CI Connect Process Detail

Measure Deliver training to front end staff Feedback Training Embed new learning via the 4 week Training Plan & ac Endorsement

Success & Maintenance Ongoing

Measure Targeted Cl performance Feedback Cl RECOMMENDATIONS results Mechanisms

pm&Q Audit Program Deep Dive Consumable Creation of

- de L i Findings Data Sources ye rad tonics

delivered via reporting

Backlog Categorisation and Prioritisation

Quarter 4 working schedule

April May June yen Re N Update State- USTITICATIONS Severity based topic

Solutions-focused . decision making | nd icator*

¢ Recording evidence

¢ Variance from TSP *Piloted in February and evaluated in March

Questions

CI Connect Op Rhythm Talking Points

The Continuous Improvement (CI) Connect program will launch nationally in April 2021. It is designed to address continuous improvement focus areas where teams have the opportunity to learn together and from each other. Through the CI Connect program of shared learning and coaching, teams will build capability and lift organisational performance.

CI Connect collects data from across the Agency and analyses it to identify opportunities for continuous improvement. Topics will be selected and scheduled by PED Leadership, and nationally deployed materials will be reviewed by the National Quality and Consistency Network and Service Practice and Guidance.
Each quarter PED Leadership will elect two national topics. In addition, States will choose one topic which suits their local operations.
Teams have regular opportunities to share knowledge, have situational coaching conversations, and shadow their peers where they can identify opportunities to streamline and improve applied working processes.
Each CI Connect topic will be discussed in teams over a 4 week period, with each week having one activity. Team leaders may continue discussions with individual staff as needed:
- Week 1 - team facilitated discussion
- Week 2 - coaching
- Week 3 - peer-to-peer shadowing
- Week 4 - State-based Community of Practice (for leaders to discuss coaching)
CI Connect leverages team discussions and situational coaching to continuously improve performance in teams. Team leaders can choose how to facilitate their team discussion and follow up with individual team members.
CI Connect will provide support and upskill team leaders to develop a coaching culture in their team.
For national topics, teams will be provided with reading materials and information about each CI Connect topic. Team leaders will facilitate team discussions about the topic using materials provided in the ‘Team Leader Pack’ available as a LEAP module. Team members will have their own ‘Team Member Pack’ which is also available through LEAP. This aspect of CI Connect ensures the Agency complies with the Australian National Audit Office obligations to track and record learning.
A pilot was successfully completed in NSW, which was received well by leaders and planners.
CI Connect will be rolled out to Partners in the near future.
The first CI Connect topic in April will be Writing R&N Justifications. The topic for May is Updating Severity Indicators.

CI Connect Champions

CI Connect Champions represent the most important and valuable link in the CI Connect program.

CI Connect Champions will:

Be part of a national network of CI Connect Champions
Be the first point of contact for all state or territory questions about CI Connect
Coordinate, facilitate, and take minutes for monthly community of practice meeting
Attend a national forum once every three months with other CI Connect Champions
Support teams in their state or territory get started with CI Connect program
Support teams to access the correct LEAP modules
Find resources to support CI Connect activities
Provide a conduit between the PM&Q branch and their State or Territory
Update state and territory leadership about CI Connect

In the initial stages of CI Connect, some teams may have lots of questions and require high levels of support. Some of this support will come from line managers, Assistant Directors and Directors, however questions about the CI Connect program and structure may be directed to CI Connect Champions. This initial demand will quickly reduce as teams embed the CI Connect program into a regular coaching culture.

CI Champions will have:

An understanding of the principles and best practice approach to coaching
Strong coaching skills
Good time management skills
Good stakeholder engagement skills or interest
Availability to answer questions about CI Connect within their state
Confidence to facilitate state-based community of practice meetings

CI Champions will coordinate, attend and facilitate state-based community of practice meetings where leaders from around their state or territory will come together to discuss coaching, learning from each other and celebrating successes. The community of practice sessions will happen in the fourth week of each CI

An important note about CI Connect and CI Champions:

CI Champions are not technical experts on planning. To maintain a nationally consistent approach, the Practice Guides and SOPs must remain the single source of truth for all processes relating to planning.

CI Champions will refer any technical questions, including requests for clarification regarding processes for completing planning, to the appropriate team (Technical Advisory team for policy or to the Service Guidance and Practice team) who will provide answers and update the required Practice Guides and/or SOPs, as per existing protocols to ensure a nationally consistent approach to planning.

The CI Connect program will cover a number of topics relating to planning, and materials to support in-team learning will be developed by the Performance, Learning, and Change team in conjunction with Subject Matter Experts.

CI Champions will support teams by answering questions about the CI Connect program and promoting continuous improvement through team-led learning and good coaching practices.

DOCUMENT 12

Peer to Peer Shadowing

Peer-to-peer shadowing is all about learning from each other. The expert knowledge of how we complete our work is not held by an instructor, leader, or other authority.

Frontline staff share similar experiences, and that common experience has significant benefits. You understand the issues your colleagues and peers face on a day-to-day basis better than any trainer could.

Peer-to-peer shadowing is an opportunity to see how others do the same work; to perhaps learn about different ways of working and still reach the same great results for participants.

Peer-to-peer shadowing is informal. It provides opportunities for you to reflect on how you do your work, and you can choose to follow up with your team leader, set new goals, and practice new ideas.

Peer-to-peer shadowing does not need to be limited to particular topics. The greatest aspect of shadowing is that you never know if an event or ‘obstacle’ might occur. If one occurs – that’s great! It means you will get to share or see how others respond and overcome the unexpected.

Getting Started

Schedule time to watch your peer-to-peer shadowing buddy do their work. Where possible, try to set it up at a time where you can learn more about a topic.
Decide between the two of you who will observe and who will demonstrate. Switch it up each month to make sure you both take a turn!
Set some boundaries and clarify your expectations from the session. Will you ask questions? Will you just observe? What’s your plan if you disagree about how to complete the work?
Set yourself an objective for the session. What do you want to learn or share with another? Where possible, try to complete an activity related to a topic you have recently discussed in your team, but you can use this time to learn or share about any aspect of planning.
After the session, reflect on what you saw. Speak with your team leader. Decide if you are going to change your work practice and set a goal to achieve success!
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DOCUMENT 13

From: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material Sent: Tuesday, 5 April 2022 10:58 AM To: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material Subject: FW: Update on today’s PITC Continuous Improvement meeting [SEC=OFFICIAL]

Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged

From: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material Sent: Monday, 29 March 2021 4:05 PM To: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material > Subject: Update on today’s PITC Continuous Improvement meeting [SEC=OFFICIAL]

Hi s22(1)(a)(ii)!

Apologies for the wall of text – happy if you want to skip reading all this and we can talk about it tomorrow! 

Today’s meeting went well and by the end of the discussion the PITC seemed happy with CI Connect. There are however a few questions they raised which we may need develop process for (similar to having a process for the review work to be done by the Quality and Sustainability Network). I have tried to capture the main points below but suspect more will come up as we work through the process. I have a meeting with s22(1)(a)(ii) this week so I will work through these with him initially, and then link with s22(1)(a)( i) - irr or the Partner Performance representative to go through the process and make sure it will work (and that ownership is established!).

Questions:

How will Partners join into the training package for state-based topics?
- What happens if the quality issues for Partners are different in each state/from the state quality issues?
- What happens if different partner organisations want to address different topics?
How will Partners be enrolled (will this need to be identified and nominated by different organisations? (I suspect s22(1)(a)(ii) will have options for this)

After I had explained CI Connect is an approach which will help support change by providing structure to continuous improvement, there was still some concern from the group. In particular, Jan asked a few times about the additional impact of CI on the Forward View of Change for Partners, especially at the end of the year and everyone is learning about the Independent Assessment process. I kept laying out that CI Connect provides a structure to support CI which can be used to embed learning, and that this is a tool to lift performance rather than additional learning.

The question came up again, and then I said Continuous Improvement needs to be understood as a separate entity to training, which has time off tools specifically allocated to it. This provided a level of clarity which is missing from previous messaging, and s22(1)(a) said I should lead with that. But after the meeting when I thought back I felt a bit uncomfortable (especially as from our discussions I think there is a chance the ELT may want to incorporate training into CI Connect).

I think of training as a place and time where staff will learn something new or about a change in their ways of working, whereas CI was more likely to revisit and highlight areas where training had already been provided. With your approval I would like to put together a very direct statement along these lines to clarify the difference between training and CI, and perhaps we can have it endorsed by s22(1)(a) to go to the PED ELT for further approval. We can then add this to the documents and intranet page.

As always, happy to chat further! 

Page 64 of 190

Kind Regards,

s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material Assistant Director – Performance, Learning and Change Performance, Management and Quality Branch Participant Experience Delivery (PED) Group National Disability Insurance Agency s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material

The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present and emerging.

                               Page 65 of 190

DOCUMENT 14

From: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material Sent: Tuesday, 5 April 2022 10:59 AM To: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material Subject: FW: CI Connect cascade briefing [SEC=OFFICIAL] Attachments: CI Connect - Cascade Overview_ March 2021.pptx; CI Connect Information Sheet.docx

Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged

From: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material Sent: Tuesday, 30 March 2021 11:06 AM To: s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material Subject: CI Connect cascade briefing [SEC=OFFICIAL]

Hi s22(1)(a)(ii) !

Please see the updated message below.

Dear ND Managers,

Thank you all for your interest so far in the new Continuous Improvement Connect (CI Connect) program.

In recent months we have been speaking with you about the CI Connect program, its structure, and the anticipated learning topics identified using Assurance and Quality reports.

Please find attached a Cascade Briefing and CI Connect Information Sheet. Please discuss CI Connect and cascade this information to your teams by Tuesday 6th April, which is the date for the first CI Connect topic to go live. State Managers can cascade this to leadership, and team leaders should cascade this to their teams).

With the current focus on the Scheme Reform Program as well as reasonable and necessary decision making, the PED ELT have changed the expected topics for Quarter 4 of 2020-2021.

All three topics for the final quarter of 2020-2021 will now be nationally determined topics to align with outcomes identified by the Sustainability Action Taskforce and the Scheme Reform Program.

April: Writing R&N Justifications May: Sustainability Action Taskforce (SAT) Reasonable and Necessary outcomes June: Sustainability Action Taskforce (SAT) Reasonable and Necessary outcomes

Our expectation going forward is that each quarter will include two national topics and one state-based topic.

Please feel free to reach out if you would like further detail.

Kind Regards,

s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material Assistant Director – Performance, Learning and Change Performance, Management and Quality Branch Participant Experience Delivery (PED) Group

                               Page 66 of 190

National Disability Insurance Agency

s22(1)(a)(ii) - irrelevant material

                               Page 67 of 190

DOCUMENT 14.1

Cl Connect

Data and Action, Together March 2021

CI Connect Approach

Continuous improvement mindsets welcome feedback and growth

CI Connect:

Combines a coaching culture with priority training topics
Provides independence for leaders to facilitate team uplift
Embeds ongoing coaching routines to grow success
Tracks learning completion for ANAO requirements
Builds coaching and team leader skills for leaders and coaches
Improves APS conversational skills and team engagement

CI Connect Schedule

Facilitate team discussion

Coaching

Peer-to-peer shadowing

Cl Connect Community of Practice for Leaders

CI Connect Champions

Are part of a national network of CI Connect Champions
Are the first point of contact for questions about CI Connect
Coordinate and facilitate monthly community of practice meeting
Attend a national forum each quarter with other Champions
Support teams in their state or territory get started
Support teams to access the correct LEAP modules
Find resources to support CI Connect activities
Provide a conduit between the PM&Q Branch and their State
Update state and territory leadership about CI Connect

Materials and LEAP

All staff will be auto-enrolled in LEAP courses to track completion

1 x LEAP “Team Leader” pack
1 x LEAP “Coaching — Team Leader Toolkit”
1 x LEAP “Team Member” pack
1 x LEAP “CI Connect questionnaire”

Coaching

Situational coaching
Focuses on performance goals
Uses the GROW method
Celebrates successes

Peer to peer shadowing

Learn from each other
See other ways of working
See how others overcome barriers
Share your knowledge
Provide informal mentoring and learning

Resources

CI Connect Champions

Coaching resources

Coaching Team Leader Toolkit (through LEAP)
Links to best practice coaching demonstrations via LinkedIn Learning
Coaching Log

Peer-to-peer Shadowing resource

Information Sheet “Peer-to-peer shadowing”

State-based CI Connect Community of Practice resource

Terms of Reference

Cl Connect Yammer Page

What’s next?

Launch: April 2021 (Q4)
Topic: Writing R&N Justifications
LEAP: Confirmation of enrolment emails
Learning: Nominate for Leading a Coaching Culture