Excellence for All Programme
Before reading any further, please ‘favourite’ or ‘bookmark’ this link to your browser.
On this link you can find out:
- How it all started
- Frequently asked questions, answered
- Who is responsible for the EfA Programme
- The seven key aspirations and the projects within them.
For project specific enquiries please contact the Project Manager.
For enquiries about the Excellence for All Programme more generally, please contact Laura Barnard.
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It all started with you!
At our last staff conference we focused on us – what we needed to feel supported and to do our best work.
We discussed what we wanted put in place to help us to achieve our vision of a society with no street homelessness and where everyone has a place to call home.
Everyone was generous with their ideas on the practical things that The Passage can do to support us in our roles, help us to develop our careers and most importantly deliver amazing services to the people who come through our doors.
The Excellence for All Programme has developed everyone’s input into a set of projects. The aim of these projects is to significantly improve our working practices so that we build a culture that is supportive, challenging and resilient.
Your questions, answered.
Click the links below to hear from Mick, Chief Executive:
What is the Excellence for All Programme, and where did the idea come from?
What changes do we hope to see, and how will we know we are achieving them?
How does the Excellence for All Programme support our vision and values?
How will we, The Passage staff, know what is happening and how to get involved?
Who is responsible for the Excellence for All Programme?
The Excellence for All Programme is sponsored by Mick. He chairs the Programme Board and he has the ultimate responsibility of making sure that the Excellence for All programme is a success.
Laura (Barnard) is the overall manager of the programme and her key role is to make sure that people get the support that they need to deliver their projects and that the Programme Board have the information that they need to be confident that the Excellence for All Programme is on track and delivering the improvements that we want.
Every project that forms part of the programme is led and “owned” by one person who is committed to ensuring that their project achieves its goals. Each project also has a project manager who has responsibility for the practical tasks of delivering the project.
These project owners and project managers will be talking to and working with all of us to achieve the Excellence for All programme.
The programme does represent a significant commitment of resources and to achieve the improvements we want it is crucial that we all support the staff tasked with taking forward the projects – we get the best results when everyone is involved, sharing their ideas and helping to get changes implemented.
Based off your feedback at the staff conference...
The Passage Senior Management (SMG) Team has devised 7 key areas where we want to excel, as shown below,
To ensure we set realistic and achievable aspirations, SMG has established a series of projects for each, that form the EfA Programme.
Click on the boxes below to see the projects we have launched, to help us to achieve each aspiration.
Excellent internal communications that we can easily access that provides the information we need to do our jobs, develop our careers and participate in The Passage’s development and growth.
Project | Developing an Intranet platform | Developing and maintaining relevant content for our Intranet |
Project Owner | Jane Sandeman | Emma Noble |
Project Manager | Attilio Morosini | Emily Richmond |
Find out more | ||
Want to get involved? |
Excellent internal communications that we can easily access that provides the information we need to do our jobs, develop our careers and participate in The Passage’s development and growth.
Developing an Intranet platform
Objective
To deliver a best fit technical solution for a Passage intranet. We want it to be cost effective, accessible to all staff and future proofed.
Project Owner
Jane Sandeman
Project Manager
Attilio Morosini
Latest update
We have devised a quick survey to get your views on what would make the intranet work for you. It will be coming into your inbox soon. Please take 10 minutes to fill it in.
At our last Staff Conference lots of people identified that an Intranet could really help to support us feel part of a single team be better informed about our work and aspirations. This is your chance to let us know your views.
Excellent internal communications that we can easily access that provides the information we need to do our jobs, develop our careers and participate in The Passage’s development and growth.
Developing and maintaining relevant content for our Intranet
Objective
To make sure that our intranet becomes the place of choice for staff to publicize and seek information. We want everyone to be confident that our intranet contains the right information, that is up-to-date and helps us all feel that we are part of the same organization working towards shared goals.
Project Owner
Emma Noble
Project Manager
Emily Richmond
Updates coming soon
All of us feeling valued and have the opportunity to share our successes, feel that we belong to one organization and have the chance to learn from each other.
Project | Developing networking events | Celebrating success | Sharing knowledge | Making the most of annual away days | Work shadowing | Hosting a training event to support managers |
Project Owner | Emma Noble | Emma Noble | Midori Hol | Maria Silva | Midori Hol | Jenny Travassos |
Project Manager | Emily Richmond | Emily Richmond | Maria Silva | Alfonso Moreno | Emily Rycroft-Huddart | Claire Matthews |
Find out more | ||||||
Want to get involved? |
All of us feeling valued and have the opportunity to share our successes, feel that we belong to one organization and have the chance to learn from each other.
Developing networking events
Objective
To organize events that are accessible and give us all an opportunity to exchange ideas, experiences and to socialise.
Project Owner
Emma Noble
Project Manager
Emily Richmond
Updates coming soon
All of us feeling valued and have the opportunity to share our successes, feel that we belong to one organization and have the chance to learn from each other.
Celebrating success
Objective
To refresh and expand opportunities for all of us to celebrate success and recognise hard work.
Project Owner
Emma Noble
Project Manager
Emily Richmond
Updates coming soon
All of us feeling valued and have the opportunity to share our successes, feel that we belong to one organization and have the chance to learn from each other.
Sharing knowledge
Objective
To roll out staff led training sessions that showcase good practice and support frontline staff to share their expertise and knowledge with colleagues.
Project Owner
Midori Hol
Project Manager
Maria Silva
Latest update
We have now delivered all the training sessions associated with this project. Thank you to everyone who presented a session and to staff who attended and participated. The feedback that we received was positive – including that our presenters had loads of expertise and put lots of effort into presenting their training in an engaging manner. Looking ahead to our 2024-2025 Training Programme we are continuing with our Knowledge Sharing Project. We have extended invitations to staff members with diverse expertise to facilitate training sessions and we are pleased to report that these invitations have been accepted. Representatives from our Private Rented and Finance Teams are among those who are set to contribute.
All of us feeling valued and have the opportunity to share our successes, feel that we belong to one organization and have the chance to learn from each other.
Making the most of annual away days
Objective
To ensure that we all have access to annual away days and that managers have the skills and tools to make the most out of this opportunity.
Project Owner
Maria Silva
Project Manager
Alfonso Moreno
Latest update
Maria and Alphonso have been talking to managers about their experience of organising their Away Days.
Informed by these discussions, they have developed an Away Day guidance note that provides some tips and guidance on how to make sure that Away Days are well structured, have clear objectives, but are also fun and creative. Over the next few weeks, they will be promoting the guidance note with managers across the organisation.
All of us feeling valued and have the opportunity to share our successes, feel that we belong to one organization and have the chance to learn from each other.
Work shadowing
Objective
To pilot a shadowing programme to find out what works best and how we might roll a programme out across the organisation.
Project Owner
Midori Hol
Project Manager
Emily Rycroft-Huddart
Latest update
In our last update, we reported that Maria, Emily Rycroft Huddart and the Tracks team had been running a Work Shadowing Pilot. Those shadowing placements have now been completed and Emily and our People Services Team are gathering feedback on what we learnt. The next step is to write up a review of the pilot so we can decide whether we should establish a Shadowing Programme at The Passage and what steps would be needed to ensure its success.
All of us feeling valued and have the opportunity to share our successes, feel that we belong to one organization and have the chance to learn from each other.
Hosting a training event to support managers
Objective
To deliver a training event for managers that is really focused on the skills, knowledge and values needed to support and develop staff in the unique Passage environment and culture.
Project Owner
Jenny Travassos
Project Manager
Claire Matthews
Latest update
Claire has now drawn together a programme for our “Managers Bootcamp.” The training will be delivered over 2 days, with the first day scheduled for 14th June 2024. Everyone with line management responsibility will be attending with modules being delivered by SMG members. Further details about the content of the day will be shared shortly.
The Passage’s organisational objectives and values are understood by all of us and they drive our development and performance. All of us to have the information and tools we need to maintain or improve performance and develop our careers.
Project | Collating a competency framework | Devising an appraisal system | Designing personal development plans | Developing an induction process | Revising our probation | Refreshing our supervision documents | Encouraging reflective practice |
Project Owner | Jenny Travassos | Jane Sandeman | Jane Sandeman | Jane Sandeman | Jane Sandeman | Natalia Villazan | Midori Hol |
Project Manager | Natalia Villazan | Natalia Villazan | Maria Silva | David O’Sullivan | David O’Sullivan | David O’Sullivan | David O’Sullivan |
Find out more | |||||||
Want to get involved? |
The Passage’s organisational objectives and values are understood by all of us and they drive our development and performance. All of us to have the information and tools we need to maintain or improve performance and develop our careers.
Collating a competency framework
Objective
To encourage us to continually learn and develop our skills and provide a framework to help us achieve our personal goals.
Project Owner
Jenny Travassos
Project Manager
Natalia Villazan
Latest update
Fantastic progress has been made to complete a draft of our new Competency Framework. Natalia is delivering introductory workshops to managers across the organisation.
Natalia, Jim, and Jenny held a great session with our Experts by Experience group who provided, their ideas on what they expect from us when we are supporting our service users. This is an important project, and we will be talking more with Heads of Service and staff to make sure that we deliver a fantastic product.
The Passage’s organisational objectives and values are understood by all of us and they drive our development and performance. All of us to have the information and tools we need to maintain or improve performance and develop our careers.
Devising an appraisal system
Objective
To reflect our values and provides clear definitions of the behaviours that we all need to have or learn to be effective in our jobs.
Project Owner
Project Manager
Jane Sandeman
Natalia Villazan
Latest update
The Competency Framework is an essential first step to building a new Appraisal System. Jane and Natalia have already started to think about a vision for our new system which focuses on a holistic and person-centred approach that will help us all to better understand the results that we need to achieve, how we should be going about delivering our work and the skills we need to do our jobs and develop our careers. Once the Competency Framework is in place, Natalia will focus on fully developing our appraisal system, talking to staff along the way. We are aiming to launch the new Appraisal System in the early summer.
The Passage’s organisational objectives and values are understood by all of us and they drive our development and performance. All of us to have the information and tools we need to maintain or improve performance and develop our careers.
Designing personal development plans
Objective
To encourage us to continually learn and develop our skills and provide a framework to help us achieve our personal goals.
Project Owner
Jane Sandeman
Project Manager
Maria Silva
Updates coming soon
The Passage’s organisational objectives and values are understood by all of us and they drive our development and performance. All of us to have the information and tools we need to maintain or improve performance and develop our careers.
Developing an induction process
Objective
To ensure that new staff feel welcomed and valued. To help staff quickly understand The Passage’s expectations and values so they are clear how they contribute to achieving our mission.
Project Owner
Jane Sandeman
Project Manager
David O’Sullivan
Updates coming soon
The Passage’s organisational objectives and values are understood by all of us and they drive our development and performance. All of us to have the information and tools we need to maintain or improve performance and develop our careers.
Revising our probation
Objective
To help new staff to understand what is expected of them, identifies achievements and any issues or concerns that need to be resolved. The probation framework will reflect our new competency framework and provide a clear route for development and progression.
Project Owner
Jane Sandeman
Project Manager
David O’Sullivan
Updates coming soon
The Passage’s organisational objectives and values are understood by all of us and they drive our development and performance. All of us to have the information and tools we need to maintain or improve performance and develop our careers.
Refreshing our supervision documents
Objective
To ensure they support open and honest dialogue between staff and their managers.
Project Owner
Natalia Villazan
Project Manager
David O’Sullivan
Latest update
Our Project Manager, David O’Sullivan has been reviewing and revising the existing supervision template. He has been talking to managers to find out what works with the current approach and what might need changing. Thank you to everyone who inputted. Incorporating your feedback, David has produced drafts of new documentation and initial feedback is positive. Once the new approach has been endorsed by the Programme Board, we will let everyone know how it will be rolled out.
The Passage’s organisational objectives and values are understood by all of us and they drive our development and performance. All of us to have the information and tools we need to maintain or improve performance and develop our careers.
Encouraging reflective practice
Objective
To ensure our offer is useful and that all of us who could benefit from it are encouraged and supported to participate.
Project Owner
Midori Hol
Project Manager
David O’Sullivan
Updates coming soon
The people who deliver services for The Passage and those who use our services are respected and discriminatory behaviour is challenged.
Project | Improving our Equalities Data | Establishing and delivering an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan | Arranging disability access in the Resource Centre |
Project Owner | Jane Sandeman | Jenny Travassos | Kishan Vekaria |
Project Manager | Natalia Villazan | Claire Matthews | Nick Bowler |
Find out more | |||
Want to get involved? |
The people who deliver services for The Passage and those who use our services are respected and discriminatory behaviour is challenged.
Improving our equalities data
Objective
To ensure that we have the data we need to identify where we need to take action to address inequality, unfair treatment or different experiences.
Project Owner
Natalia Villazan
Project Manager
David O’Sullivan
Updates coming soon
The people who deliver services for The Passage and those who use our services are respected and discriminatory behaviour is challenged.
Establishing and delivering an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan
Objective
To identify and put in place actions that will support the development of an organisation where every individual who works, volunteers or uses Passage services feels safe, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to achieve their full potential.
Project Owner
Jenny Travassos
Project Manager
Claire Matthews
Latest update
In our last update we let you know that we had put in a strong bid to Pimco for some consultancy support to develop the EDI Action Plan. Unfortunately, we weren’t successful, but that isn’t stopping us developing our plan.
We had a fantastic response to the first part of our EDI survey – thank you to everyone who responded. We have analysed the findings and are ready to launch phase 2 of the survey. Findings from both surveys are central to the development of our organisational EDI Action Plan, so please complete it! Currently, we are drawing up Terms of Reference for a refreshed EDI working group that will steer the plan’s development. We will share them once they are finalised.
The people who deliver services for The Passage and those who use our services are respected and discriminatory behaviour is challenged.
Arranging disability access in the Resource Centre
Latest update
We are pleased to report that we have now installed the stair lift between the Dining Room and the Winter Garden. This will enable our service users with mobility issues to access the quiet space that we have created and any of our classes or events that we hold there.
Next on the list, Kishan and Nick will be improving our signage at street level so that visitors to our services with mobility issues can easier locate our main entrance, where access is step free.
The Passage is a learning organisation that consistently evaluates and improves the services that it provides to the people who access us, our staff, volunteers, and the people that we partner with.
Project | Establishing an up-to-date set of Passage policies | Improving how we use evidence and data to understand and improve performance | Using training to improve our use of IT |
Project Owner | Jenny Travassos | Jenny Travassos | Attilio Morosini |
Project Manager | Laura Barnard | Laura Barnard | Laura Barnard |
Find out more | |||
Want to get involved? |
The Passage is a learning organisation that consistently evaluates and improves the services that it provides to the people who access us, our staff, volunteers, and the people that we partner with.
Establishing an up-to-date set of Passage policies
Objective
To complete the redrafting and roll out of our policies and ensure that the are kept up-to-date and relevant.
Project Owner
Jenny Travassos
Project Manager
Laura Barnard
Latest update
Since our last update we have amended our Data Protection Policy to provide staff with guidance on our use of CCTV. We have also issued our new Whistleblowing Policy and consulted widely on our new draft policy on service user safety plans.
The Passage is a learning organisation that consistently evaluates and improves the services that it provides to the people who access us, our staff, volunteers, and the people that we partner with.
Improving how we use evidence and data to understand and improve performance
Objective
To provide managers with the information and structures that they need to fairly and consistently audit and improve their team’s performance.
Project Owner
Jenny Travassos
Project Manager
Laura Barnard
Updates coming soon
The Passage is a learning organisation that consistently evaluates and improves the services that it provides to the people who access us, our staff, volunteers, and the people that we partner with.
Using training to improve our use of IT
Objective
To provide training resources to help everyone get the best from our ICT, including how we use Inform.
Project Owner
Attilio Morosini
Project Manager
Laura Barnard
Updates coming soon
Volunteers add value to Passage services
and act as positive ambassadors for our work.
Project | Developing an action plan based on the NCVO report on volunteering at The Passage |
Project Owner | Jane Sandeman |
Project Manager | Natalia Villazan |
Find out more | |
Want to get involved? |
Volunteers add value to Passage services
and act as positive ambassadors for our work.
Developing an action plan based on the NCVO report on volunteering at The Passage
Objective
To demonstrate how much we value our volunteers and supports the achievement of our Investors in Volunteers Quality Mark.
Project Owner
Jane Sandeman
Project Manager
Natalia Villazan
Latest update
The NCVO reviewed our volunteer service and the report highlighted that The Passage values its volunteers and provides a really good offer to them. We are committed to implementing the Action Plan to achieve our Investors in Volunteers Quality Mark. Jane and Natalia held a really useful consultation event with staff to discuss our vision for volunteering and to inform our next steps.
The Passage benefits from listening to the voices of people with lived experience of homelessness.
Project | Involving people with lived experience in our governance structures |
Project Owner | Jane Sandeman |
Project Manager | Jim Thomson |
Find out more | |
Want to get involved? |
The Passage benefits from listening to the voices of people with lived experience of homelessness.
Involving people with lived experience in our governance structures
Objective
To establish a lived experience advisory panel that influences and participates in strategic decision making at SMG and Board level.
Project Owner
Jane Sandeman
Project Manager
Jim Thomson
Latest update
Since our last report Jim has devised a recruitment strategy for our Lived Experience Advisory Group that is inclusive and seeks to get the best out of any potential candidates. An advert for the role will be going out early May and we are aiming to have all our Advisory Group positions filled by early June.