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Questions
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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.
o Week 1 - team facilitated discussion
o Week 2 - coaching
o Week 3 - peer-to-peer shadowing
o 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.
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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
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Connect cycle. CI Champions will also ensure minutes are recorded and actions
followed up.
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.
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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
1. 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.
2. 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!
3. 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?
4. 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.
5. 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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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 t he 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?
o What happens if the quality issues for Partners are different in each state/from the state quality issues?
o 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 ha
ve 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
said
s22(1)(a)
I s
hould 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)( t o g
o to the PED ELT for further approval. We can then
add this to the documents and intranet page.
As always, happy to chat further!
1
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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.
2
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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
1
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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.
2
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