Creating Person-Centred Organisations – new book explores how personalised approaches can transform organisations top to toe

This July sees the publication of a new book, “Creating Person-Centred Organisations.” The book explores how person-centred approaches can be applied within an organisation, not only in the way it supports people but in the way it develops staff. Using practical examples drawn from best practice in the social care sector, with an emphasis on the story of United Response, it shows how personalised approaches can transform organisational design, culture and service delivery.

The book is co-authored by United Response’s HR director Stephen Stirk, who steered United Response through the adoption of person-centred practices into its HR policies, and Helen Sanderson, internationally renowned expert on personalisation. Helen and United Response have previously collaborated on the development of Good 2 Great within the organisation, a person-centred training and development programme which garnered a prestigious National Training Award.

Personalisation demands fundamental changes for organisations. Personalisation means people having better lives through more choice and control over the support they use. Services need to be designed and delivered according to what is important to the people who use them, and provided in ways that help people be active and contributing members of their communities.

For most organisations this will require changes to systems, processes, practices and cultures. This transformation is more likely when person-centred practices are embedded throughout an organisation, changing the ways that teams meet; that staff are supported; and that leaders lead. This book explains how this means becoming a person-centred organisation – and how to do it.

The book is centred around the story of United Response, together with examples from other health and social care organisations. It shows how, over the course of the last 40 years, a tiny charity operating out of one house in West Sussex grew to become one of the country’s largest social care providers – without losing its focus on people. It describes how United Response took that journey and shares the person-centred practices used along the way.

United Response is not ‘there’ yet, because being a person-centred organisation means on-going learning and change. However, in the book you will learn more of the practical solutions drawn from United Response’s experience in facing challenges and finding solutions, and also from other providers and organisations in health and social care.

As the authors write in the introduction, “We are confident that colleagues in the health and social care sector will find many useful ideas here to help improve the running of your organisation, and especially the lives of people you support. If you happen to be reading this book as a colleague in another type of sector or business, then we invite you also to read on, as we believe there is much that can be learned from these experiences for mainstream business practice.”

The book is available to buy here, and will feature in forthcoming blogs.

On Tuesday 9th October a one-day conference will explore how to create person-centred organisations and deliver individual service funds – go here for more information.

Jaime Gill, head of press and public affairs