Change and Development at Ainscough Associates
Like any organisation we have seen our fair share of change over the 11 years since we started the business. A lot of that has been extremely positive and we’ve developed a very successful case management business working pretty much exclusively with highly complex children and adult clients.
However, it’s not always been positive, and we have had some difficult lessons along the way. Perhaps one of the most difficult lessons has been about learning to fail well, in other words learning from our mistakes. We understand that if we don’t learn how to fail, then we will fail to learn!
When we started the business, top of our agenda was to make sure that we always provided the best possible quality of service. Whilst that is something that we have always strived to do we’ve realised at times how difficult it can be to live up to this. This led us to realise that the most important aspect of our business has been the focus on care, making sure all our clients and their families feel cared for, even when mistakes are made.
Reviewing our own performance individually, and as an organisation, being open to positive criticism, has made us more open and transparent, more resilient, with a stronger desire to continually learn and reflect so that we can provide the best service possible.
All this has led to some fantastic development work in the business, and our team has worked on projects which have ultimately enhanced and very much strengthened the way we approach our work.
For example, in the past we’ve sometimes provided too little information in an ad hoc way to clients, families, and solicitors. We have now developed very comprehensive information packages which we provide to clients and solicitors at different stages of their journey and involvement with Ainscough Associates.
Of course this reflection and development work needs to be ongoing, and like any organisation that thrives and succeeds we are continuing with this process of reflection and learning.