What are companies doing with regards to 'Leadership'

Supporting local residents to transform their neighbourhoods through environmental projects such as multi award winning Kingfisher trail project. In the 1960's this 1.75 mile area, known as ‘The Brook' was a place of beauty, where local people would often go to escape the bustle of urban life. Over the last few decades, the area was neglected and it became overgrown and a dumping ground for rubbish. The stream clogged up and became filthy and foul smelling. Four years ago, a group of local residents decided they would bring the area back to the place of beauty it once was. Working with the local community, Trent & Dove Housing, the Heart of Burton Partnership, East Staffordshire Council and Staffordshire County Council, they have achieved a tremendous amount. The area has now been transformed, and is once more a place where local people can come to relax, enjoy and escape from the stresses of urban life.

Supporting local residents to transform their neighbourhoods through environmental projects such as multi award winning Kingfisher trail project. In the 1960's this 1.75 mile area, known as ‘The Brook' was a place of beauty, where local people would often go to escape the bustle of urban life. Over the last few decades, the area was neglected and it became overgrown and a dumping ground for rubbish. The stream clogged up and became filthy and foul smelling. Four years ago, a group of local residents decided they would bring the area back to the place of beauty it once was. Working with the local community, Trent & Dove Housing, the Heart of Burton Partnership, East Staffordshire Council and Staffordshire County Council, they have achieved a tremendous amount. The area has now been transformed, and is once more a place where local people can come to relax, enjoy and escape from the stresses of urban life.

Taunton School hold an end of year barbecue and farewell drinks. There is also The Armed man Concert at Wells Cathedral for everyone to attend.

Taunton School hold an end of year barbecue and farewell drinks. There is also The Armed man Concert at Wells Cathedral for everyone to attend.

St Wilfrids' education department provides an excellent programme of training and development that has a strong reputation for providing end of life care education. All courses here are offered to the external market but are available to employees of the Hospice to attend at no cost to the individual. Each member of staff has an annual performance review meeting with their line manager and training and development will be discussed as part of that meeting and on an ongoing basis through the year. External courses are supported where budget allows and they are also able to apply to Help the Hospices (National membership body for hospices) for professional development grants to support the costs of external courses. All employees attend an annual in house training session and other training is set up in response to identified needs e.g. shop managers have recently been trained in dealing with conflict.

St Wilfrids participate in activities promoted by the Dying Matters coalition which aims to promote increased awareness of the need to discuss issues relating to end of life and encourage everyone to plan for this and discuss their wishes and plans with their loved ones. An additional campaign was launched by Help the Hospices this October and Hospice Awareness Week was marked here by an open afternoon with the theme 'Be Surprised'. This event was held to promote better understanding of hospice care as well as encourage members of the public to discuss end of life issues.

St David's provides free hospice at home care for people with life threatening illnesses in the care of their own home.

St David's seek to enhance the wellbeing of their employees by offering Occupational Health.

At RHP they believe true leadership happens in the moment between people and there is no one way of leading. Leadership is about ‘making sense of things' in a memorable way to gain commitment rather than compliance where employees follow willingly with energy, enthusiasm, passion and a sense of ownership. Exceptional managers work hard to bring collective intelligence and develop leaders at all levels within the organisation. Their EMT recognise the importance of ‘keeping it real', being connected and getting help from others. Their egos don't lead the organisation, their sense of perspective, clarity of thought, supporting others by providing a great place to work and creating the environment for people to be successful is what makes the real difference at RHP. This works because they have shared values, openness, trust and respect for other's opinions.

At RHP they believe true leadership happens in the moment between people and there is no one way of leading. Leadership is about ‘making sense of things' in a memorable way to gain commitment rather than compliance where employees follow willingly with energy, enthusiasm, passion and a sense of ownership. Exceptional managers work hard to bring collective intelligence and develop leaders at all levels within the organisation. Their EMT recognise the importance of ‘keeping it real', being connected and getting help from others. Their egos don't lead the organisation, their sense of perspective, clarity of thought, supporting others by providing a great place to work and creating the environment for people to be successful is what makes the real difference at RHP. This works because they have shared values, openness, trust and respect for other's opinions.

A raft race and fun day was organised by staff from Plus Dane's Youth Engagement Team and members of Plus Dane's Cheshire Youth Forum. The event took place on 26 August 2011 at Astbury Mere in Congleton, Cheshire. Members of staff also attended as volunteers and also took part in the raft race, including Ken Perry Plus Dane's Chief Executive. The raft race involved teams battling against the clock to build a raft and sail it across the lake as the main event of the day. The race was supervised by water-sports instructors and full safety equipment was provided on the day. As well as the raft race the day included a wide range of family-fun activities, sports and promotions of interest to young people, the event was also opened up to all staff to attend and get involved. The event ended with a BBQ for all those who took part in the raft race, organisers and staff that attended. This is the first time an event such as the raft race has been organised within Plus Dane and proved to be a great success. This allowed staff to take part in something a bit different and engage with members of the Cheshire Youth Forum.

For the past two years all staff have received the same amount of pay award irrespective of their level within the organisation. Plus Dane also operate a 'Neighbourhood Hero Award' which staff and managers nominate a staff member to receive. Along with a Neighbourhood Hero card, they receive Marks and Spencers vouchers thanking them for their involvement in a particular piece of work or for them going the extra mile.

P3's annual management conference had a really beneficial impact on employee engagement last year, impacting not only on the managers and supervisory staff who attended, but this also filtered through to all employees. This annual two day event runs on a theme of all levels of managerial staff being involved in updating and reviewing P3's strategic plan. This ensures that all staff are engaged in the plan and understand its purpose and aims. It also means that their plan is relevant to each team and department on a local level as they have been involved in it from the very beginning. This then follows through to teams through team meetings, feedback events and the JCC so staff are aware of where their service fits in to the plan, and how they can impact, both as a team and as individuals.

P3's annual management conference had a really beneficial impact on employee engagement last year, impacting not only on the managers and supervisory staff who attended, but this also filtered through to all employees. This annual two day event runs on a theme of all levels of managerial staff being involved in updating and reviewing P3's strategic plan. This ensures that all staff are engaged in the plan and understand its purpose and aims. It also means that their plan is relevant to each team and department on a local level as they have been involved in it from the very beginning. This then follows through to teams through team meetings, feedback events and the JCC so staff are aware of where their service fits in to the plan, and how they can impact, both as a team and as individuals.

The leader of Mosscare has a clear passion for and pride in the work of The Mosscare Housing Group. In leading the organisation he seeks to include, engage and listen to staff, customers and other stakeholders so together they can fulfil their vision of “achieving excellence in all they do”. Currently he is undertaking a shadow placement with each of the teams within the Group.

Mosscare's culture and approach to staff engagement is to: - Consult - Listen - Respond - Act. Following this approach develops the trust of staff and gives them confidence to come forward with ideas and suggestions. Mosscare provide three examples of where this approach to engagement has led to positive change: - in the consultation on their 2011-16 Corporate Plan, a staff member encapsulated the approach of Mosscare with the suggested phrase "Pride in our past and passion for our future". These words resonated with the wider staff group and the boards of Mosscare and Mossbank. They were embraced within one of their strategic challenges and featured as the title to the 2010/11 Annual Report; - Their Mosscare in the Community Day, described later in this submission reflected the innovative ideas and suggestions provided by a range of staff from within the group. The success of the day was to a large extent, due to the belief of staff that their ideas had been taken seriously and were making a real difference and impact bringing benefit to local residents and neighbourhoods; - In 2010-11 a proposed staffing re-structure of the organisation was changed significantly following consultation with staff who responded with positive and constructive ideas for a revised structure which was embraced by the organisation as the best way forward. Success has been achieved through the revised structure.

Luminus encourages all employees to be healthy. Their impressive suite of health and wellbeing benefits include an online personal health management system, subsidised gym membership, pension and non-contributory health plan (recently expanded to employees' children). The company believe the most effective wellbeing tool they have is their flexible working policy. Whether it is offering bank workers term-time contracts, or enabling full-time employees to work around rush hour traffic, everyone benefits from this approach. It also ensures that managers are able to monitor their employees' working hours, ensuring a healthy work-life balance. Employees can accrue time and take up to an extra 13 days leave a year, on top of their already generous leave allowance. For some employees, i.e. those with more than five years service, this can amount to up to 43 days (excluding public holidays). Staff are keen to stay with Luminus because of the interest they take in their health and wellbeing, resulting in: an increase in staff retention level to 96.1% (2009: 88.8%), a 40% reduction in sickness absence to 3.4% (8.3% in 2009), and increased staff satisfaction and motivation as evidenced through their 2010 employee survey results.

During Summer 2011 Chan held Premium Brand Employer meetings for all employees over a lunch hour so he could hear views on how they can achieve their 2020 Vision: The Road to Renewal. In these highly interactive weekly sessions he encouraged everyone to be open and honest in their feedback. These meetings greatly impacted on employee engagement as it underlined to all employees that the Senior Management Team were open to constructive feedback. Following these meetings various initiatives have been put in place, including integrating their trades team in their monthly staff conferences instead of holding a separate quarterly meeting for them.

The company's vision statement really sums up what they do - 'No young person or woman, whatever their problems and background, will be without a comprehensive and holistic package of support, until they are truly capable of sustaining an independent and acceptable lifestyle within their chosen community.' Llamau works hard at realising this vision with each and every service user it comes in to contact with. Often service users are referred to Llamau when no other agency will support them due to varying reasons. Their belief is that they can work with almost anyone and will go that extra mile to finding their worth in society. Research: To ensure Llamau continues to develop the most effective services, they are proud to be participating in several research projects. Two of the projects are part of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme with two Welsh Universities. The organisations are working together in order to improve services at Llamau by transferring research into practice. Developing housing services which reduce reoffending. Llamau has recently undertaken a two year research, strategy and lobbying project to develop effective accommodation services for young people involved in the Youth Justice System.

Llamau operates a core competency training matrix. Clearly listed is the employer's position with regards to employee development. In the last BEST Company survey they won an award based on the principles of how they operate this development programme throughout Llamau.