Project Brief

 

The Youth Offending Teams (“YOT”) worked with young people that get into trouble. The primary objective is to prevent existing young offenders from re-offending again. They wanted is tackle the challenges of finding out solutions of how to assist YOT into maintaining a service level with less financial resources because they have a restricted due to the Newcastle City Council always cuts their budgets. The main aim for us was to identify any opportunities for improvements they could make to their services and how they operate. Looking into their young offender’s process, how each member of staff operate within the organisation, the services they provide, environment they are working in and finally any collaboration with potential partners. We looked at the possible stakeholders that might be key people for this project. We need to look at the depth of research of their infrastructure and how they run as a business.

 

Workshop 1

 

The first workshop that we did was to identify the relationship that each staff member have with the people (stakeholders) that they network with in their daily work lives. Conducting this workshop allowed us to have a better understanding of how they deal with certain people when they’re working in YOT. We were then able to pin point which people have a high level influence and interest they have of determining the outcome of work for each staff member. Hannah suggested that we used this tool which was the net-map toolbox, this tool was very useful because it got us and the workers from YOT of a better understanding of which actors (people) could influence their way of working in YOT. The method we used was that we wrote down the stakeholders that were involved with YOT on sticky notes and also having the staff member write down of what stakeholders they also deal with that we missed out from the list.

 

Eva Schiffer, the creator of the net-map believes that this approach is important because it helps to reach consensus when dealing with touchy issues. She also suggests it helps to clarify and integrate multi-stakeholders views in the development of policies and projects. This helps to visualise their networks by looking at the level of influence, how they are linked with them, who are the main stakeholders involved with them (Schiffer & Peakers, 2009).

 

Here are the step by step instructions that helped the YOT staff member understand the exercise that we wanted them to do:

 

1.You have to write down your name on the sticky note and then place it in the middle of the big sheet of paper

2.Then select the list of stakeholders that you network with and whether it’s a two-way or one-way communication that you have with them.

3.Select the list of ways that you communicate with them such as phone, face-to-face, email or social media

4.Select a list emotions that have when you are communicating with this specific stakeholder is it happy, sad, confused or angry

5.Select the chess pieces that you believe have a big influence on your work in YOT

• Pawn - Low influence

• Knight, Bishop and Rook – Medium influence

• Queen and King – High influence

6.Select the number of chips that you believe that this specific stakeholder interests level have on your work

• 1 chip – Low interest

• 2 chips – Medium interest

• 3 chips – High interest

7.Then repeat this for the other stakeholders that you’ve picked on your net-map

 

During the workshop, I had to take a management role because of the number of staff members that came from YOT. This meant that I had to make sure the exercise went smoothly ensuring that we got much information as possible from them. Also engaging with them by asking the reasons of why they selected that specific person. However each staff member that I was working with had mixed of how they communicated with their stakeholders such as the educational coordinator said that she didn’t whether the other person was happy or not she still had to do her job and ensure that she met her objectives. Ii had to take the incentives because there many other people had to do their work which met that I had to manage and engage with staff member. This was entirely new to me because as an introvert person, I personally shy away from these situations however I had to step out of my comfort zone and make sure our group got the vital information that we need in order to get a better understanding of how each staff member view their stakeholders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at this method that Hannah suggested to use in this workshop has given me a much clear understanding of how stakeholders play a key role in the project. Looking at the interests and influences they have on the staff members at YOT, tells another side of the story of how these stakeholders affect their day-to-day work lives. Also we got a better understanding of the internal stakeholders (other staff members) because we found out that sometimes communication gets broke down amongst each staff member that works in YOT. This was a great tool to use because then we mapped it out to see which the level of interest that each member vied thier stakeholders in YOT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Map

 

We took the ecology map and modified so that it would suit our needs for example we changed it so that it will instead show the level of interests of each stakeholders that the staff members believe they have on their services and operations at YOT. This gave us a more clarity of which stakeholders have a greater interest and which shows no level of interest of what the staff members do at YOT. The way we did this is that we wrote down the staff member jobs occupation, then allocated them into a specific sticky note colour, then also took all of the stakeholders that person had on their exercise paper and placed on the board depending on the level of interest. Some of them were mixed such as the schools (stakeholder) was in high, medium and low in the map. However some did give us a clear understanding such as the police had a medium to high level of interest in YOT. The main disadvantage that we had with this style of stakeholder mapping is that we didn’t get enough of the staff member to participate in our exercise due to the lack of time that we had. This meant that we were limited of the number of stakeholders that we had in our map. The more stakeholders that we could have got, would have allowed to group them and then discuss which specific stakeholders would be vital for our project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workshop 2

 

I was in charge of a group that had to get other brand values from other companiesa and then say to the staff members at YOT if they would like to see these values at YOT or see if they can apply them. Nick wanted us to use the brand values from other big organisations and ask the staff members at YOT questions such as want if Apple ran YOT? How would Apple run YOT's operations and what services would be different compared to the normal style that YOT provides. This was probably one of the hardest exercise to excecute because we were not sure if the staff members would care if Apple or any compnay ran YOT and they would just completely disregard the whole activity. I believe that this was one of the main reasons why other people did not want to this activity considering the lack of understanding needed to get this done and the time that we were limited of of creating an engaging exercise.

 

However taking this challeneg made get out of my comfort zone because this activity was important because it will get the staff members to be more creative  and imaginative such as making them tell us of how they would improve YOT and how some of the brand values from these companies would be beneficial for them. The main thing I had to do was to list down 3 different organisation and then get at least 5 brand values from them. We picked Apple as our first brand because of the fact they’re always innovating and always up to date with modern society. The key brands that we found out from were fashionable, high quality, reliability, simplicity of use and premium product.  Then we chose MacDonald’s because of the fast customer service they provide to their customers. Their brand values that we took from were value, consistency, fast service, customer experience and accessibility. Then finally we chose Oxfam, which was similar to YOT however they are successful charity organisation and well known across the continents. Their brands values that we were efficiency, accessibility, equality, inclusiveness and empowerment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once that we got the brand values and the organisations, we then had to create a list of questions and an exercise that will get them engaging with us. We knew the main two things that we had to look were the services and operations, so we decided to create two separate sections for them and then have them place each brand into them sections. Then finally at the bottom of the sheet we got them to write what they would like YOT do differently in the future that would be beneficial for them and to the young offenders. The list of questions that we were asking them was trying to get them to be more creative and make them say of how they would improve the YOT because we do know they are passionate about of what they’re doing. This was great because we got them engaging with us, making this be creative and imaginative as possible. One of the workers even said that he knew what we were trying to make him to do because he’s been in this situations before however he said he was very pleased to see other YOT workers give their input and ideas considering some of them have never done this before. He believed that each member has a vital input of what goes in YOT and that he thinks it’s great to have them involved with the activity that we provided them.

 

I believe this activity got me out of shell and out of my comfort zone because it was a task that needed to be completed before the deadline or else we would have not gotten the vital information from the staff members at YOT. I had to stay back longer with my group and come up with a plan of what type of exercise that will get the staff members engaging with us and helping them to understand the main topic of what we’re doing which was “what if this company ran YOT and how would their brand values would change the operation and services?”. I also had to managed the exercise on the day making that the group members knew what to do such as creating a list of questions of what to do and how to get them engaging with us. I also got a lot of feedback from colleagues that it was great to see me taking control of the situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going to the YOT/Current process map

 

Going to the faculties was great because we were able to get a better understanding of how they operate. One of the youth officers that worked there gave us a tour around their facilities, she showed us the rooms that they interview the young offenders which was small. Told us which manager ran which department such as the one manager ran the mental health and drugs and alcohol department.  Then we were able to create a map that mapped out the current process of how each member worked in YOT and this showed us of how complicated of the organisation structure looked like. When I went to the YOT facilities, I was able to fully understand how complicated and thier services has become and what was needed for them in order that they run efficiently with a tight budget. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workshop 3

 

The last workshop that we did was that we presented our solutions to the Youth Offending Team. We looked at the four key areas that would believe needed room for improvements such as increasing the operational efficiency; changing the environment, having a clearer accountability among staff members, developing a closer relationship with volunteers and collaborating with various partners. The solutions that we suggested we placed in short, medium and long term sections. In the environment they work in, they could use Space2 as a short term when meeting up with young offenders considering that is one of the spots that have young people socialising in however in the future they could create a small office in there. For staff & team, they could as a long term goal that staff members could create their own workshops and this allows to be creative. Volunteers they could work with establish retired community members or work with reformed criminals. Partnerships they could work with army recruiters, local sports clubs or fostering ties with educational bodies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we got them to do the golden circle activity, firstly we made them go into groups and had them write down the list of things of how YOT worked, what does YOT do and why does YOT do it? The main reason that we got them to do it because it got them to realise of why they work in YOT in the first place. The “why” is to make a positive change to the young offenders, by preventing them of re-offending again and also slowly integrating them back in society? The “How” they do it, is to use the best resources they have available to them such as each staff member would have vital skill that they have but they not have the time to use. However they might be able to teach someone that particular skill, this allows each member to learn a new skill and then they could have the time to use the new skill.  The “what” is what do they do and it is reduce the number of reoffenders. After the activity and the presentation, led to a big discussion amongst each other discussing about how they could move forward. Which was great to see taking in consideration of all of ideas that we gave to them and seeing how they could implement into YOT?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

Overall this project was great for me even though we didn’t a full detailed brief from them, however through the 3 week project I have managed to build up my confidence. There were situations where I needed to take the initiatives, managing groups, going to the facilities and taking to the people that worked there. Speaking out more, engaging with the staff members, understanding how government organisations worked and finally having greater contribution to the final product at the end. Being able to go to the facilities gave a us better insight how they operate on a day-to-day basis and things actually go on.  I bleive in my opinion, this project has allowed me to fully integrate to the team and makign that they notcie of the psotive input that provide to them.