Guidelines support continuous improvement
DoCS and peak bodies representing community services across NSW have pooled their collective knowledge to develop the Good Practice Guidelines – a set of guidelines aimed at helping services to develop a culture of improvement and better meet their reporting requirements.
Published by DoCS, the Guidelines were tested and refined by 30 non-government organisations and were found to be helpful and practical by those services. They give concrete examples of best practice to reinforce good governance, systems and processes that make organisations robust and accountable.
“The Guidelines are designed to support services to develop a continuous quality improvement culture within their operations and service delivery systems. The Guidelines will also make it easier for you to meet your financial and performance reporting requirements,” explained Dr Gül Izmir, Deputy Director-General of DoCS’ Research, Funding and Business Analysis Division.
Dr Izmir said the non-government sector and funded services were heavily involved in the development of the Guidelines, with feedback from participants tested and incorporated in the final document.
There are nine individual guidelines for best practice – grouped into three key areas. The first section looks at how an organisation can create an environment to support the achievement of its objectives. The second section focuses on the activities of organisations, while the third focuses on relationships with other agencies.
“Funding by government agencies has changed a lot over the past few decades as expectations of accountability and transparency of public money increases. At the same time, DoCS is outsourcing more direct service provision to other organisations,” she said.
“A recent challenge has been trying to help organisations understand what is meant by ‘good governance’, and what strengths are highly sought after for both small and large organisations when making funding decisions.”
The Guidelines provide a way for organisations to assess their own operation and identify where they can make improvements.
“I would strongly encourage services to familiarise themselves with the Good Practice Guidelines and to think about how practices within their own service compare,” said Dr Izmir.
Over the next 12 months, DoCS will develop a comprehensive set of tools to support the Good Practice Guidelines. This will help services undertake self-assessments so improvements can be made if needed. The Guidelines will be used for the first time by funded services under DoCS’ Early Intervention Program.
Getting to know the Good Practice Guidelines
DoCS will be expecting funded services to align their practices with the nine Good Practice Guidelines, which are grouped into the following three broad areas:
Section 1: Your organisation
This section gives advice on how you can create an environment that helps your organisation achieve its objectives. It looks at values, systems and processes to guide day-to-day activities. Guidelines in this section are Governance, Systems Management and Human Resource Management
Section 2: Your activities
This section is about your organisation’s core activities such as providing services or programs for clients, participants or stakeholders. Guidelines in this section are Access, Services and Programs Design and Implementation
Section 3: Your relationships
This section gives information about developing relationships with other organisations to increase your resources and capacity to deliver your core activities. Guidelines in this section cover Community Development, Networks and Funding Partnerships and Contracts
A series of briefing sessions is being planned for services through 2006.