Professional Documents
Culture Documents
outcomes
a guide for
homelessness
organisations
Glossary 39
Further resources 40
introduction
4
Outcomes in Who is this guide for?
homelessness This guide is for all those working in the
homelessness field, although it is also likely to
All homelessness organisations are interested in
be helpful to those working in associated areas,
achieving change for their clients. An outcomes
such as housing or substance misuse. It is
approach involves:
intended for all staff and other stakeholders,
■ identifying the changes you hope for whatever their role or previous knowledge or
experience of outcomes.
■ assessing what changes happen
Examples and discussion points are drawn from
■ using the information about the results of
a range of homelessness services, many of
your work to plan and deliver services so as
which have substantial experience in
to make the changes for clients more likely.
implementing and using outcome monitoring
Many organisations are already collecting some systems. The guide will therefore be useful for
information on outcomes, either without those who are already familiar with outcomes
realising it or without the systems to use the as well as for those looking at outcomes for the
resulting information. This guide will help you first time.
think about what changes you hope for and
how to systematically assess whether they
occur. It is designed to help you find out what
effect you have had on the lives of the
Understanding outcomes
homeless people you work with.
What are outcomes?
Outcomes are the changes, benefits, learning or
other effects that happen as a result of your
The guide activities. For most homelessness organisations,
This is a practical guide to the effective use outcomes will describe a change in their client
of outcome management within the group, for example, improved confidence or
homelessness field. The advice and increased skills. In this guide we will focus on
recommendations it contains are based on outcomes for individuals. However, it is useful
the experience of a wide range of voluntary to remember that homelessness work may have
sector organisations. The guide draws on other outcomes, for example, for communities
the following sources: or in policy change.
■ Interviews undertaken with organisations Take care not to confuse outcomes with
that attended training as part of the outputs or user satisfaction feedback.
programme. Most of the participants were ■ Outputs are all the detailed activities,
interviewed, all about four to six months services and products of your organisation.
after attending. Outputs might include keywork sessions,
■ Interviews conducted with those groupwork sessions, or advice and
organisations featured as case studies information.
within this publication. ■ User satisfaction usually involves asking
■ CES’ long experience of training and clients what they think about different
consultancy on outcomes in the UK aspects of your service, for example, location,
voluntary sector. opening hours, or how helpful workers were.
Outputs and user satisfaction are important. We will look at outcome monitoring and 5
They may also be assessed and the information management in chapters two and three. introduction
used to help improve services. However, they
are not outcomes.
We will look at outcomes in more detail in Putting outcome work in
chapter one.
context
This guide is about how to understand and
Why outcomes? assess outcomes, and how to use the
information collected. However, to make it
An outcomes approach helps services and useful, outcome information needs to be
organisations to deliver more effectively for collected together with other information
their client groups. In particular, it helps make about your work. Many voluntary sector
services more client focused and needs led, by organisations are already collecting this
identifying what works well in services and information. It would include:
what could be improved. Other benefits
■ the resources you have used (eg, staffing,
include:
budget)
■ improved and shared clarity of what the
■ outputs - the actual services, products and
organisation is trying to achieve, leading to
activities you have delivered to clients (eg,
a greater sense of purpose and teamwork
one-to-one work, training courses,
within the organisation
information packs)
■ adding structure and focus to client-worker
■ the processes involved in delivering your
interaction through regular reviews within
work (eg, how you offer one-to-one work
outcome areas
to clients; the way training is delivered).
■ encouraging staff and clients, through
Putting outcomes in context will be covered in
providing evidence of progress
more detail in chapter four.
■ increasing success in fundraising or
improving relationships with funders.
Structure of the guide
Outcome monitoring and The guide is divided into four main chapters,
each divided into sections. The first three
management chapters take the reader step-by-step through
the process of identifying and assessing
Monitoring is the regular and systematic
outcomes and using outcome information. The
collection of information over a period of time.
fourth chapter looks at some internal issues
It allows you to assess changes that have taken
and the processes that can support an
place. Outcome monitoring helps an agency to
outcomes focus.
gather and report information such as:
The guide gives case examples from leading
■ 45 per cent of our clients moved to more
organisations in London’s homelessness sector.
suitable or longer-term accommodation.
At the end of the guide is a glossary and a
■ 70 per cent of clients increased their number of contact details, further reading and
motivation to find employment. links to websites with outcomes tools and
other resources. Material to support some
Outcome management involves using the processes described in this guide can be
information from outcome monitoring to make downloaded from the London Housing
your service more effective. Outcome Foundation website, and details for this are
management is not limited to monitoring for also given at the end of the guide.
accountability purposes, but is an integral part
of project planning and review.
Chapter one
identifying outcomes
6 This chapter defines outcomes in detail and ■ Welcome or unwelcome for the
describes how to identify outcomes organisation.
appropriate to your organisation by linking
■ Expected or unexpected. You are likely to
them to your project aims. You are advised to
be able to anticipate most of your
involve key stakeholders in the process. The
outcomes. However, some things may
practical issues to do with assessing outcomes
happen that you did not plan for.
are covered in chapter two of the guide.
Where outcomes occur
Outcomes can occur at many levels. They may
1. Outcomes in detail be for:
■ individual clients
What outcomes are ■ families
Outcomes are the changes, benefits, learning ■ the community
or other effects that happen as a result of your ■ the environment
activities. Outcomes often describe positive ■ organisations
change for your clients. They can also be: ■ policy.
The overall aim is like a mission statement. It tells everyone why your
organisation exists and the broad effect it wants to have. It summarises
the difference that your organisation wants to make for a specific
target group.
To enable homeless
all
Realistic aims and objectives Cricklewood Homeless Concern Day Care Project
aim
all
quality of life
■ To provide lunch
es
■
jec
■ living skills
■ social networks
■ accommodation.
It was acknowledged that desired outcomes within each of these areas would vary
between services and between clients, but this process provided the framework to develop
outcome management across the whole organisation.
Weblink: From
February 2004 the
London Housing
Foundation website
Once you have identified appropriate
www.lhf.org.uk
outcomes for your project, you can consider
will contain
how to assess them.
materials that can
be downloaded to
help you develop
your aims and
objectives.
Chapter two
monitoring outcomes
16 Once you have agreed the most appropriate They are often expressed as:
and important outcomes for your service and
■ The extent of…
client group, there are two main steps involved
in assessing progress: ■ The level of…
1. Decide what information will show that your ■ The degree of…
service has achieved its outcomes. For this ■ The amount of…
you will need to identify outcome indicators.
■ The ability to….and so on.
2. Decide on how to collect the information
necessary to monitor outcomes.
Outcome indicators can be:
We will look at these two steps in greater ■ Quantitative: where you count numbers of
detail in the following four sections.
things that happen, such as the number of
people who are rehoused.
■ Qualitative: where you assess people's
1. Outcome indicators views, experiences, or aspirations, for
Outcome indicators in detail example, someone's hopes for the future.
Outcome indicators are just that - indicators of
Outcomes describe a change resulting from
change, not proof it has occurred. A number of
your work. Outcome indicators are the things
indicators can build a picture of the extent to
you can monitor to show whether or not
which change is occurring, but this may not
outcomes are occurring. Indicators don’t in
provide conclusive evidence.
themselves indicate more or less of anything.
Engaged with the service ■ Whether clients engage with any one-to-one service or
appointment
Increased public awareness of an ■ How sympathetic the local press is to the service
issue ■ Level of complaints locally about homeless people
■ Number of local people choosing to become volunteers
at the service
Snapshots
‘Snapshots’ involve collecting information on
an issue at just one point in time. For example,
you could decide to carry out surveys or
observations in a day centre during one week
every quarter. Many people find continuous
monitoring easier than snapshots, because it’s
more readily integrated and less easily
forgotten. However, snapshots are a widely
accepted technique that could help reduce the
burden on staff and clients, while still providing
reliable outcome information.
Using scales
Many questionnaires ask people to rate their
experience using a scale. This is a particularly
appropriate way of asking questions for
outcome assessment. As someone’s
knowledge, behaviour or circumstances
change, their rating may go up or down the
scale.
Using scales of ability extract from Streets Alive Theatre Company evaluation form
1 2 3 4 5
Please rate your ability in the following
Very good Good Average Not so Poor
skills, on a scale of 1 to 5:
good
My ability to concentrate
My ability to value my
contribution/achievements
22 Building a scale
Most questions can be placed on a scale
describing one of the following:
■ Frequency: how often something happens
■ Severity: how severe a problem is
■ Satisfaction: how happy or unhappy a client
is about something
■ Ability: how good someone is at something
(see case example on p. 21)
■ Agreement: whether or not a client agrees
with a set of statements (see case example
below).
Using scales of agreement an extract from Off the Streets and into Work’s
Individual Progression System
Using the same scale for a number of questions Making questionnaires more user-
helps to make the questionnaire shorter and friendly
easier to complete. However, it’s always
important to make sure that all the questions Visual tools
listed can be meaningfully answered on the Questionnaires don’t have to look boring.
scale given. Consider using pictures and other visual aids,
which can make them more user-friendly for
Scale points should be labelled with descriptive staff and clients.
or numerical values to make analysis easier and
so that the answers from individual clients can Quizzes
be compared over time. Provide enough points Quizzes can be an easy way to use a
on the scale for people to feel they have a questionnaire and fun to use. Educational
range of options for their answers, and so that events or sessions provide an opportunity to
the scale is sensitive enough to demonstrate test knowledge, attitudes and awareness
change. On the other hand, be careful that before and after an intervention. This can be
scales are not so complex that your particularly appropriate for, and popular with,
questionnaire becomes lengthy and confusing. young people and those working with them.
As a general rule, four is a minimum number of The quiz is usually completed twice, testing
scale points and ten a maximum. Five or six knowledge and attitudes before and after an
points are often about right. intervention.
23
monitoring
A visual monitoring tool St Mungo’s Outcomes Star outcomes
The outcome assessment tool developed at St. Mungo’s uses scales represented visually. The six
main outcome scales are arranged in a star shape, on scales of one to ten. It is recommended
that staff and clients discuss the scale and agree an appropriate score. Clients and staff could
also complete the scales alone.
Internal change
10
l
Substance misuse
9 ll
8
l
10
7
l
l
9
Living skills
6
l
l
8
5 l
10
7
l
l
9
4l
l
6
8 l
l
7
3
5
l
6
l
l
5
4
l
l
4
l
l
3
3
l
1
l
2
l
l
2
1
Social networks l
l
1
l l l l l l l l l l l 1
2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 l 3
l 4
5
l
l
l 1
6
1
l
l
l 7
2
8
l
2
l
l
l 9
3
10
3
l
l
l
4
4
l
l
5
l
l 5
6
Managing physical
l
l 6
7
7
8
l
l
9
8
l
l
10
l 9
10
Meaningful
l
use of time
Accommodation
Joining up the scale points gives a size and shape for each person at a given point in time. As
clients make positive changes in each of the outcome areas, their ‘shape’ becomes bigger and
more uniform. During testing, this format proved popular with both staff and clients on the
grounds that it was holistic and had visual impact:
■ Clients who were ready to move on had bigger shapes.
■ The bigger the shape, the more control a client had over their lives.
■ It illustrated the complexity of people and their lives.
24 Good practice in questionnaires and completing a short monitoring form or
outcome monitoring forms questionnaire.
using outcome
information well
Outcome management is about using the for set time-periods (eg, the financial year). It 31
outcome information gathered through will be helpful for IT people to be involved using
monitoring. Outcome information can be very throughout the process of developing outcome outcome
useful internally for planning and for monitoring, so that any limitations of the information
organisational development. It can also help computer system are taken into account when well
you be more accountable, whether to your designing the monitoring tools.
clients, your funders or to the general public.
Qualitative information can also be stored in
This chapter describes ways in which you can
the computer. Either type in clients’ answers in
most effectively use outcome management.
full, or summarise them first. This can be done
using specialist computer packages, but many
people use Excel or Word.
1. Analysing and
Analysing outcome information
reporting outcome
Quantitative analysis
information Most information from outcome monitoring
Once you have collected information on forms will be quantitative, involving a series of
outcomes, you need to summarise and numbers. Most voluntary sector organisations
organise your findings in a logical, ordered only need simple analyses of quantitative
way. This will help you to make sense of the information; these include frequencies,
information – to analyse and interpret it. When averages and percentages.
you have done this, you can report on your To help you analyse your outcome information,
findings. try to think in terms of asking questions of the
information you have collected. What do you
Processing outcome information want to find out about your work? For
For small numbers of clients, or during a test example:
period, information may be stored on paper ■ What percentage of clients over the past
and analysed manually. However, most year stayed more than six months in their
homelessness organisations undertaking tenancy?
outcome management use computers. ■ What proportion showed an improvement
Organisations use a wide range of software to in independent living skills?
analyse information. We cannot look at the It is also possible to look at smaller groups of
application of that software here. However, it is clients by asking questions such as:
useful to note some general points about
storing and accessing information.
■ What percentage of those with substance
misuse issues at assessment then showed
You can type or scan information from some improvement by the review?
completed outcome monitoring questionnaires ■ Of those with diagnosed mental health
or other forms into a computer and store it in a problems, how many improved their ability
database. All forms should have a client code to manage their illness?
or name so that two or more forms completed
by each client can be placed in the same
section and compared by the analysis system
used. With quantitative information, you can
ask the database to calculate the change from
one form to the next. It is then possible to
produce a total number of clients showing
change in each of the different outcome areas.
Once you have set up your monitoring
framework, you should be able to set up a
computer system to produce standard reports
32
Extracting information St Mungo’s
St. Mungo’s outcomes test period generated a very large amount of information. St Mungo’s
‘asked’ questions of this information. These included the following:
■ Were clients of different services at different points on a scale when they arrived and at follow-
up? For example, did those in hostels have further to go to achieve changes than those in
resettlement?
■ Did people improve at all?
■ If so, did they show more change in any particular outcomes?
Qualitative analysis occurred. In this case, you may need to ask the
If you have collected qualitative information, following questions to help you understand
you will need to summarise and group the why they did not occur:
information collected. Qualitative analysis can ■ Did the level of resources, for example, the
be very complex, often involving looking at the level of money or staffing devoted to the
themes and ideas that emerge from people’s project, affect the outcome?
comments. ■ Was the outcome affected by the way you
However, many organisations can do a simple delivered your service? (See case example
analysis that deals with qualitative information below.)
quantitatively, by turning it into numbers. For ■ Did external factors, such as lack of housing
example, in an interview you may have asked stock, prevent you achieving your
clients: ‘What things helped you improve your outcome?
skills in looking after your flat?’ A simple ■ Were the aims as originally stated realistic
analysis of all your clients’ answers is likely to or appropriate, given the nature of the
reveal a list of the main responses. You can client group or the services delivered?
then add up the number of people who said
each of those responses. Once you have done
this, you can treat your qualitative information
as you would quantitative information. You
might be able to say: Putting outcome information in
context Cricklewood Homeless
■ how many people said that their improved
Concern Welfare Project
skills was due to your service
■ how many felt it was due to another factor, When Cricklewood Homeless Concern
like their own efforts, or to another monitored the outcomes of the Welfare
organisation. Project, they found that, while 100 per cent
of clients completed benefit applications,
Interpretation the rate of success for other core outcomes
was nearer 20 per cent. On closer
Interpretation involves looking at what the examination, this was found to be due to
findings mean. Doing this will highlight what is the staff practice of completing applications
going well and show whether change or on behalf of all clients, leaving little time for
improvements are needed. other work. This practice was gradually
Outcome information often needs to be put changed, using referral to literacy classes or
into context and related to other aspects of the day programme to build basic skills or
your organisation before you can interpret it; confidence, as required, and freeing staff
without this, you may not be able to make time for other tasks.
judgements about your work. For example,
your outcome information will tell you whether
an outcome has occurred, and to what extent.
It may not tell you why an outcome has not
Proving your role accuracy would be appropriate. 33
Even if you have collected evidence of changes ■ All outcome information should relate to a using
specified time period, such as the financial outcome
in your clients, it’s very hard to demonstrate
year or quarter. information
that it was your project that caused the
well
change. Your clients come into contact with
many organisations and other influences that Make it user friendly
may have contributed to the outcome. Getting ■ Try to tell a story, from when the clients
information from more than one source can be arrive and are assessed to when they leave,
helpful. For example, if both staff and users focusing on the changes for clients over
think the change was due to your service, that time. If most outcomes are intermediate, say
will help build a strong case. Quantitative in the case of short-term funding, you may
information may be limited in what it can tell need to specify how they link to progress
you, whereas asking clients to tell their stories towards key outcomes and why they are
may explain more about the changes in their positive steps along the way.
lives and what caused them.
■ Layout and presentation are important.
Graphs and charts can add clarity and help
Writing outcome reports and break up text. Short sentences are easier to
applications read. Simple binding of a report is
Outcome information should be an integral inexpensive and can make a difference to its
part of a funding application or report. The impact.
following points will help you when you report ■ Case examples are a good way of providing
outcomes. information about the range of problems
experienced by clients and the process of
Keep it simple move-on. They may explain the interventions
■ Focus on the knowledge and information or link the intervention and the outcome - or
needs of those reading the report, not the just add human interest, bringing your work
information collected. It can be helpful to to life.
imagine presenting the main outcomes
verbally to someone not working in the
homelessness field, to ensure that the 2. Using outcome
outcomes presented are clear.
■ Keep it brief. Key outcomes can be
information
summarised on a couple of pages.
Using outcome information to help
Make the meaning clear planning and decision making
■ Present your outcomes in context. Where Outcomes provide a valuable framework for
relevant, refer to the services you offer, how planning, as they place the focus firmly on your
you deliver them, and the resources needed clients or target group and on the changes that
by the service. Where they are available and you aim to bring about. Managers in a number
relevant, make reference to national or local of leading organisations in the homelessness
statistics. sector routinely use an outcomes approach in
■ Where numerical scores are used to indicate planning. For example, the chief executive of
the severity of a problem or the extent of Homeless Link used an outcome-focused
change, set them in context and explain approach in drawing up the strategic plan.
them, so that you give the numbers more Managers in The Passage, St. Botolph’s,
meaning. St. Giles and Crisis routinely approach planning
from this perspective.
■ Include a comment about the accuracy of
the information collected. For example, if it The information you collect should be fed back
relies entirely on client self-assessment, a into your planning systems. This was the
note about the likely level of honesty or experience of the director of Cricklewood
34 Homeless Concern: Link monitoring with the planning
‘To make it really effective we found we timetable
needed an improved ‘loop’ system to ensure
that learning from outcomes was effectively Time your information collection to feed into
fed back into making organisational and your planning timetables. In this way your
service changes’. outcome information can be collated and
analysed and used as a basis for decision
Outcome information can show the extent to making and planning. Outcome information is
which your organisation is achieving its stated most likely to be used effectively if it’s available
aims. If the information shows that outcomes when decisions are being made about services
are being achieved, this can help support, or and when reports are due to management
validate, the way you work. committees or funders.
You may find that you are not achieving all
your expected outcomes. It is important to be Using outcome monitoring to
realistic about the extent to which outcomes improve work with clients
will be achieved – you won’t achieve all your
Outcome monitoring can be used to increase
outcomes for all your clients, all of the time.
the effectiveness of work with clients in a
However, your analysis will have shown why the
number of ways:
outcomes you expected have not occurred.
This could be due to a number of reasons, each ■ It can provide a useful structure for a
indicating a possible course of action. For regular, holistic, review of progress. This
example: can encourage clients and staff with
evidence of progress and highlight new
■ If your aims were over-ambitious, perhaps
areas in need of attention.
now is the time to look at them again.
■ It can help increase understanding of how
■ If there was inadequate funding to achieve
change happens in the target group.
the outcomes, you may need to rethink
your service or to seek further funding. ■ Frequent collection of outcome information
helps make sure that staff regularly
■ You may have identified something about
examine the progress and needs of their
how you deliver your service that could be
clients.
changed, perhaps only slightly, to improve
the outcomes.
■ If an external factor affected your Using outcome information to
outcomes, you may identify a need to improve knowledge of clients
campaign or you may need to review what St Mungo’s
can realistically be achieved within that
external context. Following the testing of their new outcome
tool, St. Mungo’s concluded that the
process helped them learn more about their
Using an outcomes approach to redefine services clients. They found that the process made
St Giles Trust them look into clients’ needs more
holistically and in more detail. Further, they
The St. Giles Day Centre initially identified outcomes that included
felt that the tool described how change
changes in accommodation and benefits. Initial monitoring showed
happened for clients. They have started to
that these outcomes were not being achieved for most of the client
explore the use of the tool in the induction
group. Analysis quickly revealed that these desired outcomes were
of new staff members, to help illustrate and
not realistic for an open-access day centre, where staff had little time
increase understanding of the client group
to focus one-to-one on clients’ individual needs. St. Giles had two
and the process of change.
options: they could change their way of working to help them to
achieve these outcomes or set more realistic outcomes for an open-
access day centre. They chose to redefine their service and change
their ways of working.
Using outcomes to improve Funders increasingly want to know about the 35
communication with funders outcomes of the services and projects they using
fund. More funders are also supporting the use outcome
Outcome management can help voluntary of outcome management as an effective tool information
sector providers to communicate better with for increasing the clarity of purpose and well
funders by making funding applications and effectiveness of the organisations they fund.
reports more clear and effective. It can give Most funders want to see organisations take up
fundraisers and managers good information for outcome management because of those
funding applications and help answer benefits, rather than simply because they are
questions about whether they have used requesting it.
funding effectively.
Remember that if you consult with funders
Outcome management can also increase early on, when you are identifying outcomes,
understanding between funders and service you are more likely to collect information you
providers about the nature of the client group both value.
and the process of change. It can help set
realistic expectations, particularly for client
groups with entrenched problems and where
funding is for a limited period of time.
making it work
36 The experience of voluntary sector
homelessness agencies introducing outcome Involving staff in outcome
management has been mixed - changing ways management New Horizons Youth
of working or thinking takes time and can lead Centre
to both positive changes and difficulties. Often
The director at New Horizons Youth Centre
organisations have benefited from increased
was enthusiastic about outcome
clarity and focus and informed decision
management and its benefits, and
making. They have also encountered pitfalls,
understood the need for developing
resistance or barriers. This chapter draws on
‘bottom-up’ outcomes rather than imposing
the experience of those agencies to describe
them. Following initial consultation, a group
good practice and ways to avoid difficulties.
of workers came together to develop a draft
When planning your outcomes work, consider outcomes tool. Funding from the London
speaking to other organisations that have Housing Foundation provided cover for
implemented outcomes systems. They may be workers while they were doing it. The group
able to advise on strengths or weaknesses of met approximately monthly for over a year,
different systems or give tips on what to look sometimes with the director, and sometimes
out for. with an external consultant. Members also
took part in CES’ outcomes training.
Following this development phase, the group
launched a three-month outcome monitoring
1. Get everyone on board test period in the day centre, and
‘If you do not create your outcomes enthusiastically championed an outcomes
framework consultatively with all your staff, approach internally and externally.
then it will not work.’ Director, The Passage.
It is important to make sure that all your staff There are a number of ways you can involve
understand the value of outcome management front-line workers in the process of introducing
and its relevance to their jobs. Staff should be outcome management. These include staff
brought on board early on, rather than be taking part in consultation sessions, helping to
presented with a monitoring tool and required design a tool or giving feedback during a test
to gather information. There are a number of period.
reasons for this:
■ To make sure that the outcomes identified
reflect the reality of the process of change Staff motivated by outcomes
of clients, and that tools are of use to staff findings Ashiana
■ To make sure that monitoring systems and Ashiana’s management and front-line staff
methods don’t take up too much time were very encouraged by their first outcome
■ To encourage use of the system and a sense information. It showed that good progress
of ownership was being made towards meeting the needs
■ To help you get good quality, of the majority of their clients and achieving
comprehensive information Ashiana’s stated outcomes.
■ So that outcome information is understood
and used for review and planning
throughout the organisation. Commitment from the top
The need to bring people on board does not
stop at front-line workers. You are more likely
to be successful if management are strongly
committed to the process. At the very least,
your managing body will probably need to
agree the changes involved.
A session exploring management perceptions
of outcomes can be a useful forum to look Staff may be reluctant to ask too many 37
again at the aims and make sure that there is questions. This may be the case when people making
clarity and shared vision about those aims. This arrive distressed, in a chaotic state or under the it work
discussion can help introduce a greater influence of alcohol or drugs, or for people
attention to and understanding of the clients. that have previously resisted engaging in
services - staff may not want to risk putting
An ongoing process them off with questions. If this is the case,
gather the initial information as soon as clients
You will need to continue to consult and
are able to be involved. It may also help to
communicate with staff about outcome
discuss staff fears around questioning clients.
management. Staff turnover and short-term
projects can mean you need to introduce new There are a number of ways you can reassure
staff to outcomes. People who have been or encourage staff:
involved from the start may also want to ■ Ask clients directly about their experience Weblink: From
update or refresh their knowledge. of the outcomes tool. February 2004 the
Interest in outcome management may increase ■ Provide outcomes training for staff, and London Housing
over time. The director of The Passage, which include discussion of the benefits of Foundation website
had just begun work on an outcomes outcome management. www.lhf.org.uk
approach, commented: ■ Feed back the findings of outcome will contain
monitoring to staff. This can encourage materials that can
‘[Staff] now have the motivation to see what
staff by showing that their work is leading be downloaded to
they are achieving and see their own results
to positive outcomes for clients. help you develop
and want to know [more] and to get better.
your aims and
The sense of the need for outcome ■ Give support or training to lessen fears
objectives.
management is now much more keen.’ about questioning clients. Change
structures or systems of key working so
Dealing with reluctance that the outcomes system can easily be
adopted.
If staff raise objections to asking outcome
questions, explore and address these concerns
at the outset. Some reluctance is often based
on anticipated resistance from clients. Overcoming reluctance St Mungo’s
However, clients are often happy to be St. Mungo’s tested the use of an outcomes assessment tool, aiming
involved, if the purpose of the exercise is to integrate it into the keyworking system. In practice, they found
clearly explained. that this worked well where there were structured keywork sessions.
However, in the street-level services, keyworking could be informal
and focused on immediate presenting problems, so completing the
Unfounded concerns for clients outcomes tool required a separate session. Some workers were
Ashiana reluctant to do this with certain clients, especially those less well
known to them, or those more volatile or withdrawn. However, once
Although committed to assessing outcomes,
a separate session was arranged, it had additional benefits of giving
the management and staff of Ashiana were
keyworkers the structure and focus to engage with clients more
concerned about asking women in
holistically or to discuss aspects of their lives they had not covered in
vulnerable and difficult situations to answer
any depth before.
questions, particularly covering areas that
touched on their experience. They first tested
outcome monitoring by post and received
low responses. They then tried gathering
information by telephone and were surprised
to find that their clients and ex-clients raised
no objections to the interview, were happy to
talk and to hear from them. This feedback
helped reassure workers about continuing to
monitor outcomes.
38 final implementation of a fully tested system.
2. Tips for For smaller organisations or simple outcome
implementation systems, it may take less time, say six to eight
months. For larger organisations, or those with
Implementing outcome management is easily more complex systems, it could take 15 to 18
postponed. Most organisations are busy and months.
under-resourced and their priority is
responding to a client's immediate needs. This Using consultants
tendency to delay adopting a new approach is
Homelessness organisations using outcome
increased when people are confused about
management have found that external
outcomes, or are resistant because they think
consultants can be helpful in maintaining a
there will be large changes and an increased
momentum and to carry out specific tasks.
workload. The following steps can help develop
Using consultants is unlikely to shorten the
momentum in your move to an outcomes
time needed, as you still need to consult widely
approach.
and test the system. However, consultants can
bring in skills, help with planning and reduce
Someone to lead
the number of staff days dedicated to the
Identify one person responsible for developing development of a system.
outcome management at the outset.
Otherwise you may find outcome management Consider resource implications
falls outside or between different job
Outcome management can have resource
descriptions. The person identified will need:
implications, and this should be part of early
■ clarity about the task planning. Resource implications can include the
■ appropriate training and information costs of:
■ time to do the job ■ staff time, including cover where necessary
■ support from colleagues. ■ external training
■ external consultancy
Set a programme for consultation ■ alterations to existing IT systems.
and development
Funders need to be aware of, and sympathetic
It is essential to allow enough time to develop, to, these resource implications. Include the
test and implement a system, including costs of moving towards an outcome-focused
allowing enough time to get the support of approach in funding proposals or seek separate
workers and management. funding for it.
Outcome management presents a real
Deadlines can help provide a focus and
challenge to homelessness organisations. It is
momentum. Timetable in different dates, to
not always easy, but it doesn’t need to be very
cover:
complex. The effort you put in will be
■ presenting the reasons for an outcomes worthwhile. Clients will be able to see how far
approach, and a discussion of concerns they have come. The results you get will help
■ work on developing outcomes you to improve and develop your services and
■ discussing proposed outcomes and will help staff to focus on the benefits of their
assessment tools work and why they are working with clients.
■ training or sessions to present and explain
the draft system
■ testing of the draft system
■ reviewing
■ final implementation.
Most organisations in the homelessness field
have needed about a year from the start to the
Glossary
Outputs Outputs are all the detailed User Getting user satisfaction
activities, services and satisfaction feedback involves finding out
products you actually do or feedback what your users think of your
provide. services, for example, their
location, opening hours or
Overall aim The overall aim tells everyone how helpful workers were.
why the organisation exists
and the broad effect it wants
to have. It summarises the
difference that your
organisation wants to make.