Key Messages
November 2017
This is a short summary of the key messages gathered from attendees at Personal Outcomes workshops across 2016/17. Messages were grouped into four themes:
- what people value about the network
- what they feel they gain / learn
- what they plan to do differently
- what they’re looking for from the network
Evaluation feedback was compared to areas of the logic model / mind map developed by the Personal Outcomes Network coordinating group in May 2016. Overall, the read across between the feedback and logic model is very encouraging and suggests the network is achieving what it hoped to. However, it should be noted that evaluation feedback on workshops was gathered from attendees and it could be argued that these people are likely to be familiar with and enthusiasts for personal outcomes.
Some key points
- Overall, attendees found the network welcoming, a source of energy, motivation, reflection and a place to find peer support, with mentions of feeling a sense of ‘family’ in the network. These chime with the ‘Reactions’ outlined in the logic model.
- People value the range of activities offered. Feedback highlights that an outcomes approach is being modeled in workshops – one of the ‘Activities’ outlined in the logic model. Attendees describe feeling ‘compassion, kindness, humanity’ and ‘welcomed, valued, included’. Attendees highly value the cross-sectoral networking, connecting and sharing of practice examples provided by the workshops. This hope was outlined in the ‘Engagement’ section of the logic model.
- There is a strong sense that attendees want success stories, good practice examples, case studies, solutions and evidence products / papers from the network. In terms of the format of the workshops, specific requests were made including ‘having a clear focus / theme for future events’.
- There was evidence to suggest some of the changes outlined in the model are being realised, mainly in the category of ‘Knowledge, skills and capacity’. For example, changes to confidence, awareness, deeper understanding of the approach and what it looks like in practice. Some of what people say they are going to do differently relate to changes in attitudes, for example, ‘think differently’, ‘remind myself of why I do what I do’, ‘turn fear to joy’, ‘be more proactive’. Some things people say they will do differently include research, running workshops, further training, taking ideas back to colleagues for discussion, spreading learning, and using the Outcomes & Co tool.
- Some of the specific ‘Behaviour and practice’ changes outlined in the logic model are not clearly evidenced in the feedback. For example, an increase in particular aspects of outcome-focused practice – eg listening differently, more risk-enabled approach – but a review of the evaluation questions helped find out more about this.
Next steps
On the basis of limited feedback from people who found the workshops less useful we responded by:
- making a ‘welcome pack’ available outlining key points about personal outcomes
- being more explicit about the aims and outcomes of the Personal Outcomes Network
- having themed meetings which are publicised in advance
- making better use of this website to act as a place to gather learning from workshops and to promote upcoming events
Personal Outcomes Network 