Profile 

Liz is the CEO of an NFP organisation that has been in operation for over 40 years. Liz has seen the organisation grow, expand and observed many people come and go during her tenure.

Challenges

During this time, Liz realised the enormous risk the organisation was facing by not capturing the acknowledgement of key people within the organisation accurately. In addition, with several vastly experienced board members approaching retirement, the necessity to deliver a measured and effective handover process had now become essential.

Solution

Through using the powerful yet versatile features in Activate™, Liz was able to implement a robust yet straightforward handover solution that delivered instant benefits to the entire organisation:

• Tailored knowledge capture from critical employees;
• Seamless integration for new starters;
• Knowledge retention in ‘stand-alone’ positions;
• Streamlined and relevant handover process; and
• Improved relationship managementa.

Outcomes

With Activate™, management can precisely plan and prioritise the type of information needed to be gathered; this means coordinated handovers can be created and delivered in areas where business continuity is vital to the organisation.

A Final Word

“Activate™ has cut the time I need to spend on my handover notes by at least 40% and without a doubt will have my successor productive in half the time of a traditional onboarding process”. 

Liz Prescott, CEO

Profile 

As one of the world’s largest premium spirits companies, their organisation has unparalleled expertise in whiskey, including world leadership in Bourbon and Japanese Whisky, and strength across many key categories, including tequila, vodka, and cognac rum and cordials.

Challenges

Distillery operations rely on perfected recipes being reproduced to a standard consistently. This requires skills, knowledge and experience. Experience and ingenuity combine to make sure that the finished product is always delivered to the required standard.

During a period of operational re-organisation, a Distillery Manager with over 25 years of experience decided to take the option of early retirement and exit the business.

The operation faced the prospect of losing both a vastly experienced individual and vital operational knowledge.

The general manager also acknowledged other areas that had significant opportunities for improvement and further concerns that added to the risks and immediate impact of the pending exit of the Distillery Manager; these include;

• Learning Culture
• Outdated Formal Management Systems
• Outdated Formal Processes
• Poor People Systems
• Extremely short notice period (2weeks)

Solution

Capturing 25 years and more of experience is a daunting prospect. But with Activate’s powerful features, the General Manager, along with the support of the Distillery Manager were empowered to capture knowledge in unique ways:

• Voice memo recording allowed users to express themselves fully on process and experience.
• File and URL link attachments highlighted critical documents and work areas
• Relationship management detailed all key internal and external contacts
• Management and the leaver’s team had access to a central knowledge-sharing platform
• Task management allowed managers to build a new-starter work plan with the gathered knowledge and intel.

Outcomes

With Activate™, the management was able to deliver a handover solution and process that the leaver fully embraced.  The leaver could go safe knowing that they left a fitting legacy that provided for their successor to inherit.

This, in turn, maximised the quality of the knowledge and experiences documented.  As a result, the business has access to unique, role-specific insights, now and forever.  For the new role holder, access to detailed and nuanced information from a source that wasn’t available to their direct predecessor.

A Final Word

“Activate™ solution along with consultation support enables us to act quickly.

The process uncovered a wealth of information that was of value to the newcomer and the other managers and supervisors.

Had we not used Activate™ operational continuity would have certainly been impacted as critical controls, standards and non formalised procedures and key relationships would have led to a reactive situation”. 

Todd Clarke,  General Manager

Profile 

Blackwood is a leading housing and care provider, specialising in services for people with
Disabilities across Scotland. With over 1600 properties, 4 care homes and over 350 employees, Blackwood operates in 29 out of 32 local authorities providing homes, care and support for individuals with physical disabilities, long term conditions, sensory impairment and learning disabilities.

The UK’s housing industry is rapidly pushing for innovation in how it provides services and manages properties. However, the need to abide by legislation and constantly evolving regulations means organisations and the systems they utilise must be flexible.

Challenges

In modernisation, Blackwood has found itself in a period of high turnover within our Care Services. Due to the nature of our work, our staff teams carry a high level of important information specific to the properties or areas under their care.

These large changes to our workforces risk information and key relationships being lost in the handover. Blackwood recognised the need for an effective solution to minimise the impact of future staff changeovers.

Solution

Utilising Activate™ means that Blackwood homes can ensure that their service continuity can be maintained during periods of change. In addition, our management teams were able to specify and prioritise the information to be gathered, which meant coordinated handovers could concentrate on areas important to the organisation as a whole. Therefore reducing the risk of information loss that comes with staff turnover.

Information from outgoing staff is gathered into handover ‘packages’, which provide a pathway to deliver the knowledge to an incoming team member, complete with clear targets and milestones.

This results in structured development and learning for the new position holder and promotes a continuous approach to managing the position itself.

• Tailored knowledge capture and from key members of staff
• Structured onboarding for new starters
• Prevention of knowledge loss in ‘stand-alone’ positions
• Streamlined and effective handover processes
• Improved internal and external stakeholder management

Outcomes

Activate™ has been incorporated into Blackwood’s appraisal process, and it will eventually form the basis from induction to appraisal to exit interview for the position holder.

When linking the collection of handover information to HR processes, the Activate™ report suite enhanced the following procedures:

• Quarterly review and annual appraisal
• Staff inductions, welcomes and briefings
• The induction socialisation process
• The exit process

A Final Word

This gathering of information encouraged staff to look past their own personal experience in a position and to consider the impact their role has on the wider business.

It developed team member awareness of the value they create for the organisation.

“My thoughts on Activate™ are that it is very clearly set out, easy to understand and navigate….The use of the system helped me get to grips with my new role, what I should concentrate on and what would be important going forward. It was good to be able to go through these and tick them off as I progressed.” 

Rob Ormston, Assets Officer