The problem

The senior finance team needed to hear the opinions and questions of the wider team. Free from bias, embarrassment and fear to ensure that the team is led in an open and transparent way. Everyone needs to feel able to ask questions during team briefs without worrying that they may look silly or be embarrassed for asking. Everyone in the team needs to know they have a valid opinion and a voice about how the team is run.

The challenge

The senior finance team’s challenge was engagement with the wider team. We are committed to supporting everyone by creating the best environment to work in and prioritise individual needs and development. The team have excellence groups aimed at improving development opportunities, reports and outputs, agile working, and equality, diversity and inclusion. There are also engagement opportunities such as picnics, quizzes, dog walks, open door statements and a confidential suggestion box.

The outputs

The outputs are:

• questions from the team in relation to presentations or discussions in team briefs
• opinions from the team on how they want the team to be run
• statistics on questions to the team such as ‘given the energy price cap increase and impact on the cost of living, if you are currently working from home will you now chose to work in the office?’.

The outcomes

• An increase in trust between the team and the finance leadership team as we are able to respond honestly, directly and immediately to questions from the team.
• More engagement with the team’s excellence groups including a newly formed voice of influence group where junior members of the team meet to talk about things impacting them and how to influence the way the team is run.
• Responding to the team more effectively and understanding their needs. For example, despite having a policy to make home working accessible to all, a comment was raised during a staff development session that equipment wasn’t available to make home working possible for someone. Following this we carried out a specific survey on what was needed (laptops, screens, printers, stationary, chairs, tables). This showed that most of the team were happy and that it was a small number who wanted access to stationery which we were able to resolve. Previously this would have been missed or become a gossip fuelled issue or fed resentment for the affected individual who felt they were not supported.
• Following the agile working survey, we have a clearer understanding of the long-term office need for the team which means we can look to reduce our footprint. This will release space for other non-clinical teams to move into the admin building and subsequently create more clinical space in the main hospital.