Answers to some of the common questions
We’ve put together the most Frequently Asked Questions so if you’re having any issues it may be answered here. If not please get in touch and we’d be happy to help or visit our resources page for further reading.
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You can access and complete the SAQ through the Project Lift website. Click on ‘Get Started’ and you will be asked to log in. Using your TURAS login and password, you will then be asked to complete a personal profile before being directed the SAQ. If you don’t have a TURAS login you can follow the instructions to set one up. Once completed you will receive a tailored feedback report, to help you consider your next steps in your development journey.
Yes. Your information is saved on the app as soon as you input it, so you won’t lose anything if you log out and return to the app later. Please note there is no “Exit” button but your data is saved up to the point you exit the app.
Each element of Project Lift (Values Based Recruitment, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Performance Appraisal) will be evaluated during the course of the next eighteen months, at an appropriate time in each workstreams’ implementation. An impact plan is currently being developed. There are plans to conduct an external evaluation as the project matures.
Project Lift is not an acronym. It is the overarching name that has been given to our fresh approach to identifying, supporting, enhancing and growing leadership talent at all levels in NHS Scotland. It is an integrated, system wide approach to talent management, leadership development, appraisal and recruitment aimed at transforming NHS Scotland services and improving the experience of patients, service users and employees. Read more here.
Leadership happens at all levels in an organisation. Project Lift wants to identify and grow the leadership talent we need to transform Health and Care in Scotland. We want to hear from all staff with an interest in developing their leadership capability and they can access the Talent Management App, complete the SAQ and receive their own feedback report. They will also be signposted to existing leadership development networks and resources across our system and invited / encouraged to be part of Project Lift Communities.
There are many excellent leadership development offerings already in existence across our system. Project Lift will work alongside and complement these offerings and we are working with Boards to make these connections.
Keep checking out the website, where all our latest news will be posted. Follow us on Twitter @ProjectLiftScot or contact us via the Project Lift mailbox if you have a specific question please get in touch.
Regardless of your role and where you are in the Health and Care system, through tailored feedback in your SAQ report, signposting to national and local development resources and connecting you to a ‘community’ of leaders across Health and Care, Project Lift will help you make the most of where you are now in your leadership development journey and career and plan what you might do next.
The Project Lift Leadership Communities will provide invaluable peer networking spaces where learning, ideas and feelings about leadership challenges and vulnerabilities can be safely shared and explored.
Values Based Recruitment enables NHS Scotland to reinforce its organisational values and culture with new appointees, embeds the principle of NHS Scotland as a values based employer and allows us to recruit the best and most able leaders to NHS Scotland boardrooms. In addition to professional, technical, leadership and management skills, our new executives will be best placed to fulfil their responsibilities as members of boards of governance, making the fullest possible commitment to people across the Health and Care system to share leadership experiences, ideas, difficulties, support and opportunities.
Directors Letter and VBR guidance have now been issued to Boards. This can also be found on the SHOW website. From 1st June 2018 Boards must use the approach outlined in this Directors Letter for all executive team posts including Chief Executive, Executive Director, Director or other next level immediate direct line reports to the Chief Executive. Any additional queries should be directed to Gwen Nicholson directly Gwen.Nicholson@gov.scot
SAQ is our Self Assessment Questionnaire and it’s the first step in the Talent Management Process. Designed to help you identify and explore your leadership potential, it highlights strengths and areas for development against the Leadership Profile. It takes about 30 minutes to complete. Once completed you can download a personal feedback report which invites you to reflect on your strengths and areas for development for each of the 8 areas on the leadership profile.
No. The SAQ has been specifically designed to explore generic leadership capabilities and potential, regardless of professional background or grade.
No. The aim of the talent management process is to support you to continually develop your knowledge, skills, values and insights as a leader. Continually investing in your leadership learning will aid your growth and development, enable you to give of your best in your leadership role and help you maximise your potential. This may inform the career choices and opportunities you decide to take, but selection processes remain separate.
Details of this can be found in our Privacy statement which you are asked to review before you input any of your data after you have logged in. For Project Lift this will include: Employee data, contact details, career history and career aspirations data, Equality and Diversity Data and Self Assessment Questionnaire results. Please review Privacy statement for full details.
To give you the opportunity to work on identified areas for development and further enhance and hone areas of strength, it’s recommended that in most circumstances, you leave a gap of around 12 months before completing the SAQ again.
Developing leaders capable of enabling transformational system change throughout our Health and Care System is a core aim of Project Lift. The Project Lift leadership development approach focuses on developing a fresh ethos, focused on collaboration, compassion, humility, curiosity and public service. Finding the most appropriate development opportunities for the individual is key. This is informed by the talent management process and the completion of the Self Assessment Questionnaire with identification of areas of strength and areas for development. Where appropriate to the individuals’ needs, we are offering places on development programmes to participants from the system, based on need, rather than offering a fixed ‘quota’ of places to Boards. The establishment of Project Lift Leadership communities will also serve as a new approach to connect people across the Health and Care system to share leadership experiences, ideas, difficulties, support and opportunities.
Project Lift is open to employees across our Health and Care system. If you have TURAS ID and password you can access the SAQ, which is the route in to accessing the development offerings. Every individual completing an SAQ will receive insights on their personal leadership development profile from the SAQ , as well as access to a range of valuable online leadership development resources and connection to existing networks and resources across the Health and Care system. They will also become part of Project Lift Leadership Communities, where our ambition is that people are connected across the Health and Care system to share leadership experiences, ideas difficulties, support and opportunities.
Finding the most appropriate development opportunities for the individual, wherever they are based, is key. This is informed by the talent management process and the completion of the Self Assessment Questionnaire with identification of areas of strength and areas for development. Where appropriate to the individual’s needs, we are offering places on development programmes to participants based on need, rather than offering a fixed ‘quota’ of places to Boards. Project Lift Leadership Communities will also serve as a new approach to connect people across the Health and Care system to share leadership experiences, ideas, difficulties, support and opportunities..
The capacity to continually learn is a vital characteristic of our future leaders and we recognise that most real learning is done ‘on the job’. The potential contribution of a Project Lift Community or Communities as safe spaces to share learning, as well as for leaders to seek and receive support is significant. It will welcome leaders of all backgrounds and levels across our Health and Care system. To be successful and meaningful for members, we are taking a co-production approach to development, providing members the opportunity to model real collaborative learning in action. All those individuals accessing the talent management process are being invited to be part of establishing and developing this with a series of Project Lift Winter Gatherings in December 2018.
Directors Letter and refreshed good practice guide for exec / senior management appraisal will be issued in the Autumn. There will also be a number of events for local Remuneration Committees in coming months to help them to follow this process and ensure it is fair, robust and consistent.
Project Lift links together the key workstreams of values based recruitment, executive performance appraisal, talent management and leadership development. The SAQ is available to staff of any level and by completing it, participants will have a picture of their strengths and development areas in relation to the leadership profile. They can use this to inform e.g. their annual performance objectives and development activities, pdp and broader career development conversations. The aspiration is that in the future, the two processes of Performance Appraisal and Talent Management will reinforce and enhance one another.
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