Learning
Throughout our experience of trialling the Crescendo approach across three local authorities, we have regularly reflected on the value we bring to organisations – on a system, team and individual level.
These insights were generated through dedicated reflection time we set aside as a Crescendo team, supplemented by contributions from individuals during workshops, and through structured interviews we held with staff. The key achievements of our approach have been:
We have encouraged greater feelings of connectedness amongst teams and colleagues
Staff described how their experience of attending workshops and delivering small changes opened up an avenue for forging connections to others – across teams, services and roles. This had three subsequent effects on outcomes:
- The ability of the organisation to solve common problems was enhanced by the inclusion of multiple perspectives in the solution – different stakeholder groups were able to contribute their expertise, leading to more effective, holistic changes.
- Improvements to practitioners’ well-being enhanced their energy levels and mindset when it came to working directly and constructively with families.
- Social workers were more likely to stay with the local authority, which gave a more consistent, positive experience to the families they work with.
- As such, going forward we will more formally integrate team-building and amplifying feelings of connectedness into our theory of change, as a key mechanism for the change we want to bring about.
“I see colleagues and managers recognising each other’s strengths in team meetings more, which supports social workers to go back to families with a fresh perspective and energy. If we as social workers feel supported and valued in our roles, we’re better able to work constructively with families, and we’re more likely to stay within the local authority, which gives families a more consistent experience with the social services. It’s all linked!”
Syeda, London Borough of Tower Hamlet
Social care professionals have found avenues through which they can feasibly affect meaningful change
We’ve found that social care staff and their partners are brimming with confident ideas around how to improve their sector, but they often don’t have mechanisms available through which they can effect the change that needs to happen, which can leave them feeling demotivated. The Crescendo approach helps staff to affect change at a meaningful pace – through a method that replenishes their energy levels, rather than draining them. We facilitated this by:
- Firstly, setting out a way of affecting change incrementally, through a small change template – encouraging them to define a mission, develop a small change, influence others and grow as leaders.
- Secondly, through the co-development of a local blueprint, for those systemic changes which are beyond the gift of individual teams to affect, and which require wider organisational support This model provided an outlet for staff to use the wealth of knowledge they had concerning the communities they work with, funnelling that expertise into meaningful reform and helping them to grow as leaders.
“By following the Crescendo approach, we’ve gained a better understanding around our service and the system we work in [...] we’ve discovered that sometimes we need to approach change on a smaller, more incremental scale before we can contemplate system change. There needs to be root-andbranch reform of the children’s social care sector on a national scale, but it’s helpful to reflect on the smaller changes we can make on an individual level that can make a big difference to the families and communities we work with. This project’s allowed us to think a bit more about what’s within our gift to change, rather than just discussing the systemic issues in social work which are beyond our money, time and resourcing to change (this can be very demotivating!) [...] We’ve found the whole experience to be very reflective and therapeutic, and overall good for our emotional health – we’re no longer feeling overwhelmed by thoughts of what needs to change; we’ve got an outlet for making them happen!”
Franceska and Tolulope, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Staff feel empowered, motivated and connected with the purpose of their roles
When we began the Crescendo approach across each of the three local authorities, we deliberately started by asking teams to identify the values and behaviours that they wanted to embody throughout this project. This was based on the, subsequently validated, assumption that professionals were undertaking tasks and responsibilities that they didn’t believe contributed meaningfully to good outcomes for children and families, and that this meant there was a disconnect between individuals’ sense of identity as practitioners, and the day-to-day responsibilities of their tasks. By identifying and implementing change within their services, participants in the Crescendo approach brought their roles further in line with their values, which alleviated feelings of stress amongst the workforce, mitigated against future burnout, and trickled down into more positive direct work with children and families. Reflecting on this, we realised that the Crescendo approach isn’t so much a revolution in the way in which social care service delivery is affected – it’s more about bringing social care back to the principles that lay at the founding of the profession, and at the heart of its practitionersStaff feel empowered, motivated and connected with the purpose of their roles. When we began the Crescendo approach across each of the three local authorities, we deliberately started by asking teams to identify the values and behaviours that they wanted to embody throughout this project. This was based on the, subsequently validated, assumption that professionals were undertaking tasks and responsibilities that they didn’t believe contributed meaningfully to good outcomes for children and families, and that this meant there was a disconnect between individuals’ sense of identity as practitioners, and the day-to-day responsibilities of their tasks. By identifying and implementing change within their services, participants in the Crescendo approach brought their roles further in line with their values, which alleviated feelings of stress amongst the workforce, mitigated against future burnout, and trickled down into more positive direct work with children and families. Reflecting on this, we realised that the Crescendo approach isn’t so much a revolution in the way in which social care service delivery is affected – it’s more about bringing social care back to the principles that lay at the founding of the profession, and at the heart of its practitioners
A feeling of optimism in children’s social care
Over the last 15 years, the perception of the children’s social care sector from those working within the profession has been broadly pessimistic: budgets for social care have been widely slashed in real terms, even as demand has increased; external perceptions of social workers have been largely critical; the COVID-19 pandemic put additional strains on the sector; and workforce retention rates are trending downwards. This pessimism has its own momentum and can, by itself, act as a blocker to meaningful change. Without wanting to minimise these challenges, and those of the years ahead for children’s social care, we wanted to engender within teams a feeling that positive change for the sector was possible, and could be bottom-up – set into motion by practitioners and managers close to the front line of practice, and not the exclusive domain of policy makers or senior management. Through encouraging teams to develop and deliver small changes, we saw that teams started to see the potential for positive change through their own actions, and those of like-minded professionals. Making change is infectious!
“I’ve worked in Warrington for 20 years now, and I’ve never seen managers so present in the office and at meetings – I’ve also noticed how people are much more likely to strike up casual conversations with their colleagues across different wings of the service. The positive signalling from senior management, with the support from the Crescendo team, was hugely valuable and acted as the chief enabler for our subsequent change journey. When we started this project, we all gathered together in the town hall, which was a neutral venue away from the office – we were away from the distractions of phones, laptops and Microsoft Teams. As we started talking, you could sense an excited ripple going round the room – making change wasn’t only possible, it was expected and even encouraged! There’s a real sense of optimism now, across our organisation, that this momentum can be sustained, for the benefit of us working in the social care profession in Warrington, and most importantly for the children and families who need our service.”
Lisa, Warrington Borough Council
Modelling positive change for other services
Across each of the three local authorities we partnered with, a common theme that emerged was the need for improved multi-agency working between public services – with partners both internal and external to the organisation. It was crucial for the success of the model that these services understood why we were effecting change, and that they felt like they were being brought on the journey ‘with’ Crescendo and our partners, and not being ‘dictated to’. Furthermore, by forging better relationships between children’s social care teams and other public services, the teams we worked with opened up potential for modelling the Crescendo approach to wider partners than just the ones we were working directly with. For example, we heard anecdotally from partners that other agencies had noticed how they’d changed their approach to meetings and admin, and had become similarly reflective around these areas themselves. In the future, we will explore running the Crescendo approach more widely than the children’s social care profession. There may be scope for implementing the model holistically, with a variety of agencies who work to improve outcomes for children and families
“The Crescendo team were integral in helping us realise that change was possible, through their inspirational content and motivational energy. We also felt boosted just by the fact that their team had been picked to pilot this new way of working! We’ve noticed some evidence that our approach is ‘cascading’ around the wider local authority; others have noticed our example, particularly around protected time, and have started to critically reflect on the frequency and scope of the meetings they’re scheduling.”
Beth & Elisha, London Borough of Wandsworth
The impact on local authorities
Here is our co-Director, Ryan sharing his thoughts on the impact of Crescendo’s work from working with a range of local authorities
