Whole System Approach

Buckinghamshire Council had been working on a whole systems approach to tackling obesity in the area. Having commissioned some initial work to understand systems in operation that could contribute to supporting people to maintaining a healthy weight, they wanted to move to the next stage which was to develop an action plan that engaged the whole system of stakeholders from across the county. 

“Having held a couple of virtual workshops we did not feel we were getting the buy-in from wider stakeholders and engaging them in conversations where they would step forward to take ownership of actions. We knew we needed to take a step back and let the conversations flow between stakeholders and employ the expertise of an external facilitator. Move Consulting came highly recommended by another organisation we had engaged with. 

Right from the start the team at Move Consulting were engaging and fully understanding of what we wanted to achieve, even when we were very vague around what we wanted. New to the county they took the time to absorb all things Buckinghamshire and came back with a proposal that met the outcomes we required to achieve. Working together we further shaped the project, with their team taking a flexible approach to meet any changing needs and wants.”

Sally Hone | Public Health Principal | Buckinghamshire Council

OUR APPROACH

Understanding the aspirations of the council, to stimulate a more collaborative way of working to tackle obesity across Buckinghamshire, the team at Move Consulting developed an offer to support stakeholders to collaborate on developing a system wide healthy weight action plan for Buckinghamshire. 

Understanding the client’s needs

The primary step for this project was to understand the background and wider context to this work. This is an essential step to consider when creating synergies across systems, as varying strategies will be at varying stages of development or delivery. 

To achieve this, the team at Move Consulting completed a review of all existing strategies and varying forms of available action plans from across the directorates within the council, including public health, schools, physical activity, transport, regeneration and food. 

This information was analysed and used to identify key information including commitments, synergies between varying strategies, existing actions and areas of unmet demand or progress. 

Simplifying structures

Taking a whole systems approach to addressing obesity was identified as a clear priority for Buckinghamshire Council. In mind of this, the team at Move Consulting wanted to ensure that they also developed tools and resources that empowered the stakeholders to act beyond this initial action plan development phase.

To enable this to happen they created;

• an action plan template that incorporated the key practical information to map and track goals and actions across the whole system relating to this agenda. 

• a guided process for using the action plan that encourages collaborative working and the development of SMART actions that link to behavioural change principles. 

• an orientation video to ensure all contributors to the action plan can access consistent and easy to digest information on how to use the action plan. 

Generating current insight and taking action

Building from a foundation of understanding the background and context detailed across different strategies, it was important to explore the reality that people within the varying teams and stakeholders were experiencing. To achieve this a series of facilitated, interactive and engaging workshops were developed to support stakeholders from across the public health system to:

• develop stronger connections with organisations and teams.

• identify a common vision and mission for tackling obesity. 

• engage in the design and structure of goals and actions.

• identify and incorporate existing work into a coordinated plan.

• develop and take ownership of new actions to tackle obesity.

WHAT THIS MEANT FOR OUR CLIENT

“As a result of the work undertaken by Move Consulting we have a very comprehensive action plan to support addressing obesity levels in Buckinghamshire. Move Consulting have developed an easy to navigate template allowing stakeholders to easily identify actions assigned to them and report back in a simple manner. 

The workshops have helped strengthen the relationships between key stakeholders. As a direct result of the workshops we now have monthly meetings between our transport team, local sports partnership (LEAP) and Public Health to align priorities and look at synergies for joint working. A relationship we are also hoping to forge with the planning team in the council.

Having the action plan in place has subsequently supported us to secure further funding to execute  more of the actions within it. This is one prime example of how having the ability to provide a whole system view of all actions being undertaken across this agenda is helping us to work smarter and more efficiently.”

Sally Hone | Public Health Principal | Buckinghamshire Council