In February 2020, the Improvement Service PSIF team began supporting Shetland Islands Council’s Corporate Management Team to undertake the PSIF self-assessment, to support preparations for their forthcoming best value audit. This was the first time the council had used PSIF. However, the COVID-19 pandemic overtook matters and the process had to be postponed.
It was able to be reset in September 2020, as the council’s chief executive was keen not only to complete the self-assessment for its original purpose, but also to capture learning for the council from the response phase of dealing with the pandemic.
The results of the self-assessment were analysed by the PSIF team at the Improvement Service and two workshops were then held with Shetland Islands Council Corporate Management Team to plan their improvements: one for the main questionnaire in November 2020, and one for the COVID-19 response in March 2021.
The dialogue to develop the improvement plan priorities was rich in reflections, and resulted in two very useful plans to support the continuous improvement agenda in the Council. The gap between completing the PSIF Checklist and holding the second, COVID-19 workshop, was also interesting in that, by the time this was able to be scheduled, it was clear that most matters highlighted in the checklist feedback around COVID-19 had already begun to be addressed. This was not only reassuring but has given the council an audit trail.
Maggie Sandison, Chief Executive of Shetland Islands Council, says that the process was invaluable to the council: “Shetland Islands Council is a learning organisation. The PSIF process creates a structure to allow us to explore our strengths and highlight where we have developed innovative practice but also to collectively identify where we can improve. It enabled us to capture our learning from our COVID experience for cross service improvement and evidenced our agility, resilience and capacity to change to improve outcomes for our community.”
More information
If your council or public sector organisation would like more information on using the PSIF approach to capturing learning, please contact Thomas Boyle.