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Learning strategy development for Office of the Public Guardian

About OPG

The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) in England and Wales is a government body that protects the private assets and supervises the financial affairs of people who lack mental capacity for making decisions.

Key project features

Kineo Learning strategy
Kineo Digital learning
Kineo Consultancy approach

THE CHALLENGE

Delivering user-friendly learning

Our population is ageing and more people are living with dementia. This increases demand for OPG’s services. In response to this demand, OPG have implemented an extensive transformation programme (in which the digital strategy plays a vital role). This aims to deliver faster, simpler and more efficient services for both customers and staff.

To achieve this, OPG needed a learning and development strategy which involved not only developing the capability of the current workforce, but quickly and effectively inducting the large numbers of predicted new recruits. This needed operational and cultural changes, as historically training at OPG consisted of predominantly ‘on the job’ and face-to-face training, with potential supporting digital learning options either unknown, or undervalued/utilised.

With a strong track record for supporting change initiative, Kineo was brought in to support OPG by consulting with their staff and recommending how to explore the digital learning realm in a way which aligns with their aim to be a ‘digital exemplar’ both within the agency and throughout the Ministry of Justice.

OUR SOLUTION

A consultative approach

We followed a four stage process in our consultation with OPG:

  • Consultation
  • Analysis of findings
  • Recommendations
  • Implementation plans

1. Consultation

The consultation phase occurred over a 4-week period. We interviewed a wide range of stakeholders in various roles and locations about the current learning landscape, future learning needs, and any potential blockers or enablers on the road to digitisation. We also reviewed examples of existing guidance and learning, OPG’s Business Plan, customer feedback reports and other relevant documentation.

2. Analysis of findings

We then analysed the information in relation to three key areas:

  • OPG’s learning landscape, including analysis of whether the 70:20:10 model they’re aspiring to was working in practice, staff attitude towards learning in general and specifically digital learning
  • The technical and physical environment, particularly factors with the potential to limit the success of the move towards digitisation (e.g. bandwidth connection, user experience)
  • The distribution of learning and development teams and resources, in terms of how they currently create and deliver learning vs. how they might do so more effectively in the future

3. Recommendations

Following this analysis, we made detailed recommendations for each of these three key areas. The purpose of these was to support OPG on a managed transition towards the digitisation of learning and to help them become more self-sustaining in the future. The recommendations were extremely wide-ranging, as evidenced by the few summarised examples below:

  • Embrace the 70:20:10 model more fully by increasing the scope and variety of existing informal and formal learning
  • Establish a capability framework for all roles within the organisation which outlines the specific core competencies required and the associated training available, before you embark on creating it
  • Conduct a thorough investigation into the technical problems being experienced, particularly around stability issues when completing elearning, and test out the viability of a range of digital tools and resources before widespread roll-out
  • Restructure your resources to ensure a more streamlined, centralised approach to learning design and development and offer training on best practice elearning and blend design
  • Invest in a widespread campaign which demonstrates that you’re listening to your staff, changing your approach to learning and development and that digital is a relevant and exciting medium for its delivery

4. Implementation plans

Due to the high number of recommendations made, we used the MoSCoW method to filter these recommendations into Musts, Shoulds and Coulds (we didn’t include the Won’ts). The Must recommendations were then logically ordered on a proposed timeline of implementation.

We also provided recommendations on potential candidates for digitisation based on the learning needs identified during the initial consultation, and where appropriate, we advised what formats these might take. Then based on a variety of factors, such as the urgency of the requirement, current capability in-house, stability of content, we created a roadmap for the order in which to approach these candidates in the short, medium and long-term.

THE RESULTS

A clear learning roadmap

The final report is now informing the creation of a centralised, digital library of learning and the enhancement of OPG’s learning and development strategy as a whole. Through our use of the MoSCoW method and recommendations for what to digitise in the short, medium and long term, OPG has a clear roadmap outlining which tasks to complete and by when.

“From the start you got on top of the logistics swiftly using the limited available time to greatest advantage. Those you interviewed were impressed with your knowledge of the business demonstrating you had done your background research and reading. You captured everyone’s thinking and gave them a voice in the recommendations. The report you prepared is reflective of our business needs and will be used as a basis to take both our digital and other learning forward.”

Sally-Ann Bailey, Capability and L&D Manager, OPG

We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with OPG as they move into the next phase of their journey to digitise their own learning. Together we will design and develop a flagship elearning module which sets the standard of what ‘good’ looks like for OPG and provides a blueprint for the subsequent modules to be developed in-house. OPG have also engaged us to provide further consultancy regarding their technical infrastructure and the planning and project management involved in the creation of digital learning in-house.

Here’s to the future!