FUTURE PURPOSE AND DIRECTION OF SERVICES AT LSE

1. FUTURE PURPOSE AND DIRECTION OF SERVICES AT LSE Presented by Adrian Hall 18 June 2009

2. Staff Engagement/ Staff Survey HOW STAFF ENGAGEMENT, QUALITY, AND THE SDP’S ARE LINKED Quality enhancement Communication Improvement • Collective responsibility • Customers • Benchmarks • LSE reputation Service excellence group Staff Consultative Council HR Strategy Bright Ideas SDP Process Performance Management (including revival of PDRs)

3. LSE PURPOSES • LSE needs top quality in all it does and an outstanding reputation in order effectively to influence society for the better through research and teaching • LSE competes globally for the best staff and the best students to carry out its work. Reputation is vital. We are a business in the public sector. An outstanding reputation is crucial to LSE’s success • Quality is the cornerstone of our reputation • LSE is one of the world’s leading universities in its field. We have a part in keeping it there

4. QUALITY ENHANCEMENT • This is why maintenance and improvement of quality is essential in all aspects of what LSE does. The School’s objectives can be summarised baldly as improving the following areas: • the ranking and volume of our peer reviewed research the quality of teaching engagement with society • the quality of teaching • engagement with society

5. QUALITY ENHANCEMENT • Three priorities in the Strategic Plan: • Research • Teaching • Engagement • But also the Strategic Plan talks of “Essential foundations” • Examples of Essential foundations” : • the student experience • the staff experience • estates development • financial strength bearing in mind the recession • excellence in our services

6. WHAT’S NEEDED • Define the objectives, as provided by the Service Development Plans (SDP’s) – the phrase “service development” is deliberate • Managers who are equipped to lead change – the Knowledge Skills and Behaviours (KSB) programme and other management development programmes such as Acorn are central to creating and nurturing that team of managers

7. WHAT’S NEEDED • Ways of defining what we mean by outstanding quality, and encouraging it – in addition to the SDP’s and KSBs, the use of comparisons to define best practice ; and developing staff skills are essential initiatives we have begun • Make LSE an enjoyable and productive workplace, with a system of values from the top

8. WHAT’S NEEDED • Be clear about what all of us can do to help, in our everyday work • We need to encourage “bright ideas” to help the LSE • Consult with staff – this has emerged strongly from the SDP process and is the objective of the still relatively new Staff Consultative Council • Celebrate our successes

9. DEFINING QUALITY • Achieving the targets set in local Service Development Plans • Innovation to improve the delivery of the best possible services • Encouraging colleagues to self assess the quality of the Division’s services. How many are world class? • Seeking and analysing feedback from service users about improvements through communicating with them effectively based on service level definitions

10. DEFINING QUALITY • Benchmarking by comparison of what we do with best practice in higher education or outside • Measuring our services against external standards such as IiP or Matrix • Developing staff skills to meet higher expectations • Working well together in teams to define aims in support of the School , enhance quality and get things done • Accurate decisions made in a timely way • Effective management of resources , getting the most value for the School’s money.

11. WHAT NOW AFTER IiP? • A service excellence group will replace the IiP group • The service excellence group will co-ordinate the activities shown in the attached diagram , linking the three strands mentioned earlier: staff development ; post-IiP activity now called the service excellence programme ; and the Service Development Plans • The group will foster : quality improvement in services; and comparative study of best practice • Services on their own or in groups can opt for IiP or other external benchmarks such as Matrix, EFQM or Hospitality Assured.

12. Service Excellence Group

13. Purpose and scope • The primary objective of the SEG is to foster quality improvement across LSE services. • The group will: • Consider how existing customer service and quality activities can be developed and applied organisationally. This will involve discussing and reviewing the following: • service and quality initiatives taken by individual service areas • School service initiatives e.g. Relay, Service excellence awards • reports from individual members of staff/Service Excellence award winners • Monitor and discuss progress on individual Divisional external benchmarking activity e.g. IiP, EFQM, Hospitality Assured • Suggest new service and quality initiatives for start up funding.

14. Frequency of meetings: Twice a term • Duration: Two hours maximum • Chair: Alison Johns. (Members of the triumvirate (Adrian Hall, Andy Farrell and Jean Sykes) will attend meetings as appropriate.) • Membership: Members of the group will be drawn from all Division and service areas. The work of the group will involve both discussion at meetings and activities outside conducted on either a group or individual basis. Given the highly participative nature of the work involved in membership (and also to enable the emergence of new ideas and views) it is intended that a proportion of the membership will change on an annual basis.

15. WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP – MANAGERS • Keep staff enthusiastic as done in the IiP preparation, focussing on their and the Division’s staff development needs ; and consulting them • Achieve your objectives within the SDP • Focus on quality improvement actions • Always ask how your team is improving the quality of service for students , staff and other stakeholders

16. WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP – MANAGERS • Pursue your own development through the Knowledge Skills and Behaviours (KSB) programme • Seek comparative data and best practice information in the quest to improve services • Control expenditure – LSE is better off than the great majority of universities but there will be tough times ahead in the next few years arising from public expenditure cuts.