|
Issue #4 Thursday 3 October 2024
What do you love about the Council? What could we be doing better? Have you seen something and know that there's a way to improve it?
Our staff survey, Your Voice. Our Mission is your chance to have your say, no matter how big or small, on the future of the Council. It will also help us see if we’re delivering on Mission Waltham Forest by knowing exactly what you, our staff, want and need from the Council.
You will have received the survey from . It will take just 10 to 15 minutes of your time (you can also complete it in several sittings if you’re short on time). Your responses will go directly to DJS Research and will remain confidential, seen only by them.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to shape the future of our Council. Take part in our staff survey today and make your voice heard.
Our colleagues, Kehinde Okundalaiye, Stuart Torres-Catmur, Samantha Davenport, Brianna Francis, Aisha Farah and Samuel Clayton have shared with us how easy it is to fill in the survey and why it's important to do so in this video.
 Mission Waltham Forest is the golden thread in delivering exceptional services for our residents and creating a more equitable borough.
Our mission-based approach is all about a new way of working together to identify our challenges and breaking them down into ambitious and clear goals. It also focusses on shared responsibility to tackle the challenges we face of which everyone has a part to play.
In the past few months, we have been busy talking to colleagues about the work they do that showcases efforts already underway to bring our mission-based approach to life to achieve our ambitions for our borough.
Our Mission priority to build a network of interconnected support
Shaista Afzal is a Principal Social Worker – Lead in Practice Improvement. Her daily work is linked to our Mission to ensure every family and every child are given every opportunity.
She is leading a working group and developing a tool that assesses the quality of care a child is being given by their parent. They have involved our Early Help colleagues within this so that children are supported as early as possible.
Shaista said: “Creating this tool is in response to findings from recent Quality Assurance activity and feedback from partners and residents. We know as a professional network in Waltham Forest, we need to act in a much more robust and consistent way when assessing the quality of care that a child is receiving”.
Below you can watch the video and read more about how an assessment tool is being created to assess the quality of care a child is being given by their parent which shows how we are working towards ensuring every family and every child can access the services and support they need.
|
Our Mission priority to create ambitious employment, training, and apprenticeship opportunities
Mary Armitage is a curriculum officer and works for Employment Business and Skills (EBS) in the Adult Learning Service.
Adult Learning is all about building skills and empowering residents, and with many courses - for example, English and Maths, Digital and Employability. Empowering residents goes beyond them gaining skills, it's also to do with their mental health, their wellbeing, and this is where enrichment comes into play.
Mary said: “Building an economy that works for everyone, cannot be achieved, for example, if someone is struggling, can't get online because they haven't got the facility to access services digitally or because it's too expensive. This is where we come in, to let residents know what’s available to them.”
In this case study, you can find out how the EBS team are helping to build an economy that works for everyone by providing a variety of skills, training and support to residents and working in a Mission-based approach with the wider Stronger Communities Directorate.
|
In addition to the 400 people who took part in conversations across our Mission workshops, nearly 100 staff responded to the Mission Waltham Forest survey, A BIG thank you to everyone who was able to take part or complete the survey.
There were two main ideas we heard from staff at the workshops: Mission Staff Fair and Mission Themed Workshops. We asked you to choose one of the events and welcomed additional suggestions.
57 per cent of colleagues said they want Mission Themed Workshops and 41 per cent a Mission Staff Fair.
We also received comments with very useful suggestions to help shape the next phase of Mission Waltham Forest.
Highlights of comments
- Mission of the Month - focus on mutual ways to work - crossover and collaborations
- Online discussions
- Short webinars
- Targeted discussions which each directorate to understand how our work area fits in
- We need somewhere to meet, chat and collab!
|
 Our first Mission-themed workshops took place on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 25 September. The focus was on our Leadership Framework.
One of our Mission priorities for a workforce that reflects our community is to become an organisation where everyone is able to access good quality and suitable opportunities for learning, development and progression to meet the needs of our communities.
We want to create a Leadership Framework that empowers staff to lead the cultural change required to deliver Mission Waltham Forest. It will outline the behaviours and values that establish the foundations of how our staff operate.
We know that everyone is a leader in their own right and an expert in their area. We can change how we work through transformation, but to embed that change we need to evolve our culture. We want to create a more inclusive work environment through string, value-led leadership.
Nearly 40 staff shared their insights and explored the Leadership Framework as part of Mission Waltham Forest at the workshops in September.
Staff that attended were passionate about leadership and want to develop leadership skills. Others attended because they want to know what good leadership should be. Constructive challenge, trust and accountability were high on colleague’s minds tying in nicely with our leadership Trust, Results, Accountable, Challenge, Commitment (TRACC) behaviours.
Watch our colleagues Julie, Venita, Elizabeth, Gabriel, Steve and Elton who attended our Leadership Framework workshop on Tuesday 10 September talk about what a good leader at Waltham Forest looks like to them and how the Leadership Framework will guide how they will work with colleagues going forward.
Your contribution in these sessions will directly input into the final framework that we will use in the future. Visit the SharePoint site for more information.
|
