. However, the more you pay into your plan, the higher the level of benefit you can claim. There are two types of scheme: Primary and Extra Cover. The Primary schemes reimburse 50 per cent and the Extra Cover schemes reimburse 100 per cent of your costs, up to the defined annual amount for your plan.

8Lifestyle benefits

9 Engagement

topics of interest and be relevant to listeners throughout the UK.

This will be achieved as we develop and introduce the new community connectors who will be working with the RNIB group media production teams across the UK to create new and unique content from people in the growing community.

You’ll still hear a broad range of information, interviews, music and features highlighting the interests, challenges and aspirations of the RNIB Connect community.

We’ll still be on the same Freeview channel (730), on smart devices and Glasgow’s 101fm. The difference is we’re here for the RNIB Connect community, and we really want to emphasise that in everything we do, from the content we offer to the name we use.

If you’d like to find out more information or share your story call the RNIB Radio Connect team on 0141 357 3518.

New look, new name on the radioRNIB Connect has over 24,000 members across the country, including former members of RNIB, RNIB Campaigns Network and Action Connect. Together we create a stronger and wider community that’s led by blind and partially sighted people.

As part of RNIB Connect, we’ve renamed Insight Radio to RNIB Connect Radio. We want to emphasise that we’re here to connect our blind and partially sighted members, their friends, families, and supporters together at a community level. RNIB Connect Radio is the voice for the RNIB Connect community across the airwaves.

RNIB Connect Radio is an integral part of this new force, bringing together the station’s 135,300 listeners. We want to engage more and more blind and partially sighted people and get their voices heard where appropriate on the station. We want to provide a platform for people to share experiences of living with little or no sight, inform and create new programming on Listen online, visit rnibconnectradio.org.uk

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What’s “What’s what”?Have you ever been asked a question by a customer and not been 100 per cent sure of the right answer? Have you ever wanted to help a customer but not been sure which team is best to contact?

Then “What’s what” could be the tool for you.

What’s the story? It began with feedback from colleagues and customers that we needed consistent access to information across teams and locations, so customers weren’t unnecessarily passed between teams or given conflicting information.

So we brought together a group of colleagues from across the UK to work on how information could be provided to support the queries our staff and volunteers receive from customers.

Customer service

11

the correct contact details to give to customers. I’ve used the ‘Quick Links’ to find local Action offices and the Employment line number.”

Jason Stone, Helpline said: “Colleagues can find answers quickly and easily. It means they don’t have to spend time asking other team members, and in turn means they don’t have to call a customer back or transfer them to another department as often. Developing What’s what means we’ll all have more knowledge of what’s available to our customers, regardless of where they are in the country and we can help promote services to help our customers, wherever they are.”

What’s more...If you don’t find what you’re looking for in What’s what there’s a feature to suggest new content. A team will find the answer you’re looking for and then add it to What’s what so that other colleagues can also benefit from the information.

Equally if you know something useful for our customers and not on What’s what, you can use the ‘Suggest content’ button to share it with colleagues and improve the service that we’re collectively capable of providing.

What’s next?We’re excited to be rolling out “What’s what” to colleagues in customer-facing roles over the next few months. If you’d like to be involved in the launch of “What’s what” for your team, please email celine.haynes@rnib.org.uk to volunteer your support.

Next, we engaged with a company called Transversal who support the FAQs section of Ask RNIB (help.rnib.org.uk) as well as the likes of John Lewis, Barclays and the BBC.

In true democratic spirit we asked colleagues to nominate and then vote on the name... After a hard-fought campaign and more than 200 votes cast through Yammer and Survey Monkey, “What’s what” was elected.

Following successful technical and accessibility testing, What’s what was made available to colleagues from the Helpline and Advice Service to pilot and provide feedback. We also engaged a number of Change Champions to ensure the content is relevant to any part of the UK.

What’s the verdict?The feedback has been extremely positive with colleagues saying it saves them time and helps them pass on knowledge to customers.

Calvin Stevens-Charles, Helpline said: “I use this every day and I find it very useful. Now I can find the info I need to deal with calls like ‘I’ve lost my CVI, where can I get a new one from?’ It helps you save time when looking for information you can find it in seconds. Great tool.”

Sue Baldwin, Helpline said: “I use this every day, I think it’s very good and I’ve always found what I was looking for – it’s easy to use. At the moment I’m using it for the newspapers which have changed as I can find the list straight away. I also go to Sightline direct from it.”

Jamie Crisp, Helpline said: “I’ve found it really useful, it’s helped me with education enquiries – the further you look into who is calling and what for, the more it filters

Customer service

Campaigns

When it comes to eye appointments – ask!

their ophthalmologist recommends. We’re working with stakeholders across the eye care sector to develop a range of information tools and resources. This will empower patients to advocate for their own care and make sure they’re seen within clinically appropriate timeframes.

We want all patients to:

• Ask their eye doctor when their next appointment should be

• Save the exact date once it’s booked

• Keep it! Always turn up to appointments, and contact the eye clinic if appointments are cancelled and not rescheduled within the timeframe recommended by their ophthalmologist.

Later this month we’ll be taking our key messages to the Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ annual congress in Birmingham. We’ll be hosting an event and inviting clinicians to have a quick “15 minute consultation” with us where we’ll outline how we can work with staff in eye clinics to help them secure the best care for their patients.

Over the coming strategy year, we’ll be continuing our work to tackle the capacity crisis in eye clinics whilst also upskilling patients to be able to speak up and receive the care they are entitled to.

As the NHS experiences unprecedented financial pressures, we’re campaigning hard to defend timely access to follow-up appointments and sight saving treatments. Holly Heath, Policy and Campaigns Officer, updates us on this area of work.

No one should lose their sight because of cancelled or delayed appointments at the eye clinic. However, with demand on eye care services increasing like never before, follow-up appointments are increasingly being delayed, impacting on the continuity and effectiveness of eye care delivery. This is particularly the case for patients with chronic eye conditions, such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic eye disease, where there’s a risk of irreversible sight loss.

Patients must be able to request appointments based on the timeframe

© RNIB May 2016 RNIB reg charity nos. 226227, SC039316. Action for Blind People reg charity nos. 205913 and SC040050 and Cardiff Institute for the Blind reg charity no. 214131

Know anyone whose appointments have been cancelled or delayed? Do they want to get involved in shaping the campaign? If so, pass on our contact details. Email campaigns@rnib.org.uk or phone 020 7391 2123.