What's in a name?
When, in 2018, the Pizazz process was first unveiled and published, we had said initially that the name 'Pizazz' meant (notionally and clearly tongue in cheek) the 'PIEs Self Assessment and Service Specification' process.
The real intention was to be able to use the term “pizazz’, for its implications. In truth, calling it 'service specification' was never really right, so we just made rather lame excuses for it.
But as the development of the PIEs 2, Pizazz and PIE Abacus training progressed, and it became increasingly clear what it can be used for, the importance of the Pizazz model for assessment diminishes, and the role in self improvement (in the words of John Pearce, the iAbacus's creator) grows.
So the awkwardness of 'specification' becomes more glaring; but more importantly, the wasted opportunity to say more about what it's really all about - which is really about returning creativity and power to the frontline providers.
So we still don't want 'service improvement, partly because the 'i' is just in the wrong place, but also because 'improvement' implies some goal to which you are supposed to be headed (and by implication, with others as the judge of whether you have managed it).
But it's become increasingly clear that the Pizazz and PIE Abacus are both really about encouraging services to be the best they can be, from their OWN recognition of what they could be doing.
So in a flash of inspiration, we realised we could just as well rename it at this point, and call it the 'Pies Self Assessment and Services Self development' process.
It's no more clumsy, as an acronym; and it needs less excuses!
PIEs 2, Pizazz and PIE Abacus trainings
The definitive guides to PIEs self-assessment and development for psychologically informed environments.
The training courses:
Ray Middleton's 'entry level' PIEs training.
Robin Johnson's PIE leads’ training:
Getting up to speed with PIE self-assessment for your services
This on-line intermediate-level training aims to ensure that all those charged with developing PIEs in their own services can feel confident that they have a good working grasp of the Pizazz, including the PIEs 2.0 and the software version, the PIE Abacus.
NB: On-line training goes at your own pace; and this training includes an allocation of 1-1 personalised mentoring time.
Robin Johnson's PIE trainers’ and consultants’ training:
Getting up to speed with PIE self-assessment for services.
This advanced level training aims to give confidence that you are fully up to speed as a trainer or consultant on PIEs, with an in-depth grasp of the PIE self-assessment programme, the Pizazz, and its on-line version, the PIE Abacus.
External trainers and facilitators will need a still more in-depth familiarity with PIEs and the Pizazz process and the principles. For those contracted to provide support to other agencies, you may want to consider the advanced training, which aims to equip you with all the background to steer a service through its own self-assessment and on to action planning for the future, using the Pizazz and the PIE Abacus.
For those who need to be able to answer: “not just what and how, but why?