Saturday 14 December 2013

Smile

Every now and then, when stuck trying to find a new angle on things, I have a habit of coming across something on the interweb that truly takes my breath away. It's happened again in the form of a blog Probation Officer Toolkit - 'Smiling Sonia's Tips and Shortcuts to ease your working life'.

Now I have to say straight off that I thought this was a spoof because I recall doing something very similar way back in the 90's when computers first made an appearance in the office in the form of a glorified word processor. I remember we had a stab at a house magazine, complete with spot the ball competition, readers letters and 'handy hints and tips'. There was only ever one edition though and the joke wore thin and we soon got bored. It had amused us for a short period of time, but as we now know, the bloody computer was to have the last laugh.

Anyway, back to Smiling Sonia. She strikes me as someone who has way too little to do. Indeed her biography proudly confirms that she only managed five years as a PO before moving onwards and upwards, eventually to Head Office and to investigating SFO's. But it would seem that her career to date has given her quite an insight into the trials and tribulations faced by PO's and PSO's, so much so that she has been moved to publish helpful guidance on a range of issues such as burnout and that ever thorny problem, records:-
       

Record Keeping Skills – 7 Steps for Easy to Read Records for Probation Officers

As a Probation Officer are you confident about your record keeping skills? If you went off sick tomorrow would your colleague know the current situation?
Think about the following scenario.
This has been one of those days when you have seen one service user after the other. You have no time in between to write up the sessions. You are in a rush so write down brief notes to give a gist of what has happened. You tell yourself that you will add more details tomorrow when you have more time. Of course when tomorrow comes you’re straight into a new crisis.
When you do get round to it how much will you remember?

How Do You Rate Your Record Keeping Skills?

Do you proof read all your case records? Would someone else understand what you wrote? Do you check for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors? If you hand write a record could someone decipher your hand writing? Most people assume that Probation Officers have a good understanding of the English language. This is not always the case.
What about your colleague’s record keeping skills?
Smiling Sonia’s 7 Steps for Easy to Read Record Keeping for Probation Officers

  1. Proof read. Read your words out loud because this will help you detect typos and grammatical mistakes. It will also help you to check the flow. This is not full proof. When you proofread your own work you automatically read words you think should be there when they are not. You become word blind. It is better to ask someone else to proof read your work.
  1. Avoid abbreviations. Don’t be tempted to shorten words because it is quicker for you to write. It will not be quicker for the reader to read if they don’t know the full term being abbreviated. You won’t always follow this rule when the abbreviated term is more familiar than the original phrase. OASys pronounced OASIS is more often used instead of saying Offender Assessment System.
  1. Use acronyms carefully. Remember to put the acronym in brackets after the term the first time you use it. Use the acronym in the remainder of the text.  Some acronyms are so familiar that they do not need explaining. National Offender Management System (NOMS), Ministry of Justice (MOJ), and Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP).
  1. Use the spell checker. Use the computer spell checker but don’t rely on it 100% as a method of proof reading. Keep a traditional dictionary handy.
  1. Use paragraphs with headings. You want the reader to be able to locate information quickly by skimming the headings to find particular information. If the reader is interested in only one bit of information they do not have to read the whole text. Separate different ideas/issues by breaking up the text. This makes it easier to keep the information organised. 
  1. Write short sentences and short paragraphs. Make it easy for anyone to read your case record. Sentences that are too long tend to lose their thread. The average sentence length should be 15 to 17 words. Limit one idea to a sentence. Limit your paragraphs to 3 to 5 sentences.
  1. Use plain language. Do not assume that your records will be read only by colleagues within your organisation. Use of plan language means anyone will understand your message. Don’t use “utilise” instead of “use” it means the same thing.
I feel the urgent need for a lie down and can't help wondering if Sonia would still be smiling if she had to use N-Delius?

31 comments:

  1. I rekon, that mi rekord kieping scills r still far beter than the delius rekord keeper!

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  2. This is why we are in this mess, the people making the decisions, don't have a clue about the reality or time pressures and it systems that are not fit for purpose. Oh well, keep smiling Sonia.

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    Replies
    1. Perhaps smiling Sonia should take her own advice. ..

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  3. Laugh, I nearly bought a round!

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  4. Just a reference back to recent exchanges about trolls. Why fret trying to determine whether it's a troll? One of the things I like about this blog is its anonymity option for contributors. To my mind identifiers are neither here or there. What matters is what contributors say, whether you agree or not.
    It's the analysis/information/perspective that matters, not the motivation of the writer. If you don't like something, don't become a witch-finder general - argue against it, challenge it, but resist being tempted to go on a troll hunt... it's futile and in fact only takes the bait left dangling by the troll.

    I like to read comments that challenge or go against the grain. To jump at the contributor and allege troll is a disturbing reflex to outsider opinion. Let the arguments turn on their merits and values.

    Looking ahead, I think this blog may well be an important monitor in the new world of TR. It has got 'traction', it gets attention. Maybe in the future it will assist a thousand whistle-blowers to bloom and maybe, just maybe, keep the less scrupulous providers looking over their shoulders when they cut corners and fiddle the books.

    As for Sonia, when I think of all the jargon that has flowed like sewage from managerialism (drilling down and deep dives come to mind) and the neologism that have come out of Whitehall (OASys and Contestibility), I find it patronising to now see guidance on 'use' and 'utilise' and on acronyms – SMART springs to mind. Like Marie Antoinette, as wages fall for the probation scribes will Sonia soon be telling us to eat cake to keep our strength up?

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    1. Nicely put as usual Netnipper!

      Can I extend an invitation to you, and indeed any other contributor, that I'm always open to the possibility of publishing 'guest' articles. Just drop me a line via the contact details on my profile page if you are interested.

      Cheers,

      Jim

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  5. Everybody knows if it's not recorded it didn't happen! ;0)

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  6. Seriously?, how very sensitive Sonia. The last thing I am giving thought to is the grammar and spelling of my Delius entries. As I have all the time in the world to go back and double check them and apply the spell check. Is this woman totally insensitive. If she retains her job post split then she will be more than busy herself investigating SFO's, perhaps then I might post her some top tips. Perhaps some other commentators would like to suggest what they could be!!

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  7. Maybe Sonia could give some tips and advice about thingd like this.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/outlook-another-procurement-contract-bungled-by-inexperienced-mandarins-8704175.html

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    1. So, we taxpayers have been allegedly paying G4S and Serco to monitor dead crims. We should all look forward to hearing their well-paid lawyers defend the use of public money to ensure deceased wrong 'uns don't breach their bail conditions.

      Serco managed to escape the worst of the headlines over this scandal because by agreeing to co-operate with the investigation it managed to avoid the long arm of the Serious Fraud Office. Clever work by Serco's PR department.

      However, another report into Serco out yesterday, this time from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), also went largely ignored: the scandalous way its out-of-hours GP service in Cornwall treated taxpayers and potentially left sick people alone and without care in the evenings. One in five calls were abandoned after patients gave up waiting. Only 52 per cent were answered inside a minute and a half. Dismal, dismal service.

      But rather than hire more staff to pick up the phone to patients promptly and improve matters, Serco simply lied about its performance. Two employees falsified the data. That meant Serco hit its targets, was paid by taxpayers for its success, and the contract manager in charge pocketed a nice bonus.

      When staff raised concerns about this racket, Serco failed to investigate properly, the PAC report says. Instead, it decided to turn the place upside-down to root out the whistleblowers, even going so far as searching employees' lockers. Little wonder that the PAC's chairman, Margaret Hodge, described Serco as having a "bullying and heavy-handed" culture.

      To cynics like me of the motivations of private contractors on public-sector projects, so far, so unsurprising. The profit motive will always dominate for such service providers. Where we should be directing our anger is at the saps in the NHS who failed to spot that this was going on. If one in five calls made by distressed, sick people were going unanswered, how on earth did the local NHS not know about it?

      Not only that, but when it did find out about the falsification of data, the primary care trust did not terminate the contract or even fine the company.

      Even if Serco had not lied about its performance, it's extremely doubtful that the primary care trust could have compared its performance with other out-of-hours services elsewhere in the country, because there is hardly any data available.

      Once again, we are left picking up the pieces, and the tab, from a state procurement contract that has been bungled by naive and inexperienced mandarins.

      This was a fairly small contract, worth about £7m a year, but it matters deeply. Not only because of the suffering it caused ill patients and their relatives trying to get critical advice. Not only because it resulted in more people being transferred to the ambulance service, overburdening that already stretched part of the NHS. Not just because it highlighted the risk of dishonesty in outsourced contracts. But because the NHS is going to be using more and more private contractors to take on its day-to-day work in the future. It will be dealing with big, sophisticated players like Serco increasingly, and potentially getting rings run around it by clever negotiators on six-figure salaries.

      If only this didn't sound all so familiar.

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    2. Andrew,

      We were copying and pasting at the same time so I've taken the liberty of removing some.

      Cheers,

      Jim

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  8. Re Anonymous @ 11.17. Yep - I remember that one - "if it's not written down it didn't happen". I got one of my numerous bollockings from then asking "does that mean if it is written down it did happen?" Seemed a perfectly sensible question to me but maybe too "off-message", as they say in NVQ5 Management Land. Tee hee.

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    1. "does that mean if it is written down it did happen?" ROFL

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    2. An argument that I have put firward many times!!
      However, I am niw fully motivated by Sonia's tips and shall utilise the full extent of her knowledge in my daily practice.

      I shall also be quoting her when I explain to my manager that I am unable to complete any PSRs as I will be toi busy either proof reading or checking my dictionary!!

      Sonia, if you do happen to be reading this, guving the diverse range of people who access this Blog, you have no idea how happy your comments and tips have me made. I bet this is not the only thing you have no idea about though!

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    3. Your last sentence...you have no idea the wealth of truth in what you speak...or maybe you do...

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  9. 5 years as a main grade....in other words yet another who couldn't do the job and climbed the ladder to get out....now looking down and dispensing platitudes......do as I say not as I do......

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  10. Oh Sonia, thank God you only lasted five years in the job, imagine the mopping up others officers would still be doing for you had you continued....imagine the offenders whose lives would not have been impacted because you put records above welfare...imagine the extra hours you would have had to work in the real world....imagine you daring to write what you did !

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  11. Anon's 1-step guide for better record-keeping:

    1. Employ enough staff to do the bloody job in the first place

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  12. Silly silly Sonia investigates SFO's!!. Can you imagine receiving the feedback. Well you really should have crossed your t's and dotted your i's.

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  13. Sonia is going to be furious with some of these comments. I bet she is not smiling now. Even I have noticed sentences exceeding 17 words and there are some spelling and grammatical mistakes, which suggests an absence of proof reading, despite Sonia's clear guidance. I am not sure what's gone awry, as I assume Sonia's piloted her advice and modified it in light of feedback.

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    1. Now, Jim, can you be sure that everyone reading this knows what ROFL stands for? Imagine the consequences if it were to be misinterpreted?? Won't somebody please think of the children!?

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    2. I am such a techie dinosaur I genuinely don't know what ROFL stands for, however spotted the patronising rubbish from Smilie Sonia a mile off, so life's not all bad.......
      Deb

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  14. Given the stress that I am feeling as a result of TR I would much prefer some stress management tips, rather than recording tips, as I have not got the energy of spending longer typing in Delius than I absolutely have to.

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    1. Well Smiling Sonia can help! Just follow the link for other handy tips on how to avoid burnout, take annual leave, deal with computer problems basically 'tips, strategies and shortcuts to ease your working life'

      http://probationofficertoolkit.com/

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  15. with apologies and thanks to Charlie Chaplin et al. A bottle of something favourite, a dimly lit room, a familiar tune begins to play...

    Smile, though your job's in danger
    Smile, it couldn't get much stranger
    "When there are bids in the air
    you’ll get your share"
    If you smile through your fear and sorrow
    Smile and maybe tomorrow
    You’ll see the pigs go flying by
    in the sky

    Smile, though you have no choices
    listen to the many voices
    of those who feel the same,
    who share your pain
    That’s the time you must keep on trying
    Smile what’s the use of crying
    You’ll find that life is still worthwhile
    If you’ll just
    Smile

    We CAN and WILL beat these bully boys who think they're entitled to do whatever they want. Apparently their world is so small they used to bully George Osbourne at Eton because his parents were 'trade'. That's the scale and level of smallminded fuckwittery we're dealing with. Grayling's nowhere and no-one in their world, just another fag carrying out another task.

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  16. Must read.

    http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/15/probation-reforms-put-public-at-higher-risk

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  17. Telegraph

    A criminal waste of moneyThe private contractors G4S and Serco were “sacked” by the Ministry of Justice from the job of electronically tagging criminals last week, after it emerged that they had been wildly overcharging for the service, billing for “phantom” tags that had been removed or were never fitted at all.Although G4S reportedly offered to repay £24.1 million of the wrongly invoiced money, Chris Grayling, the Justice Minister, decided to conduct an investigation and has awarded the contract to Capita instead. (The shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, calls the “sacking” mere spin, as, he argues, Serco and G4S had already made it clear that they would not bid for the next contract.) Capita, of course, took over the court interpreting contract in 2012, and last month the Law Society Gazette reported that hundreds of cases a week are being disrupted because of the firm’s failure to get the necessary interpreters to the right place at the correct time.Capita says that “a continuous programme of improvements is being implemented”. But between January 30 2012 and June 30 2013, according to the Gazette, there were 9,800 complaints about the service, which has resulted in vast sums of public money being wasted as cases are delayed.How very interesting. I do wonder what we shall read about the state of electronic tagging in two years’ time.

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    1. And Capita are now front runners for probation contracts!

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  18. In the light of today's developments, the Ministry of Justice said both G4S and Serco have decided to withdraw from the competition for rehabilitation services.

    This means that neither company will play a role as a lead provider of probation services in England and Wales in this competition.
    Men in G4S security coats. G4S and Serco have decided to withdraw from the MoJ competition for rehabilitation services. Credit: Press Association

    The Government said it has left open the possibility of either supplier playing a supporting role, working with smaller businesses or voluntary sector providers.

    Unlike Serco, G4S has not yet agreed a position on repayment over the overcharging fiasco, although discussions are continuing.

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