What is Owning the Future?
What is Owning the Future
‘Owning the Future’ (OtF) builds on the success of ‘Listening into Action’ giving all staff a real voice in the organisation on a permanent basis. The overriding objective of OtF is to involve staff more effectively at all levels in positive two way dialogue and action to deliver the highest quality patient care and staff satisfaction.
OtF aims to enable frontline staff to have greater voice in organisation through a process of peer election. The model being piloted involves the identification of ‘teams’ within each work area whereby every team member is eligible for election and an anonymous vote is carried out. The elected person has a mandate through confidence from peers to be able to present staff views back into the organisation.
The John Lewis Model
OtF is based on the comprehensive approach to staff engagement adopted by the John Lewis Partnership (which is owned by its staff). This approach is based on the sharing of knowledge and information about the business with staff, giving everyone the opportunity to contribute to decision-making as well as to challenge and question.
John Lewis has identified the following benefits of their approach
- Improved staff motivation
- Improved staff survey response of 94% (in which staff indicated they felt happy in their jobs, supported by their managers)
- Reduced turnover
- Staff have a better understanding of the business issues of the company;
- Staff suggest changes which improve the day to day running of the department
- Staff are more positive about change and understand the reasons behind the change and have been involved in deciding and shaping the change
