Learning disability charity MacIntyre scooped a £2,000 prize by winning the inaugural CareKnowledge Workforce Development Innovation Award for its ‘My Key’ staff self-assessment tool.
The My Key self-assessment tool is aimed at reaching staff for whom traditional approaches to supervision, role modelling and teamwork are not easily arranged. ‘My Key to Developing Facilitation Skills’ is a series of thought-provoking and reflective questions aimed at helping lone workers consider everyday situations and think about how to improve outcomes.
The CareKnowledge Workforce Development Innovation Award, run by online information portal CareKnowledge, showcases the most creative and successful methods of workforce development and how they make a difference to the people’s lives.
Jim Kennedy, editor of CareKnowledge, who chaired the judging panel said: “We were impressed by the way My Key had been developed with staff, people who use services and their families and the way that it supports their staff to enable better outcomes for the people they work with. The focus on reflection and self-evaluation in a part of the workforce for whom professional development has often remained ‘being sent on a course’ with a focus on tick-box competencies is laudable.”
Gwenne McFadzean, facilitation adviser at MacIntyre, who submitted the entry, said: “MacIntyre is committed to supporting each and every member of staff to work in a facilitative way resulting in a great interaction and good outcomes for people who use services. Our new tool ‘My Key to Developing Facilitation Skills’ which is an important part of this commitment enables staff to reflect on their facilitation skills, rate these against set criteria and identify ways of improving. We are thrilled to be recognised for this work and to win the CareKnowledge Workforce Development Innovation Award. “
Additionally, Cornwall County Council’s Adult Social Care team and the Scottish Autism’s Practitioner Research Programme won the ‘highly commended’ prizes, each winning a £250 cash prize.
Cornwall County Council Adult Social Care’s approach to e-learning, providing a standardised framework for staff and stakeholders was praised for the way in which they were taking a lead in addressing workforce development across the county, in all sectors.
Scottish Autism’s Practitioner Research Programme was commended for its approach to helping staff to see themselves as having knowledge that could be shared across the organisation, and encouraging staff and services users to share that knowledge, and to create a culture that sees research and knowledge as part of workforce development.
