Amanda Braund, who initially joined Cafcass as a family court adviser in June 2011, transitioned into the role of service manager (SM) at the Reading office in October 2014 and credits the emerging talent programme, designed to nurture the long-term development of high calibre and performing staff, as supporting her to successfully achieve this progression. “It really helped me to prepare for my next steps in Cafcass,” says Braund. “The programme helped me to focus on developing the skills I needed to move to the service manager role. I felt really supported throughout.”
Braund wanted the opportunity to work alongside practitioners to help them develop their skills, enhance the quality of work and become involved in more in-depth partnership working, as this was an aspect she really enjoyed within her previous role as an enhanced practitioner (EP) with the Cafcass Wiltshire team. She also felt the service manager role would allow her the opportunity to impact positively on the experiences of children on a strategic level. In order to progress she knew she would have to improve certain skills. Emerging talent was identified as the programme to enable this development in a performance learning review with her manager.
Emerging talent is part of Cafcass’ wider talent management programme, which focuses on developing performance and providing a range of high quality learning opportunities to staff, including e-learning modules and work-based activities such as coaching and involvement in new projects, so that they can extend their roles into new areas, with the ultimate aim of improving the service we provide to children and families.
After her application to the programme was accepted, Braund completed a Strengthscope questionnaire, which identified her key talents at work. “It helped me to understand my main strengths and how I could build on these to enhance my practice. Clearly identifying these meant that I could work to develop them further in a more focused way.”
The online Strengthscope questionnaire assists people to identify their strengths at work and help them to create meaningful learning and development plans which utilise and build on these areas. More than a hundred Cafcass staff have been trained and accredited as “strengths coaches” to help staff and managers understand how to draw on strength areas, and further embed Cafcass’ model of managing performance through strengths, not weaknesses.
Following a discussion with a strengths coach, Braund created a personal development plan (PDP) with her manager to provide a strategy for improving her identified strengths and developing other important skills she would need to progress to the SM role.
The emerging talent programme enabled Braund to access management training modules and helped her to consider some of the key responsibilities that would be part of her new role. “They provided a really good induction and were really informative about the key people and agencies I’d be working with,” says Braund. As part of her PDP, she gained experience in supervising and supporting colleagues, allocating cases among practitioners and quality assuring their work. She also gained vital experience in partnership working, which included taking part in Family Justice Board meetings, the local domestic violence steering group and supporting her line manager in other key agency meetings, such as with local authority heads of service. Delivering training with new magistrates and to other professionals such as children’s solicitors, social workers and independent reviewing officers was another key area of learning. Braund is keen to channel these back into the organisation and wider social work community to support practice.
Now, as service manager, Braund is a member of the Berkshire family justice board (FJB) and Local Safeguarding Children’s Board. Her role is to report and work with key partners on these boards to improve circumstances and practice for children in Berkshire. Talking of the benefits, she notes that “wider working gives you the opportunity to provide an input into other organisations’ practice, but it also gives you something to take back to your own team”.
As chair of the Berkshire FJB’s performance subgroup, it is her role to ensure it is supporting the family justice board in working to comply and meet the targets and requirements of the family justice reforms for private and public law.
Braund also reflected on the opportunities Cafcass offers to social work students, she herself having supervised social work placements while in her former EP role: “Cafcass does a great deal to support student social workers and it’s a great way for practitioners to develop their coaching skills too.” Continuing, Braund says, “Student social workers are the social workers of the future, so we must invest in them. Student placements are a practical, informative way for students to build their skills and gain some experience. It’s good to allow them some responsibility within reason – such as filling in a Children’s Wishes report. Practitioners overseeing a student social worker provide weekly supervision and quality assure their work; these skills are transferable and can be used within our own teams to support colleagues.” And so learning and development filtering through the organisation continues.
Here are Braund’s five top tips on making the transition from social work practitioner to service manager:
- Identify your strengths and areas for improvement – and have a plan in place to work on both of these, identifying any training needs
- Get the support of your manager – a clear induction plan, with time for development, is vital
- Keep a connection with your passion – for me, this was improving the lives of children, so I kept the focus on this as I moved to a more strategic role
- Be proactive about identifying, seeking and volunteering for new learning opportunities or roles which will help you develop transferable skills, such as practice educating
- Draw on your support systems: friends, families colleagues, to help you adjust to your new role and remember the importance of looking after yourself and maintaining a good work life balance to keep you energised
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