Ilm_Leadership_and_Management

Work Based Assignment. Introduction to your organisation. CCB is a community centre registered charity based in the heart of ******* Town. We provide a range of services to the local community. We have an over 50’s project called *************** ,a youth club: Youth Project for 13 – 19 year olds, an after school club called the ******** Project for 8 – 13 year olds and an under 5’s drop-in which I manage. Our vision and aim is to provide services “To respond to the educational, recreational and social needs of local residents” ******** is an under 5’s drop-in, we are an outreach service where children can come with their parents and carers to play and meet other parents and carers from the local area. We provide a safe environment to play with a wide range of varied activities. We are also a signposting service and make referrals to other services like nurseries, children’s centres, social safeguarding, speech and language therapists, NHS amongst others. Our aims are to target ‘hard to reach’ children, parents and carers. The risk to these families can be reduced when the families receive extra support, especially at an early stage. Present Situation (Analysis of problem). As our organisation is charity funded, time, budget and staff constraints are normal everyday. Finding and implementing a solution to a problem is going to cost time and money. We recently had a situation where we had a budget cut in the new funding contract which resulted in a reduction in front line staff. Instead of two drop-in assistants we now have one and I support them on a daily basis, this has had a knock on effect on my workload. Through informal discussions between myself, the drop-in assistant and the administrator we have admitted to not being able to ‘carry on’ providing a quality environment without more ‘man power’ or staff support. We arranged a staff meeting to discuss the problem; we have had a funding cut, we need an extra member of staff to support day to day running of service, what will happen if we carry on without, what affects it will have on to the Littlehaven project and what solutions we can come up with to solve problem. As a team, during the staff meeting we discussed the issues that are arising from the funding cut and reduction of staff. We made a rough diagram of the cause and affect of the problem (see edited version; Appendix A). Due to the reduction in staff the; Provision will lose its quality of service; there will less ‘man power’ to set up and pack away the setting and therefore an inability to provide wide range of activities. Tasks such as rearranging setting, reports and case studies; will have to be put on hold to deliver front line service. Existing staff will have less support in delivering service, will get stressed with extra workload, this will have an affect on the staff morale. In the event of staff sickness or annual leave, we will be unable to use with paid cover staff due to budget restrictions. Children, parents and carers will not receive as much support when settling in to project or when completing forms. They may stop using the service through the lack of quality in provision or lack of staff support. The children may not enjoy unplanned or ad hoc activities and therefore not develop appropriate learning. This may cause a rise in complaints. Staff won’t have time to plan activities as the main concern will be to ensure front line service is provided. This will mean activities that are provided will be unprepared and provided on a makeshift basis. No time to recover and replace resources through stock checks and ordering. Due to lack of ‘man power’ large equipment like slides, swings large play mat etc, is not able to be set up. Investigation and identification of possible solutions to the problem. In order to ensure the staff reduction doesn’t result in the effects above we needed to come up with a solution. If no action is taken it will result in the effects above plus the project could receive a further cut in funding or worse close down. During the staff meeting we brainstormed a variety of different solutions to solving the problem, we now have a staff shortage and due to the funding cut we have no budget to pay for extra staff. We need more support in delivering the front line Litttlehaven drop-in service. (See APPENDIX B: POSSIBLE SOULTIONS). We came up with and discussed solutions; Volunteers, parent and carers support or make more grant applications to different funders. We already have experience in recruiting and training volunteers. We have regular work experience students from local secondary schools and colleges. Parents that used to bring their children to the drop-in service, that are now in school and college, have returned to us to acquire work placements as part of their study. All of the volunteers and students have come to us because they have an interest in working with children. All volunteers and students have to complete an application form; we then require 2 references and a completed CRB check (Criminal Records Bureau where a person is police checked for any previous convictions) before they attend an interview for the voluntary post. We have had many parents and carers offer us help in the past and we will now have to utilize this opportunity. It also gives the parents/carers a chance to have more of an input in the environment, setting and activities. I can make grant funding applications, running them past the Centre Director before submission to ensure none of the other projects within the community centre are applying for the same grant. Grant funding for staff can be difficult to find and applications can be unsuccessful. There are many grants given out for new projects and equipment but not many that will pay for existing staff wages (see appendix C for example of different grant requirements). The other concern we have to look out for with the grant applications is that; because we have all these different projects in the one community centre, separate projects cannot receive funding from the same sponsors. For example; the HELPS over 50’s project is funded by the National Lottery until 2014, none of the other projects in the community centre can receive funding from the National Lottery until that date. Grant applications also take time to prepare (reports, case studies, financial reports etc) and in the current climate of recession, many organisations have been given budget cuts, therefore more applications are being made and being refused. Many sponsors of charities such as ours, make funding decisions once or twice year, this can mean we have to wait months before we know if we have been successful in our application. Evaluation of possible solutions. During the team meeting we discussed the pros and cons of each possible solution and made a list. (See Appendix D for Pros and Cons from staff meeting). Recruiting volunteers will mean using human resources; staff and the manager’s (me) time. The manager will have to recruit the volunteers by first arranging meetings with Childcare tutors and volunteer agencies to inform them of what is required in terms of job role, application form, references, CRB checks and interview process. The manager and drop-in assistant will then have to support the volunteer as part of the team on a daily basis; this may mean helping with course work, in their job role or making job applications. The CRB and keeping records will also cost the organisation money. Volunteers that have worked with us previously have ‘found us’. I am now in a situation where I need to find them to ensure a constant flow and bank of volunteer staff we can utilise to help support the Littlehaven service. Parents and carers who already attend Littlehaven, will be able to come into the centre early to provide support in the setting up, running and packing away of session. They also will be able to provide ideas and skills in the planning meetings of the service ‘they’ use which will help with their participation and coincides with our Working as Partners with Parents and Carers. The parents will not have to go through the same application process as the volunteers as they are already registered members. There are many grants available for us to apply for, we must ensure that if we apply we are able to provide the statistical information needed in order to meet the grant requirements. Gathering this information could mean we have to fill out endless masses of paperwork i.e; monitoring forms, evaluations, plans, records of activities, registers, footage etc. If successful grants can bring great benefits and I regularly make grant applications with the centre Director’s support. In our current climate we are experiencing a deep recession, funders are receiving a lot more applications than usual and so more refusals have to be made. I recently got refused a grant for staff wages but was successful for a grant for resources. As a team we concluded that we will recruit volunteers and students from local colleges which will hopefully supply a regular turnover of staff. Recommended implementation plan to solve problem. In the team meeting I told the team I will arrange to meet with Childcare tutors from local colleges and put out adverts on voluntary websites. I would ensure that I will contact the colleges later on that day and have meetings with the tutors set up by the end of the week. I would also put in the job adverts on voluntary websites. Once we have someone interested in the position, I would take them through the application process, meeting with them to discuss their reasons for wanting to apply and what will be required of them in the voluntary drop-in assistant role. Once the application and CRB form have been completed, I will request the 2 references from the referees provided by the applicant in the application form. Once the CRB and references are returned and have been checked I will invite the volunteer/student in for an interview and if successful, offer them the post on a 3 month probation period. I will give them start date and time where I will then take them through the centre’s policies and procedures like the fire evacuation procedure, child protection policy and procedure, health and safety , recycling, equal opportunities, Littlehaven and Castlehaven’s aims and objectives and all other appropriate policies and procedures. After the probation period, the volunteer can apply to attend free training from Learn4Plus, an accredited training provider I work in partnership with, to acquire appropriate training for the volunteer. The drop-in assistant offered to support them in the setting on a daily basis by taking them through their job role, guidance in setting up of age appropriate activities, daily routines and supporting children, parents and carers, mentoring and coursework. I have since met with college tutors, advertised on websites and now have a regular flow of volunteers that provide help and support in Littlehaven. We have since recruited, and started supporting and motivating a small team of 3 volunteers that have now become a part of the Littlehaven team. Two of them are students from local colleges and one is a parent that used to bring her own child to use the service. They help in the setting up and packing away of the setting, preparing and implementing of activities whilst supporting the team and project in achieving its goals. The volunteers are supported and motivated in the same way as the paid staff receiving staff appraisals to monitor and evaluate their work and set goals for future development. They attend staff meetings where their ideas and input is welcomed and valued. They have benefits like working with a highly trained team, receives benefits like training and free CRB checks. They will have a sense of job satisfaction through helping the local community at the same time they can attend accredited training. We will continue to evaluate the support we are receiving from the volunteers and parents/carers through meetings, appraisals and staff self evaluation forms. It has been a real benefit to the organisation and we are continuing to provide a high level of service and aim to do so for the foreseeable future.