Creating empowerment in communities through resident-involvement
This National Scrutiny Week gives us an opportunity to spotlight the activity of our dedicated Scrutiny Panel. An essential part of our work as a housing provider, the panel is made up of residents and independent members, and facilitated by our colleagues in Governance, to determine whether our methods of delivery are the best they can possibly be.
Customer insight into areas of our work is absolutely instrumental to our success, but by inviting customers to take part in important decision-making we are also promoting an important sense of empowerment amongst the communities we serve.
Success through collaboration
There’s often a handful of negative perceptions attached to the idea of scrutiny, but the outcomes are positive and proactive. Not only does scrutiny empower residents to be an essential part of shaping the delivery of future services for their communities, but it’s a practical way of determining what’s working well and what can be improved upon.
As with much of our work at Abri Group, collaboration is the key to success. We share, listen and learn to really dig deep into the outlook of those we serve and those we work with to ensure every aspect of our service delivery is the best it can be. Ultimately, collaborating to scrutinise our services is a really positive, insightful process.
Shaping services together
Our passion for scrutiny is all about weaving customer insight into our professional output. We know that our delivery is at its best when it’s informed by customer perceptions, so we meet regularly throughout the year – whether physically or digitally – to keep the momentum going and the shaping of our services relevant.
As we move towards an increase in remote working, we are investing in laptops that our customers on the scrutiny panel can use at home. We are doing this to combat any barriers to staying connected panel members might experience and this action is a great way to stay in touch while we can’t be in the same room.
Scrutiny will always be key to our business. For us it’s more than just a requirement, it is a thorough way of really getting to the bottom of our service delivery and how it works for those out in the community. We will continue to prioritise it to not only shape our organisation, but promote empowerment in the lives of our customers.
– Charlotte Payn, Governance Coordinator