ResPeo’s Impact in 2023: Director’s Blog

Originally published on www.respeo.com

In the ever-evolving landscape of public and charity organisations, particularly in health and social care, we were privileged to work with a range of diverse clients who prioritise evaluation and team development. In 2023, ResPeo’s commitment to driving positive change and innovation through evidence underpinned the varied and stimulating evaluation projects that we undertook. This commitment to evaluation not only helps organisations gauge the effectiveness of their efforts, but also facilitates data-driven decision-making for continuous improvement.

We brought together teams through person-centred facilitation. Facilitation plays a pivotal role in supporting stakeholders to collaborate — paramount in a time where the health and social care integration agenda is ever present. ResPeo’s expertise in facilitation has proven instrumental in forging partnerships, aligning diverse interests, and fostering synergy among stakeholders.

Here are my key highlights from 2023 — it would not be possible to include them all!

New Office

We moved into the listed Old Malthouse and are surrounded by beams and original furnace pipes. It is wonderful to be based in the market town Grantham and to be contributing to the local economy; though for me this also means far too high a spend on lunches at the local Co-Op. We decorated the office with wooden furniture and faux foliage — to bring us that little bit closer to nature (as we do only have one small window!). While our team choose their work location as suits them, it is uplifting when we do all co-locate to share ideas and to progress our projects. Filling the office with our vibrant team at our annual away day was uplifting and memorable.

New Website

We successfully moved our website providers to enhance our website and have more scope for its growth. We are very proud of our new website and how it captures not only the diverse work that we undertake, but also the wide-ranging skills and person-centred values that we bring to the work. It conveys our brand ‘fresh, scholarly, accessible’. If you are curious about our projects, read our impact case studies.

Kind Team

I am deeply proud of our team and the kindness and understanding with which we treat one another. We also expect the same from our clients and ensure that we work in collaborative and compassionate ways. It is a joy working together, as part a highly motivated team, who wish to make a difference. We also wish to challenge cultures of disempowerment or authoritarianism that can be found in some workplaces that we have all experienced to an extent in our previous work. We uphold respect and empathy in how we work with one another. Evaluation and facilitation work offer us the platform to bring people together and improve programmes and service, putting user and staff experience first. Our last staff satisfaction survey carried out at the start of 2023, indicated that ResPeo is a great place to work. I am grateful for all our new joiners in 2023, who have brought a plethora of research, evaluation and facilitation skills.

New Clients and Partnerships

We started work with several new clients in 2023. We also reignited old and forged new partnerships. We welcomed the Speaking Up Support Scheme, Colours of Redbridge, Deaflink Health Navigators, Sheffield PCS, West Yorkshire ICB, NHSE Workforce Planning Directorate and several other teams to our growing group of partners wanting to make a positive difference to their staff and clients. We also enjoyed working with local Primary Care Networks and Place-Based Partnerships in Nottinghamshire to support their strategic planning.

I have always been of the mindset that we are not in competition with others, and we thrive when forging collaborations and partnerships. This offers so much mutual learning and satisfaction. In 2023, we were delighted to connect with TSIP, Picker, HPS Solutions, PPL, and the Innovation Unit to mention a few.

Impactful Reports

We have delivered a range of impactful interim and final reports in a range of formats, including more creative and accessible outputs and infographics to engage a range of audiences. We have seen our formative findings being used to shape programmes for the benefit of staff and users. We gain so much satisfaction from presenting our reports to our commissioners and at Board level to help effect change and assess the feasibility of recommendations for improvement. Selected highlights included interim and final reports for the Universal Healthcare Network at London South Bank University, CASES for Primary Care Sheffield, the NHSE Mary Seacole Leadership Programme, JIA Learn for Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and British Society for Rheumatology, Leadership Fellowship for West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, and London Leadership Academy evaluations.

Awards & Accreditations

2023 was a busy accreditation period for us. We are proud to hold the following marks of recognition:

• Living Wage Employer
• Disability Confident
• Menopause Pledge
• Happy to Talk Flexible Working
• Good Business Charter
• NHSE Data Security and Protection Toolkit Accredited.

Director’s Learning

The last year has brought with it plenty of rich learning for me — how to be more assertive as a business owner; how to protect my own values and those of my team; how to do my best to uphold the wellbeing of my staff. We have also developed outstanding processes for project management and quality assurance, supported by our policies and procedures. Public sector tendering is time consuming and often low on reward. However, the unsuccessful bid interviews we had all received positive feedback and were an enriching way to meet colleagues we may be lucky enough to work with in the future. Late invoice payments will keep me up at night. Effectively balancing business development with project delivery is a constant. I am pretty effective at wearing many hats, but prioritisation is key, as there will never be enough hours in the day for all that we wish to achieve. I also continue to think of best practice in helping our client relationships to thrive — this can be tricky when our evaluation findings are not always positive. I wrote about the important relational role that an evaluator plays here. I am hugely thankful for and remain in awe of all the wonderful and creative work our team delivers.

We wish to continue establishing our presence in 2024 as a friendly provider of academically rigorous, yet accessible evaluation and facilitation. We are also looking forward to launching our Theory of Change for the coming year and testing its assumptions as we continue to deliver expert work. We look forward to meeting with you in 2024.