10 sporting organisations across Greater Manchester have successfully been involved in a 17 month pilot of the Quest Sports Development continuous improvement tool.
GreaterSport, in partnership with Sport England and National Benchmarking Service, agreed to pilot the Quest Consortia approach which started in March 2015.
The pilot has been a huge success, with all partners gaining real value from the programme. The consortia model involved all partners in a planning day to get insight into the assessment approach and to begin the process of working together. Each partner was then separately assessed by the same Assessor over a period of 4-6 months before all partners were brought together again for a benchmarking day when best practice was shared and issues and solutions discussed.
Going through Quest for sports development has helped Active Tameside identify areas for improvement which has led to smarter planning with more tangible outcomes, the process has been great for including all staff in goal setting and further developing partner- ships with many local agencies. Andy Dwyer, Active Education Service Manager, Active Tameside
Quest was new to us as an NGB but well worth it. The process and assessments were clear, concise and the outcomes constructive and will help us develop. Being part of a broader group within Sport enabled us to reflect and consider opportunities collectively for the future. A thoroughly worthwhile opportunity. Colin Bridgford, CEO Manchester County FA
Who?
A mixture of council, Trusts, CSPs and NGBs made up the Greater Manchester Quest Consortia. This included GreaterSport, Chorley Council Community Team, Life Leisure Sports Development (Stockport), Oldham Sports Development, Bury Sport and Physical Activity Service, Active Tameside, Bolton Sport and Active Living, Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles, Salford Community Leisure and Manchester County FA
Why?
Greater Manchester has a strong track record of working in collaboration with local partners and it felt this process would add value by providing:
Accreditation of high quality service provision. In an era when localism is becoming key it was important that the main delivery agents had been accredited thus providing reassurance to future customers and commissioners.
Opportunities for partners to self-assess, gain the benefit of external assessment and obtain views from their peers. In a changing world it was important that sport organisations are looking to continually improve and receive feedback from their customers to adapt and be fit for purpose in the future.
Local and National Benchmarking Processes to drive improvement. The process allowed Greater Manchester to find out what was working really well and therefore replicate these models at scale and pace across the region.
Economies of scale around a core offer to drive efficiency and value. In a period of reduced budgets this approach allows teams to share the costs and get the product at a cheaper price than if they did it on their own.
How?
Over the 17 month period the 10 organisations all completed the one day entry assessment, with half completing the 2 day plus assessment. Matt McFahn completed all assessments ensuring consistency in the consortia and GreaterSport played an advisory role with the planning and preparing for the assessment.
At the end of the assessments a day’s benchmarking workshop was arranged with the aim of:
- How an organisation can use best practice to effect change, improvement and innovation
- How to appreciate success and achievement and do more of what we are best at
- Where and how best to collaborate to increase capability and capacity
Paul Brivio, Head of Active Communities at Quest said:
We were really pleased with the outcome of the approach. We could offer more value to Clients by factoring in the planning and benchmarking days into the core price. We benefitted from a positive working relationship with Greater Sport who have used the Quest process to improve the quality of their relationships/collaborations with key partners. We have helped a range of local organisations to show their value and worth at a time of huge opportunities and challenges. We have helped people to show and see “what works” – a key theme for the future if the sector is to survive and prosper
.