At the outset I should like to say an enormous “thank you” to my MacIntyre colleagues - many of you for the first time have bravely shared your stories by writing for this blog yourselves. This has given me and many others lots of pleasure and more importantly insight to the difference that the Great Interactions work is making across MacIntyre.
Looking back over the year there have been many highlights:
During the summer I completed my annual “Big Respect” review of services and I reported to trustees:
“My overall impression was good: colleagues are working hard trying to do the right things and morale was generally positive. I saw a marked improvement in the way staff are interacting and everywhere I visited time was allocated for quality engagement”
But don’t just take my word for it:
The recent Ofsted inspection for MacIntyre School Wingrave gave us an “outstanding” grading and the inspector observed:
“Relationships between staff and students are excellent and there is a wonderful learning climate in classrooms”
Following that, just a couple of weeks ago, Investors in People carried out a month long, nationwide, assessment of MacIntyre which resulted in us being upgraded to the top Gold Award, and their report concluded:
“The core values (MacIntyre DNA) are well embedded throughout the organisation and are considered when developing the strategy and are also used in the day to day running of the business as well as being reflected in the recruitment and selection process and the appraisal process. The introduction of Great Interactions has added further clarity for people about what is expected of them. This helps achieve consistent behaviour as well as providing a
reference point for decision-making”
Wider than MacIntyre our Great Interactions book has been downloaded hundreds of times and Gwenne and her team have been working alongside a number of other organisations to share our Great Interactions work. Our new pals from East Sussex Council, Norwood, Camphill and Southdown have all embraced the same way of working and in return we are learning from them.
Last week I enjoyed visiting an open day at our Bedfordshire services and I was introduced to a student nurse who is on placement. She mentioned to me that when she first started she “didn’t know where to start”, she was happy
doing tasks but found it hard to engage meaningfully with people. But, by doing our Great Interactions facilitation module and reading up on our work she got some good ideas which have been successful and how she feels so much more confident- she said the experience will stay with her “forever”.
Next year MacIntyre will be launching our new corporate plan and, despite the severe challenges of our external environment, it will start by re-stating our purpose:
“MacIntyre’s primary purpose is to make a difference: for children and adults with disabilities and their families to have a better life. We make this difference by ensuring when a person with a disability interacts with a MacIntyre employee they will feel the better for the experience. The accumulative benefit of these interactions will facilitate a better life”.
We all have a role in making this a reality and I look forward to hearing more about how you are doing this in 2013.
Bill Mumford
Managing Director