Upskilling frontline staff to deliver community investment

3. Upskilling frontline staff to deliver community investment

4. Wheatley Foundation

5. Wheatley Foundation Role • The Foundation is Wheatley Group’s charitable trust • Set up in 2016 to tackle poverty and disadvantage in WG communities across Scotland. • 2017/18 first full year of operation • Progressing – currently reviewing themes and developing new Strategy • How did we get started?

6. Establishing a brand new Foundation • Wheatley Group - 80,000 homes and services to 200,000 people across Scotland • Employs almost 5000 people directly & indirectly • 7 Social Housing and Care providers, including GHA; Your Place property management and Lowther Homes 1600 mid-market rent homes. • Major builder of social rented homes • United by commitment to improve homes AND create jobs, boost life opportunities and increase inclusion. • Wraparound services “Making Homes and Lives Better” for customers across Scotland. • 2015 strategy included the aim of developing Wheatley Foundation • Why?

7. Establishing a brand new Foundation • 30% customers live in Scotland’s most deprived areas • Only 25% are in paid work • Majority households are benefit dependent - over 29,000 HB households • A further 4000 on Universal Credit so far • Many households vulnerable, experience health issues and multiple barriers to inclusion. • Glasgow retains high concentration of deprived areas - 48% of bottom 20%; West Dunbartonshire 40%, Edinburgh City 14%. • Foundation Strategic focus - deprivation, disadvantage, employment.

8. Foundation’s Role and Charitable Purpose agreed 2016: • To relieve those who are in need by reason of financial hardship, ill health, disability or other disadvantage • To relieve unemployment by providing financial assistance to individuals who are in a state of poverty to enable them to access educational, training and/or work experience opportunities which will increase their prospects for obtaining paid employment • To prevent and/or relieve poverty, advance education, advance the arts, advance health, advance citizenship and community development, advance public participation in sport, advance environmental protection or improvement and/or relieve those who are in need by reason of financial hardship, ill health, disability or other disadvantage • For people living in Wheatley Homes and the wider community.

9. Wheatley Foundation Role Tackles barriers people face growing up in poverty Creates new opportunities Helps people achieve their ambitions. 5 key themes: • Reducing social & financial exclusion and taking people out of poverty • Helping people find jobs, careers and training • Helping customers get into further and higher education • Increasing much-needed digital knowledge and access in communities • Creating local activities, links and opportunity so that people can lead their lives to the full. Aligns closely with Group “Investing in Our Futures” Strategy.

10. Some Highlights: In the last 3 years: Foundation’s Board and staff team established Has supported 25 separate projects and programmes across the 5 key themes Training programmes, money & debt advice, digital centres, education bursaries and books for children; community events and local sports/arts classes. Foundation has invested £8.5m in social, community and economic projects across Scotland. Overall around 18,000 people have been supported by Wheatley Foundation

11. Foundation Achievements: Our first 3 years 1398 Training & Apprenticeship Places 1686 Home Comforts customers 100 bursaries awarded 2104 Eat Well customers • 542 People into jobs c18,000 people supported by one or more projects 15,000 Click and Connect users Uptake of Almost 16,000 financial inclusion interventions 197 Veterans supported

12. Establishing a Support Team: Foundation funded Grant funded Wheatley funded Foundation Director Lorraine McLaren Foundation Manager Lynne Mitchell Communities & Business Initiatives ManagerConor Lanigan Performance & Evaluation Manager Helen Scott My Money Co-ordinator Deborah Gibson Foundation OfficersDermot LynchWendy Jordan Wheatley Pledge OfficerGavin Edmonds Community Benefits OfficerSeonad Hoy/ Julie Williams Programme OfficerLaura Crumlish Wheatley Works Support Officer Kirsty MacLeodHugh RobersonArlene Dick Project OfficerTheo Forrest My Money Compliance Officer Sharon McFarlane Grants OfficerKathleen Stevenson MA Compliance OfficersElaine FrewCaitlin Chan Foundation Support OfficerSarah McVey 12

13. Getting Up and Running: Mix of existing, new and project staff Brilliant resource, enthusiastic, keen, ideas. However - social investment/community renewal/Better Lives new for most - “never done this before” More fluid, less structured approach than were used to Came from frontline housing and corporate teams – Sheltered housing officers, Neighbourhood Officer Finance, Communications, HR, WG Call Centre, Graduate trainee.

14. How to prepare and skill • Team meetings, 1-1s • Shadowing existing officers • Visiting projects and getting the bigger picture • Understanding the benefits of the investment – what difference we make. • Meeting partners and funders • Start small – learn by doing • Small projects, then developing new project(s) • We asked what training they felt they needed • Identified training needs • Developed a structured – and timely - programme.

15. Designing training: Worked with an experienced trainer Designed sessions and workbooks for staff We ran 4 staff training sessions throughout 2017: Project development, partnership working Monitoring and evaluation Strategy and horizon scanning Scoping external funding & completing applications (Grantfinder)

16. Project management: One day, active to develop confidence in delivering multiple projects Real life examples – worked on a new Veterans Service project Early lessons – who has done similar before & what did they learn Think longer-term. Will products/projects have to be maintained and with what resources? Objectives: Awareness and consideration of partners, stakeholders, managing relationships, roles Know who to ask, who to keep informed Adopting strategic approach - "why are we doing this?" at the forefront. Basic principles - scoping, rationale, project planning, setting clear objectives, risk, monitoring, reporting. Additionality – would X have happened anyway if we didn’t support Y? Project triangle - time, cost and scope – changes/pressures will impact - assess and manage Avoiding mission creep - While you’re there....” Communications and flexibility Assumptions, uncertainties, constraints and dependencies Value for money, are objective being met? Planning, Task boarding, time and resource estimating, identifying milestones Spend plans, managing change process Learning and evaluating – and not just at the end! Evaluation plans at outset Review sessions

17. Monitoring and evaluation Understanding inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes and relationships between them Agreeing and monitoring against SMART objectives - and baseline if possible Working in partnership with projects, stakeholders Meeting targets and managing project change Reporting and gathering the lessons learned Project change requests, lessons learning logs and de-brief Using monitoring forms and tools – surveys, interviews and focus groups – but also post-its, jam jars, photos, quotes - capturing instant feedback, Proportionate monitoring Discussing progress with funded project staff Exit strategies and sustainability Used live projects as a learning tool and group work.

18. Strategy (and team building) Session Reviewed and celebrated work so far

19. Learning Points: Speedy, dedicated programme introduced soon after team was established, really worked Team bedded in and enjoyed training together as one Practical - use real projects and real issues – improve understanding More cost effective than lots of separate training But have to push to get everyone involved! Conversely, don't leave anyone out either….. Good facilitator essential, and seen as objective Get out of the office if possible – dedicated thinking time Team evaluated - and felt more confident, skilled, supported Link their activities to business need, individual and community outcomes Feel they can challenge partners/projects where not performing Now requesting negotiation and business innovation insight Moving towards strategy approach, assessing impact and social return And thinking about future programmes and “Legacy”

20. Any Questions? What are your experiences of training and equipping staff for social and community investment activities?