Working with the NHS – Improving behaviours and changing cultures
Having worked closely with healthcare clients on developing drama-based learning programmes on inclusion, ‘super proud’ is how I would describe my feelings towards the work we’ve been delivering. Our innovative and experiential learning approach has helped support many organisations to transform their workplaces.
Enact has been working with various NHS organisations to support culture change programmes and help improve interpersonal behaviours. Our approach to learning has always been to explore the challenges that affect staff daily in the workplace, bringing them to life and starting a process to create ‘powerful moments’ where this becomes the catalyst to want to change.
Here’s a selection of programmes we’ve recently delivered for NHS organisations and their desired outcomes:
Kent & Medway Integrated Care System – De-biasing & Value-based Recruitment
The NHS Kent and Medway Culture and Inclusion Programme was established to address issues of inequality, diversity and inclusion across the Kent and Medway Health and Care system. This programme forms part of a wider strategy to create a happy and motivated health and care workforce, enriched by diversity of perspectives, cultures and backgrounds.
The ICS identified particular challenges regarding recruitment practices and the career progression opportunities for staff with protected characteristics. As experiential learning specialists, Enact were contracted to deliver a De-biasing & Value-based recruitment programme of workshops for hiring managers and those with recruitment responsibilities across the system.
A key outcome for this Culture and Inclusion programme will be a more diverse workforce with career progression, equity and an equal likelihood of white staff and staff from ethnic minority backgrounds being appointed from shortlisting by 2025 as measured by WRES data.
Purpose
Increase awareness of bias in the recruitment process and enable learners to explore how they can work individually and collaboratively to ensure values based recruitment.
Method
An ongoing programme of experiential, drama-based training workshops delivered online via Livestream. Using immersive learning experiences that blend drama, brain science and technology to bring subjects to life and evoke feelings which open people to new ways of thinking and behaving.
Audience
The rolling programme across the system will be delivered to a minimum 400 recruiters and hirers in NHS Trusts, 200 in Primary Care and 200 in Social Care.
“I thought the training was really thought provoking, I wonder if you should offer to organisations that really have issues withy attracting applicants, I wish I had this training in my previous roles, as actually if I had rewrote carefully my JD and moved away from standardisation, I might have had more of a diverse applicant cohort to recruit from. I have more confidence in being able to call it out and I use the tool kit for value based interviewing”
“This was the most professional on-line training I have had, a real example of what good virtual training should be”
Dorset Integrated Care System – Beyond Difference
Working in partnership with Mitzi Wyman & Associates, Enact Solutions delivered an engaging programme called ‘Beyond Difference’ for aspiring leaders from ethnically diverse backgrounds. The experiential learning programme explored the following:
Watch the video below for client and delegate testimonials on their experience of being involved in our highly engaging and inspiring programme, developing future leaders for health and care across Dorset Integrated Care System.
Dartford & Gravesham NHS Foundation Trust – Speak Up, Speak Out & Take Action
Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust required an experiential approach as one of their positive interventions for managing incivility in the workplace. Their WRES report highlighted some of the challenges and where action was needed to address adverse levels of perception on harassment and bullying.
The session was used as a way to illuminate the Trusts values and affirm a commitment to getting to the root of bullying, incivility and harassment. The intention of the sessions was to operationalise kindness and compassion, which sits at the heart of the culture change, education and learning that’s required to establish clear and consistent understanding of the behaviour standards, expectations and also the consequences.
Our Approach
Using experiential acting to demonstrate how easy it is for us all to engage in incivility – encouraging a more compassionate approach to both role modelling and responding, rather than reacting to the behaviours. The sessions explore the following aims and objectives:
1. Understand incivility and microaggressions and the difference
Specifically, how microaggressions may be seen as a step up from incivilities and therefore experienced more deeply and require swifter action from the organisation.
2. Provide skills for achieving civility
Sharing some common themes around civility and seeking to operationalise kindness. Recognising civility may be better achieved by increasing emotional communication and being more accepting of others, patient, tolerant and kind. Using the values to affirm this.
3. Emotional connection to the Trust values such as care and compassion, respect and dignity
Appreciating the subtle and sensitive nature of civility, specifically that often stress is at the root of increased incivility. There is no manual, we want a call to action to sensitively encourage civility – rather than punish others for what can be a subjective expression, using emotional communication to express our needs.
4. Highlight impact of bullying and the bystander effect
This drama-based experiential module is intended to highlight how banter can be a gateway to some darker behaviours. The audience sees how what appears to be a joke can trigger some quite deep-seated feelings in others and mask some concerning attitudes. They also see how to intervene in the moment when microaggressions show up as banter. Theory is provided on the bystander effect and understanding impact vs intent.
5. Provide a model of allyship – provide basic skills for challenging.
With the help of forum theatre the participants explore behaviours that needs to be challenged whilst exploring the benefits of allyship for protected groups but for all employees; setting the culture.
Delegate feedback:
“I have learned to be more aware of how I approach things and more aware of any conflicting situations and how to handle them”
“Discuss the learning on incivility and micro-aggressions with my senior team and recommend they attend this session”
Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospitals NHS Trust – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion with Bias Awareness
A Trust wide initiative to support all staff with an increased shared understanding of the importance of DEI in the workplace and explore the impact of bias. The Trust wanted a different approach to what had been delivered previously as they felt elearning didn’t have the effect on improving staff awareness that they had expected. As part of the Trust’s culture change programme, the sessions also needed to explore how staff can live the Trust values.
Following successful delivery of the programme, here’s some lovely feedback from our client:
We wanted to change this training from eLearning back to a facilitated session. We wanted a new style of delivery that again enabled staff to be engaged in the subject matter in a safe way. The use of scenarios (which we were able to make bespoke to the Trust) and the voting pads provided a way to better understand how staff understood the subject matter and highlight their gaps in knowledge and consequently practice.
Delivering a workshop which underpins our Trust values, enables us to challenge and better understand the previous staff survey results and which was designed to support our culture change programme was not a small task but the feedback to date has been brilliant and appears to be delivering our aims.
Experience has shown that drama is more engaging and memorable and provides a safe environment for staff to understand the subject better. Our staff survey results for E&D training significantly decreased when we introduced E&D eLearning to be completed. It didn’t enable staff to challenge their understanding or perceptions which drama based scenario offerings provide.
Enact helped to plan the delivery of our E&D training in the most cost effective and efficient way. They provided a draft of the programme content which they happily amended to meet our needs to align the workshop content. with our Trust values, our cultural change programme and our staff survey results. Providing us (the Trust) with a bespoke programme added an important dimension and credibility to the workshop and content. Additionally, Enact provided some great advice on what would work and how we could adapt the training and questions to explore staff knowledge and perceptions about E&D and how we could support them to make changes in their everyday lives, not just their working lives, about E&D issues.
Feedback to date has been excellent from delegates who have attended.
‘This was our first time working with Enact and I would highly recommend them for their pragmatic and solution focused way of working. It was all very painless and enabled the delivery of some excellent L & D for our staff in this subject matter.‘
Mid-Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust – Inclusive Board, Inclusive Culture
Board members participated in an ‘away day’ session focused on inclusivity, diversity and equality within the trust. The purpose of the sessions was to start an ongoing, honest, and productive conversation about increasing inclusivity, diversity, and equality throughout Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS FT, and the role of board members in achieving that.
High profile questions of inclusion, diversity and equality dominate the headlines right now. Lots of the time, our heads jump to current events or issues related to what in legislation are called the ‘protected characteristics.’ But what does it mean to us personally? The session provided an experiential learning opportunity to broaden understanding, what it means and why it matters. This was supported with the key findings, research and evidence of how an inclusive approach benefits individuals and organisational performance. To be a truly inclusive healthcare environment what steps can we take to make it happen.
100% of board members agreed the session really got them thinking about increasing inclusivity, diversity, and equality throughout the Trust
Here’s what the client had to say:
“Enact provided an open and safe space for our Board to explore what an inclusive culture means and how our leadership and action can help to promote an inclusive culture. Using actors as part of the session created a powerful message and helped a wider understanding of the issues some of our staff and patients face on a daily basis. I would strongly recommend using this approach to have those difficult and deep conversations at your Board meeting, where trust and openness is paramount to making meaningful progress within this important agenda”
We’ve so many more examples of how we’ve been helping NHS colleagues to create a more inclusive, collaborative and supportive environment. Ultimately, our aim when working with NHS organisations is for their people to go to work happy, motivated and feeling valued. I believe that using the power of Enact drama to spark conversations, evoke emotions and fuel positive change has enabled healthcare staff to see the possibilities of a truly inclusive workforce.
