Friday 23rd March 2007, 21:31Everthing MattersEverything matters
I have spoken to a number of our friends who we are helping and asked them what makes a difference to the way we offer the service. Was it the welcome meeting, the smile of the staff, warmth in the centre, clear documents, a tailored approach, clean premises, swift response to requests?
The resounding answer was………. “Everything Matters”.
I have been reflecting on this really simple idea. Everything Matters. Because although very simple it is actually a very helpful mission for all of us as seek to constantly improve our service.
It’s an attitude of mind. When walking around our many business outlets we should keep our eyes open on the basis that everything matters. It sounds easy, keeping you your eyes open but actually it’s not that easy. It is easier to go about our daily roles with our eyes tight shut. Sometimes it is easier if you are walking into an environment for the first time as you have a “fresh pair of eyes” and see things which need attention.
An even harder task is to wear a fresh pair of eyes when trying to support our friends in the centre. Do we always wear that fresh pair of eyes each time we interact with our friends or do we quickly try to shove them into prepared pigeon holes. Old Man, Lone Parent, Young Woman No skills, redundant woman, drug abuser, ex offender. Or can we challenge ourselves to review each person each day with a fresh pair of eyes. To check and enquire and review where we see our friends against a template that says Everything Matters. The eye contact, the clothes, the shoes, the hair, the nails being bitten, the walk, the volume, what they eat, where they sit etc etc. why would we want to press ourselves to do this? Well I sense that our friends tell us lots of things in a very non verbal way and we need to be supper alert to be picking up all these messages. Each message like this is a gift. It tells us something that will help us tailor our style of delivery to better improve the way we meet the needs of our friends.
I think this is what sets A4e and our work apart. The work of our front line teams and the way they care, support and motivate our friends to be able to move closer back to work is amazing.
I sense I need to keep thinking and reflecting on this whole notion of Everything Matters and how we can be more aware of it to drive our services and the way we interact with our friends in meeting their needs.
Do you have an idea how we can build on this concept?
Call or email me and let’s take it forward together.
Thanks
Roy
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