Leading by Example - Nambucca Valley Care

Andrew Bailey, Facility Manager; Autumn Lodge Village

Nambucca Valley Care opened Autumn Lodge in 1978 at Macksville, following considerable hard work and fundraising by members of the local community. Autumn Lodge has expanded to comprise 61 low care places, 51 high care places and a secure dementia unit, with Riverside Gardens subsequently opening with 40 low care places and further developing to incorporate a 40 place high care facility. A total of 60 self care units are provided between Autumn Lodge and Riverside Gardens.

Following the 2011 QPS Benchmarking staff satisfaction survey, a significant decline in staff satisfaction was highlighted, with the resultant risks to the organisation due to the effects on staff retention, morale, performance and ultimately resident care.

The newly formed management team at Nambucca Valley Care identified the key factors contributing to low staff satisfaction. The changes in management personnel, management strategies and the lack of engagement of staff through communication were the main contributors to the decline in staff satisfaction.

The management team used an open systems perspective for the analysis of the various characteristics that define Nambucca Valley Care, starting with the strategic organisational goals. The open systems perspective allowed each characteristic, including organisational culture, decision-making, and inputs and outputs to be considered separately, giving an overall picture of organisational strengths and weaknesses (Bartol, Tein, Matthews & Sharma, 2008).

The "Leading by Example" initiative was adopted by the Nambucca Valley Care management team. The aim of "Leading by Example" was to develop a sustainable effective management system that focused on organisational culture, in order to build an adaptive learning culture with the capacity for rapid change into the future of the organisation. Organisational culture is a system of shared beliefs, meanings and values between management and staff. The quality of the relationship between an organisation's culture and strategy can have a significant impact on the potential performance of the organisation now and into the future (Nankervis, Compton, Baird & Coffey, 2011).
A fortnightly senior management forum consisting of the CEO, Executive Care Manager, Facility Managers, Human Support Manager, Finance Manager and the Resident Support Manager was formed with the objective of implementing a change agent to improve overall staff satisfaction. A number of solutions were developed including, but not limited to:

• Improved communication via formalised communication structure and utilisation of IT systems e.g. email access.
• Improved access to education for staff.
• Defined career paths for care staff.
• Development of staff internally through traineeships.
• Development and implementation of the RN New Graduate Collaboration Program.
• Specialised portfolios for Registered nurses.
• Recognition of staff performance.
• Performance management improvement systems.
• Introduction of sick leave management tool to monitor and identify trends.
• Standardisation of systems across the four facilities and combined meetings.
• Improvement of home environment and aesthetics, including renovations and new furniture.

Nambucca Valley Care has redeveloped its strategic business plan to incorporate human resource management, which to an extent is linked to organisational performance. Long term goals, challenges and strategies have been clearly identified. Linked to the strategic plan are the organisation's values, aims, vision and an assessment of the environment in which Nambucca Valley Care operates, including demographic trends and forecasts.
The operational plan has set goals and performance indicators for managers across the organisation. The strategic objectives of the operational plan are based on an integrated human resource management approach, recognising the value of employees and the importance of securing their commitment, in providing quality outcomes for residents.

The "Leading by Example" initiative has lead to significant achievements across the entire Nambucca Valley Care organisation, with an increase of over 15% in staff satisfaction from the 2011 to 2012 QPS staff satisfaction survey. The project was implemented across Nambucca Valley Care's four residential divisions, with the biggest improvement achieved at Autumn Lodge, with over 20% increase on baseline satisfaction results from 2011.



The results were analysed at the subgroup level to recognise which areas of improvement aligned with the strategic implementation of "Leading by Example". The organisational strategic management meetings identified the need for improved communication, engagement of staff, quality of care, opportunities for education and the provision of a clear and achievable career path for Care staff.

Significant improvements have been demonstrated across all five strategic goals with additional improvements across a number of variables. The highest improvement across the organisation was achieved at Autumn Lodge with an almost 30% increase in Employee Participation from 2011 to 2012. This reinforced that staff now feel comfortable in participating not only in daily decision making, but also in contributing to Nambucca Valley Care's future strategic development.