Bulletin #12, July 2020
Our network has been exceptionally active in recent weeks, sharing stories of determination and solidarity, dismay and hope, bold vision and smart tactics. Helping each other navigate a better way through these turbulent times.
We have drawn on this to produce a short document packed with strong ideas: ‘How Government can unlock the power of connection and community’. This was for Better Way founding member Danny Kruger MP, who was asked by the Prime Minister to set out proposals to maximise the role of civil society. And we are making the paper available to others as well, across the party political spectrum.
Now is the time to be sharing such thinking, we believe, because so much is hanging in the balance.
In recent months we have been carried along in great surges of popular sympathy and support for each other as neighbours, for NHS and care workers and for Black Lives Matter protestors. But when the tide recedes, what then? Under the banner of ‘build back better’, will things in fact revert to the familiar ways of doing things? Or as a society and in our own practice will we connect better, share power, and trust more?
Please forward this bulletin to others who may be interested.
Caroline Slocock and Steve Wyler
Better Way national discussions – would you like to join?
Our members, from across the country, have come together into five on-line cells, each exploring over a series of meetings a topic relating to the Call to Action we published last year. Please contact Alison@carnegieuk.org if you would like to join a cell or find out more.
Changing organisations by putting Better Way principles into action. Putting those we serve first, listening and reflecting them in everything we do. Next meeting: Tuesday 8th September 3.00-4.30pm.
Collaborative leadership in place-based work. How to abandon organisational silos and become systems leaders, and develop common causes and shared outcomes, within and across sectors. Next meeting: Wednesday 9th September: 3.00pm to 4.30pm
Changing practices through relationship-centred practices and policies. How to put humanity and kindness into services, and also how to build connection and community through relationships, rather than just delivering services. Next meeting: Thursday 17th September, 3.00pm-4.30pm.
Sharing power by ensuring all voices are heard. Creating platforms and channels for everyone to influence what matters to them and building confidence and capacity for individuals and communities to take more power. Next meetings: Wednesday 22 July, 2.00-3.30pm and Wednesday 16 September, 2.00-3.30pm
Changing the narrative which treats people as problems. Picking up the Better Way principle that it is better to build on strengths rather than focus on weaknesses, and that it is wrong to define people by the ‘needs’ or deficits. Next meetings: Tuesday 21 July, 3.00-4.30pm and Monday 7 September, 3.00-4.30pm.
We are also holding a roundtable on Thursday 23rd July, 2.00-3.30pm, on charitable foundations and sharing power.
Do check us out on twitter @betterwaynetwrk, where you can also see video clips from some of the discussions we have been holding; and also take a look at our website page on the crisis, which we will continue to update.
Connection and community festival
This week the Better Way is supporting the CO20 FESTIVAL – THE POWER OF CONNECTION AND COMMUNITY, which is running from 22-26 July and which include sessions run by Better Way members, including :
Hard to Reach and Easy to Ignore, Laura Seebohm, 22 July, 11.00am
Connecting for Good, Clare Wightman, 23 July, 1.00pm
The Relationships Project, David Robinson, 24 July, 2.00pm
Full details of the 22 online events are here, there is still time to book your place!
What our members are saying
How to unlock the power of community-led action after the pandemic. Nick Gardham, CEO of Community Organisers, says that as we look beyond the pandemic it is time to start investing in the work of ‘building, developing and nurturing relationships and the intentional building of community power.’
Rebalancing power: what can funders do? In advance of our roundtable for charitable foundations on 23rd July, Katie Boswell from NPC writes about what she has learnt from personal experience and from talking to charitable foundations themselves.
Dave Hill: a tribute to a remarkable systems leader. Cate Newnes-Smith pays tribute to Dave Hill, inspirational Director of Childrens Services in Surrey and member of the Better Way, who passed away suddenly on 23 June. ‘Dave was a Systems Leader’, says Cate, and explains what a difference one person can make.
Uncomfortable Truths: learning from Self-Reliant Groups. Noel Mathias, the founder of WEvolution, draws out lessons from the Self-Reliant Groups they support: ‘informal groups of people – mostly women – who come together to save small amounts of money, support each other, learn new skills and go on to become unexpected entrepreneurs.’
So we need to talk about power. Against the backdrop of Black Lives Matter and COVID-19, Sally Young writes thoughtfully about the power we have and the power we need to challenge.
Remaking organisations is an opportunity to build and share power. Covid-19 is forcing many organisations to rethink their strategies. This is an opportunity, says Tom Neumark, CEO of The Peel, to think differently.
Voice as Value – How can we create conditions to listen better, and to recognise voice as value? Margo Horsley argues for more voices to be heard in order to build trust and create value.
Common cause – some links to what others are doing
Which Way Next? sets out how the Local Area Co-ordination Network model has worked in many places from Derby to York, Swansea to Havering, helping communities to be self-supporting and to flourish.
After the first 100 days of lockdown, the Relationships Project has published a stand-out report The Moment We Noticed. In it Better Way co-founder David Robinson argues that ‘we need to think about how we spend more time on relationships rather than more money on process and structure’.
Rich Wilson, founder of Good Help, sets out ideas for Unlocking potential after lockdown - a national strategy for public services which build people’s confidence and self-efficacy.
Kathy Evans, from Children England explains in a series of short video clips why collaboration is so much better than competition for children’s services, concluding with ‘eight principles for changing the commissioning environment for all public services, for the better, forever.’
The Carnegie UK Trust has published Revisiting the Route Map to an Enabling State, building on its influential 2014 publication in the light of COVID-19, and setting out seven steps that public services should take as they move into recovery mode.
Locality’s report We were built for this shows how any future economic development funding can be used to drive forward a community powered economic recovery while tackling entrenched inequality, and neighbourhoods and communities can be at the heart of a new wave of decentralisation.
And finally…
Perhaps it is time to reclaim and reinvigorate the notion of solidarity, as Colin Falconer suggests in his blog, Finding Strength in Solidarity. He quotes the South American writer Eduardo Galeano:
“I don’t believe in charity, I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person. I have a lot to learn from other people.”