Application of PPM techniques to a consultation process at NCSL
- OverviewRead more
The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) is a Non Departmental Public Body charged with developing excellent school leadership. It was responsible for drafting and revising the National Standards for School Leadership in consultation with stakeholders across the education sector. Moorhouse applied Programme and Project Management (PPM) techniques to the consultation process, advising how to best manage risks and producing project documents and running workshops with key NCSL staff. Our application of PPM methods, most notably in stakeholder engagement, gave NCSL a tried and tested framework to keep track of the external consultation process with professional associations inclusive of teaching unions and other Government departments. This led to greater co-ordination between professional disciplines and a clear understanding of the scope, dependencies and plans for deriving standards.
- Our client's challengeRead more
NCSL is responsible for drafting the National Standards for School Leadership, developed through consultation with stakeholders representing a wide range of the education sector, including professional associations and DCSF.
Moorhouse applied PPM techniques, using the College's own PPM methodology and our wider experience of stakeholder management, to manage this high profile area of work.
- Our responseRead more
In providing project and stakeholder management expertise to produce the new National Standards for School Leadership, Moorhouse supported the process of consultation with external stakeholders to reach consensus on the content of the Standards. The role included:
- Advice and guidance to the NCSL subject matter experts on how best to manage the risks associated with the consultation, in particular addressing the fact that direct control of the consultation process did not rest with NCSL.
- Production of project documentation and plans.
- Application of the NCSL PPM process methodology and toolset to manage the programme.
- Running workshops with key NCSL and external staff to define further the specific requirements of the Standards.
- The value to our clientRead more
The application of PPM techniques provided a tried and tested framework within which the external consultation process could be kept on track. The discipline of documenting scope, timelines, resources and dependencies using classic PPM methods clarified a number of imperatives while lessening the impact of external events beyond the direct control of NCSL.
NCSL staff have confirmed the following benefits:
- Clear understanding of the scope, dependencies and plans for deriving the standards
- Greater co-ordination between professional disciplines within NCSL, ensuring coherence with standards in other subject areas such as Bursar and Teacher Standards
- A disciplined and rigorous approach to dependency management
- Separation of process management from subject matter expertise
- Clear communication through greater use of PPM techniques to report progress to corporate management
- Appropriate monitoring, reporting and management of impact of the work on NCSL's strategic objectives
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