GENERAL TEAM BRIEFING
ADULT SERVICES DEPARTMENTAL PROCEDURE NO: / 12/10Team briefing
Adult Services the essentials
DATE: / March 2010
EFFECTIVE DATE: / 01 April 2010
CATEGORY: / General
KEYWORDS: / Team Briefing
ISSUED BY: / Adrian Thorne, Assistant Director Business and Performance Management
CONTACT: / Nicky Capell, Customer Care and Communications Manager
(01962 845204)
PROCEDURES CANCELLED OR AMENDED: / 01/04 – Team Briefing
REMARKS: / None
SIGNED:
DESIGNATION: / Assistant Director Business and Performance Management
YOU SHOULD ENSURE THAT:-
§ You read, understand and, where appropriate, act on this information
§ All people in your workplace who need to know see this procedure
§ This document is properly filed in a place to which all staff members in your workplace have access
PURPOSE
The objective of this procedure is to set out the standards and requirements for Adult Services’ system of Team Briefing.
SCOPE
This procedure explains the timing of Team Briefing cycles and the roles and responsibilities of different members of staff. It also explains how Team Briefing will be delivered and how the feedback cycle works. In addition, it outlines the methods which will be used to measure the effectiveness of the system.
POLICY
This procedure is issued in order to demonstrate the department’s commitment to an effective system of internal communication and to clarify where team briefing sits amongst the family of internal communications.
REFERENCES TO LEGAL, CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND OTHER EXTERNAL DOCUMENTS
None
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL AND SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT REFERENCES
None
DEFINITIONS
Director’s Cut – electronic one page newsletter from the Director giving headline information on departmental developments, Director’s diary and highlighting key news stories.
Team brief. Adult Services – the essentials - a tool for managers to use during team briefings, containing key messages elaborated further from Director’s Cut, along with information and developments relating to the ‘operational essentials’ of the department’.
AS it happens – online newsletter for Adult Services that allows you to carry out a search for service and geographic specific news – in other words news that is relevant to your role specifically. Updated as and when news and developments within the department happen.
Messenger – paper newsletter produced quarterly that features team innovation, team roles, good practice and any team achievement within the department.
Project pages – intranet pages holding more detail about specific projects within the department and referring to more detailed plans and information.
MODEL OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
ROLES
The Communications team are responsible for facilitating and compiling Director’s Cut, Team brief, AS it happens and Messenger.
Project leads are responsible for the maintenance and uploading of information onto the intranet.
AUTHORITY TO VARY THE PROCEDURE
Assistant Director Business and Performance Management
(Proc 12/10 – 11 March 2010)
GENERAL TEAM BRIEFING
PROCEDURE
Contents
1) Why do we have team briefing?
2) What is team briefing about?
3) What will be in Team Brief?
4) How does it work?
5) Performance standards
Appendix A: Timetable
Appendix B: Guidelines for the use of AS Communications and AS feedback email addresses and use of
All AS Managers and staff distribution lists.
1. Why do we have Team Briefing?
1.1 DMT is committed to keeping staff informed of developments at a national, regional or local level which affect our day-to-day work. Equally, decisions are taken and developments occur which may not affect day-to-day work, but which staff may reasonably expect to be told about in the workplace.
1.2 Staff have a right to comment on and question the information that they are provided with in the workplace. Very often, comments and suggestions from staff inform directly the development of new policies and procedures. DMT recognises that it needs to have a clear structure for hearing these comments, views, questions and suggestions.
1.3 Director’s Cut and AS it happens are focused on the strategic direction of the department and any news stories based on change and development. Team Briefing provides the essential information that all staff need to know about in order to maintain service delivery on all levels and in all areas of the department.
2. What is Team Briefing about?
2.1 Team Brief will be issued on the first on the first Monday of each month. Managers are encouraged to use the team brief as a tool to brief their team during team meetings – all essential information will be held in the team brief as well collating key messages from previous two Director’s Cuts to ensure that all staff receive the same information, whether they have a log on or not.
2.2 Managers are also encourage to use the search facility on AS it happens to source any news relating to their teams service area, or any news that they think their team would be interested in, and share this with teams as well.
2.3 Research has consistently shown that people prefer to be given information face-to-face. This can be done at a special Team Briefing meeting, or as part of a regular team meeting. Most staff should hear the Team brief face-to-face during each cycle, but there may be exceptions at the front-line, especially in situations where staff work in shift patterns or at different workbases.
2.4 It is recognised that face to face delivery will be hard for some team managers which is why the summary document, that you will be able to print out as a word document, will be colourful and clear so that you could send it out directly to your staff, post it on your team notice board, leave it in communal areas, staple it to payslips, whichever approach you feel is most appropriate for your team. If you are unable to deliver team brief face to face you should ensure feedback routes are clear..
2.4 Team Brief also provides all staff with an opportunity to comment on or ask questions about what they have heard or indeed read, and for managers to either respond directly or to refer questions and/or comments to the Communications Team who will facilitate any answers/responses. These can be fed back to your team manager, who can use the detailed team brief online to answer any questions. If they are unable to answer the questions they should either refer them up to their line manager or direct the individual to email or to call the communications team 01962 832123 for them to facilitate an answer to the question.
3. What will be in team brief?
3.1 Team brief will contain all the essential information to the department – hence the strapline ‘Adult Services, the essentials.’
3.2 Team brief should reduce the volume of emails that are sent to All AS Managers, people should use the suite of internal communication methods to ensure they get their information/message out to managers and subsequently all staff. Appendix B providers clearer guidance on when you can use the All Managers distribution list and the process for this.
4 How does Team Briefing work?
STEP 1 DMT, SMT and service leads provide key points for Team Brief and the Communications Team ensure key news items relating to service delivery are incorporated where appropriate
STEP 2 Team Brief is sent to all Adult Services managers the first Monday of each month, as a link and word document.
STEP 3 All managers use the Team Brief word document to brief their teams as this is written in a summary style. Further information can be found on the online version and managers should make their own judgement call on how much additional detail they wish to give their team. Managers should also refer to AS it happens to share any newsworthy items on their service area with their team.
STEP 4 Managers send any comments and questions they have to the Communications Team who will facilitate any responses and/or requests for additional information.
STEP 5 Managers pass on the Team Brief to all staff, together with any other relevant news from AS it happens. Managers, or individual staff members, send any comments and questions to the Communications Team.
STEP 6 The Communications Team will facilitate individual responses to any questions and/or comments and will publish these on the intranet for all staff to access, raising awareness of them through the next Team Brief.
At this point the whole process starts again with Step 1.
4.1 General
4.1.1 Most managers will probably combine Team Briefing with a regular team meeting, with Team Briefing as a separate item. The main point is that the meeting at which team briefing is dealt with needs to be during the same month as the Team Brief issue. The most important thing is that the briefing session happens, and with the greatest number of people present as possible.
4.1.2 Staff should not have to come in especially for Team Briefing, particularly not in order to claim any extra payment, so managers should try to schedule the session at a time when their staff would normally be working. It is fine if one (or more) staff have to cover normal duties, provided the messages from Team Briefing are passed on to that person later.
4.1.3 There is no formal feedback form as DMT don’t want to constrain feedback by limiting it to a specific protocol. At any time during the Team Brief cycle a member of staff should be aware that they can feedback to DMT through the email address and know that they will receive an individual response to their question/comment..
4.1.4 Managers of staff who work in a setting where shift work is the norm will need to find their own most suitable method for ensuring that their staff can participate in Team Briefing. Shift patterns inevitably increase the risk that some staff will be missed, and managers in such situations may like to consider sending out the briefing sheets to all employees, perhaps stapled to payslips, and encourage individual questions.
4.1.5 Managers of staff in county-wide services, or highly mobile services (such as Community reablement teams) may not be able to offer face-to-face briefings to most staff. It will be important to ensure that the messages have been passed on by another means and that staff in this situation to genuinely have an opportunity to offer comments or ask questions.
4.1.6 All new members of staff should be aware of the internal communications within the department; Director’s Cut, Team Brief, AS it happens and Messenger. The importance of Team Brief in particular should be emphasised. It is the responsibility of all managers to discuss this, and the feedback arrangements, with new staff. Team Brief and all internal communications will also be covered as a topic in the department’s induction course.
5. Performance standards
5.1 The Communications Team will issue Team Brief to all AS Managers on the first Monday of each month, by which time it will be online as well. The full rota/timetable of Team Brief can be found in Appendix 1.
5.2 All Managers will schedule their own Team Briefing meetings in accordance with the monthly distribution to ensure that all staff receive up to date information each month are kept fully informed, as well having the chance to comment, on any developments.
5.3 The Communications Team will update the Team Brief intranet pages and facilitate answers to all questions/comments and requests for additional information. The Communications Team will also arrange for feedback to be given to DMT at the same time that the content of the next Team Brief is agreed by DMT.
5.4 All new members of staff will understand what Team Brief is and how it relates to them by the end of their induction period.
5.5 The Team Briefing system will be monitored for effectiveness by means of the feedback received by staff, the annual communications survey to all staff and research compiled to support the Communications and Engagement Strategy for the department each year.
APPENDIX A
TEAM BRIEF MONTHLY TIMETABLE
Content of Core Brief to be agreed by DMT and headline feedback given to DMT
/Team Brief issued by AS Comms
/Team Briefings
/Content required for Team Brief
/Feedback
/Upload Team Brief onto the intranet
3rd week of each month
/1st week of each month
/ Throughout the month /2nd week of each month
/ Continuous / 4th week of each monthAPPENDIX B
Guidelines for the use of AS Communications and AS feedback email addresses and use of All AS Managers and staff distribution lists
The following guidelines have been pulled together to give you clear direction on the most appropriate methods of internal communication in different scenarios and how you can use the AS Communications team to guide and support you with this.
1) Contact the AS Communications team who will advise you of the most appropriate method of delivery for your message and will support you to do this.
2) The All AS Managers list should only be used by individual staff members in emergency situations. If you need to get a message out urgently and it doesn’t fit into the time frame for team brief (monthly) or to Director’s Cut (fortnightly) then you should contact he Communications Team who will facilitate your request. Sending the message out from the generic email address AS Communications so that staff know it is an important communications because it had come from that address.