I do my best to avoid being bombarded by news each week, which isn't easy if you spend a lot of time in the car. I did get in to a habit of downloading and listening to a lot of audio books whilst I was doing consultancy miles - up and down the motorway from York to Lincoln or Nottingham or Plymouth. That felt like such a benefit; there are lots of books that scare me with their size, but on audio with hours to spare, they become a real joy and I would never have tackled 1Q84, The Children's Book, Wolf Hall or Bring up the Bodies any other way.
But now, with an hour here and an hour there, I've settled on a range of podcasts. And that means, at the moment that I'm living the dream as a Liverpool fan in the company of The Anfield Wrap, contemplating films with Kermode and Mayo and deciding which Desert Island Discs are worthy of a listen (some great, some don't help a tired driver!)
And so my Farage vs Clegg debate has been limited to what I choose to digest on the BBC News app and I can flick past the daily stories of gloom or doom. So whilst it won't appear as a Highlight of the Week, not listening to the news is definitely part of what helps to keep positive each week!
Highlights of the Week (@jeclo)
Highlights of the Week 1: Time spent with the 22ours development group always gives a wealth of mental stimulation, new ideas and reflection
When I was working in coaching and development, I needed a space to meet with like minded people, share ideas and develop new approaches. I contacted some friends and through them some further colleagues and we ended up creating 22ours - a development group (wittily titled because we meet 3 or 4 times a year for 22 hours and the space is created by us, for us).
We met in Newbury this week. When we first met we learnt about each other, talked about what we did and what might be a better way. Now we can reflect on three authors - the publication of one book, the next one due in the Autumn and a third about half written - new companies and, for me, a career change to apply lots of the learning. I got space to reflect on what life is like for me and, specifically, how I manage stress at difficult times. Came back exhausted after 22 hours of stimulation, but ready for the rest of the week.
Highlights of the Week 2:Agreeing new ways to work with my senior team-positive discussions focussed on maximising impact, not keeping roles
"Let's focus on strengths, let's focus on impact and let's make sure we are thinking about the future, not the past". All sounds simple, but a year in, I'm asking the senior team in the Locality to think about changing reporting lines, their portfolios or who they directly manage.
They have risen to the challenge, noting when they recognise that they have a reaction that isn't helping the discussion and ensuring we get to a great outcome. There are times when they don't get what they need from me - one of them told me this week that they were worried that appraisal would be another time when I expected them to reflect on their own work and resolve problems, when what they wanted was direct feedback on their work (which they did get, fortunately) - but this time I did give them lots of reflection, my views on the issues and then invited them to think about how we could do better in the year ahead.
I was reflecting on "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", but thinking every year about how we flex and change to improve what we do feels important and ultimately more fulfilling. As I carry out new roles in the CCG and have a wider focus, it is really important that we know we are fully aligned in the right direction.
Highlights of the Week 3: Working with PwC to ensure that our Programme Office has right capability & capacity for the work ahead (it does!)
Spring is outside, the sun on the moor, the Facebook picture of my wife and youngest son on the beach drinking beer and enjoying the first day of the holiday (not the most helpful as I'm in the second conference call of the day and eighth meeting), but in the CCG it doesn't quite feel the same.
We put everything we had in to the most professional commissioning framework possible, publishing 23 modules of information to all of our providers from the end of November through to March. We then intensified the effort in order to turn the 28 commissioning intentions in the framework in to contractable schemes - a lot of energy from finance, business intelligence and commissioning. We have produced several drafts of a 5 year strategy and 2 year operating plan and worked with two local authorities and providers on the production of two Better Care Fund submissions.
Then we got on to contracting and have worked with 6 major providers to agree contracts, resulting in mediation, arbitration, external support and some still outstanding. We have also faced up to our financial difficulties with financial recovery failing to stop us reporting a deficit last year and working to agree a deficit plan for the year ahead with all the incredible amount of work and scrutiny involved across the whole CCG.
So it is not surprising that people are looking forward to emerging spring-like in to April.
And then PwC have arrived for a 10-week, intensive support programme as we are one of the 11 "Challenged Local Health Economies". We are grateful for the support, but it is not an easy task to encourage staff that this is really the big push now, with implementation of the joint plan to follow.
But that is what we have been doing and our Programme Office has responded really well. It is a tough job in the organisation that gets little praise, but we have worked with PwC to ensure that they are happy that we have the capacity and capability in place to deliver. We will need support to complete the plan and implement, but we are set for the programme ahead. One week in and things are on track. Let's hope there is a highlight every week!
Highlights of the Week 4: A brief look at my StrengthScope report gives great feedback about how the team see the best bits of me at work
This feels a bit like stealing a highlight from next week as I looked at my strengths report for our Leadership Team Development Day next Tuesday (it will most probably be in next Friday). We have used the individual and team assessment before, but are revisiting as the team has changed and things move over time.
I said last week that strengths based appraisal was really valuable and the whole personal and team strengths approach lands well for me. Everyone will have 7 strengths using this particular diagnostic, but what is interesting is how I think I use them and how that compares to the experience of the team around me.
It clearly isn't a process aimed to bring you down, but it was great as I prepared for the session to get feedback from others and to see which bits of me land well. You can guarantee that the day next week will have some more challenging feedback as we encourage all the team members to fully explore themselves and their colleagues, but setting the positive frame will hopefully mean we do that from the right viewpoint.
Highlights of the Week 5:"Board to Board" with @PlymouthHealth and @plymouthcc focussing on progress over last year & opportunities ahead
The CCG has had a couple of Board to Boards with Plymouth Community Healthcare over the past year or so; a period which has seen us move from focussing on really significant quality issues to noting the progress that is being made on delivering the services we want to see to keep people "safe, well and at home".
Given the journey we are now on, it felt really important to have Plymouth City Council in the room with us. They have just approved the outline business case for our joint work on the integration journey as part of their overall transformation programme, so this was a great moment to consider what impact this would have over the next couple of years and the long-term vision.
We have a really high expectation of what the community interest company will need to deliver this year if we are going to achieve our goals around the urgent care system and we were able to jointly reflect on the difficult, but mature discussions we have had that have left both parties feeling upbeat about the challenge.
The Board process - the presence of those from outside the direct management relationships - definitely adds a different dimension and we left even more committed than we had been previously. The vision is strong and the joint intent evident.
Jerry Clough is Chief Operating Officer of Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG and Locality Managing Director for the Western Locality covering Plymouth and the surrounding areas of South Hams and West Devon.
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