Through our work with NHS organisations we’ve seen an unprecedented amount of change at national, local and team level, and my respect for all the people who keep the NHS working efficiently grows by the day. In the past 12 months we’ve seen a new government, we’ve already had major changes in healthcare policy and widely-anticipated further policy and structural changes in 2012, and of course significant cost pressures and all the requirements for efficient working and partnership, collaboration and streamlining that this brings.

At Think Associates we’ve also been through changes of our own, we’ve moved to being entirely independent advisors about workforce technology, and now focus on developing people and streamlining processes, as well as great technology solutions. During 2011, we’ve been working with hundreds of dedicated and expert workforce and learning professionals from NHS organisations across the UK, with the overall aim of helping organisations to find better ways to develop and manage staff.

If you’ve been one of the people who’ve helped us understand the needs of the NHS, co-develop solutions and implement new ways of working in your organisation, then thank you very much for your ideas, enthusiasm and engagement! When we’re successful, it’s as a result of working in partnership with you rather than imposing pre-defined solutions. And if you’ve worked with me, you’ll know I like nothing better than drawing pictures with you on a flip-chart! (Sometimes the low-tech solutions are the best ones. And I have asked Father Christmas for an Etch-a-Sketch!)

If you haven’t yet worked with us, then please do get in touch to talk about how we can work together. We always make time to discuss and learn, and all our conversations are informal and without obligation.

I want to make sure that you’ve not missed any of the articles that we’ve featured on our website, so below is a summary of some of the things that we’ve been writing about over the last couple of months, which I hope will be of interest to you. We will keep listening, creating, implementing and writing throughout 2012 and I plan to write occasional emails like this one to signpost new things on our website. If you like what you read here, please circulate to your colleagues and consider signing up for more regular updates via RSS or follow us on Twitter. If there’s anything specific you’d like us to write about, or if you have great work you’d like us to showcase for you, please let me know.

I’m excited about 2012, more about my New Year’s resolutions to follow in January!

Season’s Greetings, and Best Wishes.

Tim Newham
Managing Director

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Our team’s new Microsoft and BCS accreditations
We’re focused on continuing development of our team, so that we can offer you the best independent advice.

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Performance Management Thread

Breadth versus Depth
NHS KSF users – are you simplifying the wrong thing?

NHS appraisal system options – what we’re hearing
Common themes arising from our recent performance appraisal discussions with NHS clients.

The Minimalist Approach to Recording Performance Appraisal
We’re seeing a “minimalist” approach to recording performance appraisal and development review outcomes at the moment, with the pendulum swinging away from time-consuming, detailed recording of targets, competencies and achievements.

A Focus on ESR for Recording Performance Appraisal
Should ESR be the central system for recording performance appraisal or a core data repository which accepts data from bespoke localised solutions?

A Focus on the Totara Open Source Solution for Recording Performance Appraisal
A powerful and cost-effective enterprise wide performance management and learning solution for NHS organisations.

Using the Balanced Scorecard – practical advice for healthcare
The practical use of balanced scorecards in healthcare. A guest article by Lindsey Holman.

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Learning, e-learning and Talent threads

How to buy a learning platform
A nice post from eLearning24/7, with some additional thoughts from us.

My reflections on the European Totara conference
The Open Source mission: “To fundamentally change the marketplace for learning management systems”.

Creating, corralling or connecting?
Is it possible to create a culture where we trust learners to find their own learning?

Department of Health Framework for Technology Enhanced Learning
The Department of Health published a new framework in November. Here’s what we think.

UK government toolkit encourages use of open source systems
Did you realise that the UK government strongly encourages the procurement of open source systems?

Collaboration using e-Learning Technology
Navigating through the technological options raised by the Framework for Technology Enhanced Learning.

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To be sure not to miss out on what we are saying in the future why not sign up for our RSS feed  by adding http://www.think-associates.co.uk/feed/ to Outlook or alternatively follow us on Twitter.

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A quick reminder of our Regional Account Management team:

We specialise in implementing e-enabled systems which help organisations improve the way they manage their staff. Specifically, we focus on talent management processes including performance management, learning management and e-learning. If you’d like to hear more about how we can help you then please contact your Regional Account Manager, their details are listed below or you can contact info@think-associates.co.uk.

East Midlands, East of England & Northern Ireland
Mark Parry
mark@think-associates.co.uk
+44 (0)7779 086 473

London & Scotland
Shaun Wilde
shaun@think-associates.co.uk
+44 (0)7966 164 558

North East, North West, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber & Wales
Richard Bradbury
richard@think-associates.co.uk
+44 (0)7803 125 075

South East Coast, South Central, South West
Matt Mundey
matt@think-associates.co.uk
+44 (0)7717 445 129

Rob Winson
rob@think-associates.co.uk
+44 (0)7766 415 533

All Other Enquiries 
info@think-associates.co.uk
+44 (0)117 644 5007

All of our team can be found on Linked in so why not become part of their professional network!