Fit for the Future Podcast - Ep4: Hein Scheiffer

The next episode of our Fit for the Future podcast is now available.

Each episode, we talk to a workstream lead from the Fit for the Future improvement plan to demonstrate what achievements have taken place and how this will help to develop our Trust for the future.

This episode, Julie Hollings, Director of Communications and Engagement, chats with Hein Scheffer, Executive Director of Strategy, Culture, and Education.

This episode discusses the Culture workstream and the impact this has for our staff and our patients.

Please listen to the podcast below. We hope you enjoy. 

 

 

Transcript Details

 

00.00 – 00.39
Julie Hollings
So welcome to this month's Fit for the Future Podcast. My name’s Julie Hollings, director of Communications and Engagement, and this month I'm talking to Hein Scheffer, executive director of strategy, culture and education. Hein's been with us since April and leads the culture workstream,  So I wanted to find out more about that work stream and the benefits we believe that it will deliver to staff.

So Hein, we often talk about the need to improve the culture at EEAST and culture as an idea might feel quite intangible to some of our listeners. How would you define culture?

 

00.40 – 01.38
Hein Scheffer
Thanks, Julie. Just before we get into what culture is, I think I want to just say that it has been absolutely fantastic to have been part of EEAST this past seven weeks. It is quite an education for me and I really enjoy being part of the EEAST team.

So if we then think about what culture is, then for me, culture is formed by the organization's purpose and is impacted by the experiences, perceptions and realities of our staff regarding our values and behaviours, and it is influenced by team and organizational norms.

So in short, culture is all of our responsibility and the way we behave is fundamental to the culture of our organization. I think it's fair to say that your and my behaviour is therefore key to a positive cultural change for EEAST.

 

01.39 – 01.49
Julie Hollings
So what you're saying really, Hein, is that culture’s down to all of us, in effect. So in terms of the workstream itself, what's it hoping to achieve?

 

01.50 – 02.15
Hein Scheffer
So the culture Workstream has a bit of history. It is based on the good work that Steve Mason, the former Director of Culture in the organization, has done. Ultimately, for me, the aims of the culture workstream is to make a constructive and positive contribution to the way we all behave and work in EEAST.

 

02.16 – 02.20
Julie Hollings
Moving on now, what key areas does this work stream cover?

 

02.21 – 03.39
Hein Scheffer
So we actually have approximately 10 task and finish groups that are working specifically on the culture workstream. And I think if I just perhaps, Julie, flag a few of what we do then one of the key ones that are very close to my heart is to improve access and the quality of training and education for our staff. We know that people have said that that is a concern for them.

We also know that people have raised issues with the large number of secondments that we have in the trust and that we want to try and reduce these. Now just on secondments – secondments is a good methodology to gain more and better experience, but it is important that we have substantive people in post to make sure that we can do what we are required to do.

Some of the other work streams is also to reduce payroll error, because that has caused frustration for staff,  ensuring that all our staff have a great experience at EEAST. And I think one of the biggest and most complex challenges is reducing and addressing handover delays for staff at the A&Es.

 

03.40 – 03.52
Julie Hollings
They all sound really positive and I think it will make a huge difference to people. So in terms of the changes people might see, what would you hope that they'll be seeing, feeling, hearing, that will be different?

 

03.53 – 04.25
Hein Scheffer
I think for our staff, we are very keen to ensure that we have a trust that offers clear and progressive career paths for all our staff, not just for clinical staff, but also for non-clinical staff.

We also want to support the principles of succession planning, which is to grow our own for a better and sustainable future. And this may require that we need to think outside the box and create new ways and different ways of working in time to come.

 

04.26 – 04.32
Julie Hollings
Thank you. Hein. I think staff will clearly begin to see some differences. And what about some of our stakeholders outside of EEAST?

 

04.33 – 05.14
Hein Scheffer
I think the way that we will demonstrate change for our stakeholders outside of EEAST is through an improve culture and engagement score through our pulse surveys, the National Staff Surveys, and any other initiatives that we may want to explore as an organization.

I think the vision for me for is that we become a destination employer because this is a great place to work and learn and I firmly believe that if we get this right for our staff, we will also get this right for our patients.

 

05.15 – 05.21
Julie Hollings
It sounds like a really interesting work stream or something that people want to get involved with. So how can our people get involved?

 

05.22 – 06.05
Hein Scheffer
Thank you, Julie. Absolutely right. It is a really interesting work stream and I'm pleased to say that each of our work streams within the oversight group have a lead that would value staff’s input and comments. So, if anybody are interested to give input and support the work that we do in the culture oversight group, then please drop me an email and I can put them into contact with the appropriate leads. It is much easier to change the culture of an organization in a collaborative approach, than what it is done by say just me or a small group of people. So please join us. Let's change the culture of EEAST and let's make this a great place to work and learn.

 

Published 16th June 2022