Hope & Homes for Children Case Studies

Improving Communications

The Organisation

Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) aims to give a family and a future for young victims of war or disaster by supporting children in extended and foster families and by changing institutional systems of child care to family based alternatives. HHC operates mainly in Eastern Europe and Africa.

The Need

In its 10th Anniversary year, HHC embarked upon a process of reviewing the organisation’s structure and systems in order to establish firm foundations for future growth, whilst retaining its core values and focus. A key area of concern was that as the organisation grew, internal communications were becoming inconsistent and this was having a corresponding impact on the quality of external communications. HHC wanted to develop a more structured and systematic approach.

What We Did

Jacqueline worked with the Chief Operating Officer (COO) on an initial paper. The paper described the issues raised, identified key stakeholders inside and outside the organisation and proposed a workshop to raise awareness, identify key information flows, what worked well, what could be improved and what new information needs the future might bring. Jacqueline designed and co-facilitated the workshop which was attended by a cross-section of HHC staff. It resulted in a set of actions and priorities ranging from things that could be improved immediately to those requiring planning and longer-term implementation. HHC has now established a core team to direct implementation of the agreed actions and integrate them with other projects and initiatives.

Benefits

Staff are now more aware of the importance of effective internal communication and how they can contribute
There is a stronger recognition of the value of openness and ease of access to information
The benefit of joint working across teams has been experienced and is now spread to other areas of work on specific issues.

Pauline Oliver, COO at Hope and Homes for Children has said ‘Jacqueline’s involvement in this work has been invaluable in raising awareness of the experiences and practice in other sectors. At a more personal level, Jacqueline’s approach has encouraged active contributions to the process of work and ensured a rate and method of progress which reflects the context in which change is taking place. Would we work with Jacqueline again? We already are!’

Evolving Culture

The Organisation

The Need

From small beginnings, Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) has evolved into an organisation that is having a positive impact on the lives of thousands of children across nine different countries through programmes ranging from fostering and family tracing through to advocacy and prevention. Income has grown, the organisation has re-structured as staff numbers have increased, and new internal processes and systems have been introduced. HHC’s 10th Anniversary this year represents a key stage in its transition and Matt Bell (HHC Chairman) wanted to provide an opportunity for HHC to consolidate the changes it has been going through and to ensure that the culture supports the organisation’s growing professionalism. Matt asked Jacqueline Hill of J Hill Associates to help in developing a process that would enable the organisation to define its existing culture, which aspects it needed to develop, which to keep, and which to let go. The process had to be participative, gain the support of senior managers and staff and have practical outcomes that would really make a difference over the coming year.

What We Did

Matt and Jacqueline jointly designed a workshop for senior managers to help them recognise the change HHC was going through, position culture as an important part of that change, and gain their support for a process to define the desired culture along with the practical steps to achieve it. At the end of the workshop the senior managers agreed a programme that would involve all staff to develop a consensus around a new culture and how to get there. During the workshops the participants were introduced to a change model that they could relate their own HHC change experiences to, and which positioned culture as an important lever for change. They were also introduced to the ‘Cultural Web’ as a framework for defining the current and desired culture. Outputs from the workshops were collated and a report developed that enabled staff to feedback their views whilst retaining confidentiality. The report identified four key themes from the feedback: Increased Management Capability and Capacity; Develop the HHC Community and Mutual Respect; Keep the Vision; and Internal Communications and Team Building. The report was presented to the HHC Board and senior management team who accepted its recommendations and staff are now engaged in its implementation.

Benefits

A definition of culture enables HHC managers and staff to develop common ways of working in line with their values, set cultural ‘norms’ to guide behaviour and gives a common language to facilitate effective feedback.
Senior managers and staff recognised that the culture of the organisation should not be ‘left to chance’ and that they needed to participate in its evolution.
HHC has a set of practical steps to develop its desired culture.
Staff morale improved as people recognised the changes they had been going through and that it was not only normal, but OK to feel the way that they did.
Practical outcomes increase staff confidence that the changes will happen and that they will continue to be consulted and involved.

Matt Bell, Chairman for Hope and Homes for Children explains ‘Many organisations spend months, even years, developing intricate corporate strategies but ignore the human relationships which fundamentally make them work. Particularly in a not for profit set up, staff set huge store by whether they feel your organisational culture has integrity. This project created space for us to debate these things: people could sound off, open up, talk freely, and learn a bit of the theory about culture change. And we’ve ended up with a small number of practical actions which make people believe we’re serious about them as individuals and the mission and values we say we espouse.’

Hope & Homes for Children can be found at www.hopeandhomes.org.uk

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