How to reform public services by liberating local teams to do the right thing

(This is a one-hour session plus an optional 30 minutes for extended discussion)

A lot of people, including the national political parties, are talking about public service reform. 

But many of the solutions they propose just won’t work. Forcing through efficiency measures, setting targets, implementing digital solutions, ‘engaging with’ the private or charity sectors. All this has all been tried for years now. And services have become even more dysfunctional, not less.

As we will discover in this session with systems change expert John Mortimer, better solutions are available. In several places, councils have had a go at operating very differently. They set up strengths-based locality working, with multi-agency teams, able to operate close to people in their community, with a simple instruction to discover what individual people’s circumstances actually were, and then to take action, and do the right thing, with the goal wherever possible of helping people to help themselves.

In every case, costs reduced, demand fell, and value was multiplied. 

So, we have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done, and the good news is that it doesn’t take significant resources to do it. But, as the real-life examples shared in this webinar will demonstrate, it does require an alternative ‘local by default’ approach and courageous public sector leaders who are willing to take a deep fresh look at what is really going on, and establish a different operating method for their teams.

Reserve your place

If you would like to reserve a place for this online meeting you can either fill out our booking form or contact us at info@betterway.network.

Why are so many people being criminalised, and what can be done about it?

This online roundtable will bring people together who are immersed in work on the criminal justice system alongside others from the network who might be able to bring a wider or different perspective, incorporating some of the Better Way thinking.

Speakers will include Penelope Gibbs (Transform Justice), Pavan Dhaliwal (Revolving Doors), Sonya Ruparel (Women in Prison), Gemma Buckland (Do It Justice).

Reserve your place

If you would like to reserve a place for this online meeting you can either fill out our booking form or contact us at info@betterway.network.

How can the NHS and communities join forces?

NHS England has issued new statutory guidance on partnership working with people and communities to improve services. At this event we will consider the new guidance, hear from people across the country who are joining forces in their communities to drive change, and share ideas about how to make this really work.

_____________________

If you would like to reserve a place for this online meeting you can either fill out our booking form here or contact info@betterway.network.

By submitting this form, you consent to your data being saved by A Better Way according to GDPR standards. We will only use your data for A Better Way purposes. You can opt out at any time, please just let us know.

How can we bridge divides when we experience conflict, division and difference?

Conflict, division and difference can be a roadblock to change but can also be an opportunity to pause, reflect and find a fresh way.

We’ll be exploring how to bridge divides and unlock inspiration with Neil Denton of the After Disasters’ Network at Durham University - who is a community mediator and the author of the Bridge-builders Handbook for the Relationships Project - and we’ll be sharing examples and ideas with each other about how to put this into practice. Do join us.

This event is part of a series exploring a question which cuts across the four behaviours in our model for change: how can we remove the roadblocks to a Better Way?

In 2021, we heard that many people at every level can play a part in driving change by:

• Challenging and changing whatever stands in the way, including the deep-seated assumptions that can prevent us from being our best selves.

• Calling out inequalities and abuses of power, and making sure everyone can participate on their own terms.

• Assuming the best in others and seeing difference, conflict and division as an opportunity to pause, seek to understand, and find a fresh way.

But resistance to change is widespread, whether through culture, systems or practices. So how can we get better at overcoming the resistance and removing the roadblocks?

If you would like to reserve a place for 15th March you can either fill out our booking form here or contact info@betterway.network.

By submitting this form, you consent to your data being saved by A Better Way according to GDPR standards. We will only use your data for A Better Way purposes. You can opt out at any time, please just let us know.

What does it mean for leaders to be facilitators, rather than managers?

In this session we’ll be focusing on how leaders can operate as facilitators. What are the benefits, what are the difficulties? We’ll be hearing from Nick Sinclair from the Local Area Coordination Network, who set up the New Social Leaders network. And there will be an opportunity to then share challenges and ideas on how to work in a more facilitative and less directive way.

This event is part of a series exploring this question which cuts across the four behaviours in our model for change: What kind of leaders should we be?

In our meetings in 2021, we started to talk about a new kind of leadership where:

• We become leaders not because we hold positions of power, but because we give power to others.

• We deploy the four Better Way behaviours to build connection and community beyond our organisations.

• We create the conditions for those at the sharp end to take more control.

But how can we counter the existing ‘command and control’ and managerial leadership model and make this new style of leadership more widespread?

If you would like to reserve a place for 2nd March you can either fill out our booking form here or contact info@betterway.network.

By submitting this form, you consent to your data being saved by A Better Way according to GDPR standards. We will only use your data for A Better Way purposes. You can opt out at any time, please just let us know.

Moral imagination: what is it and how can we use it increase our power?

We’ll be talking with Phoebe Tickell from Moral Imaginations who is working with civil society organisations, local authorities and communities to embed imagination into place and is working on an Imagination Lab to bring leaders together to strengthen the role of imagination in their work collectively and individually. In this session, we’ll be exploring with you the role that imagination can have in your work and more generally - and the discussion will also help Phoebe design her Imagination Lab.

Imagination is an extremely powerful force for change, Phoebe says, and humanity can build bridges and power us to change. Imagining allows us not just to see a different future but to feel it. The problem is not that we lack imagination, but that we have often block it.

This event is part of a series exploring this question which cuts across the four behaviours in our model for change: How can we unlock our humanity and imagination? In our meetings in 2021, we identified that:

• Our humanity can build bridges and move us to change.

• Collective imagination can make a different future possible.

• There are ways to make a different kind of space to listen deeply to each other, share our stories, and tell new ones.

But some people may feel this is a distraction or are uncomfortable with opening up. How can we overcome that hesitancy and mainstream these approaches?

If you would like to reserve a place for 15th February you can either fill out our booking form here or contact info@betterway.network.

By submitting this form, you consent to your data being saved by A Better Way according to GDPR standards. We will only use your data for A Better Way purposes. You can opt out at any time, please just let us know.

Is there a Better Way for adult social care, and how can we achieve it?  Do join us on Tuesday 2nd November, 3.00-5.00, at our on-line roundtable to discuss this.

We’ll be hearing from people who are actively trying to re-imagine social care; and we’ll be discussing whether the Better Way model  -  listening to each other, particularly to those least heard; putting relationships first; sharing and building power; and joining forces across the system – can help others to do so, too.

Our speakers will include:

• Neil Crowther, who will talk about Social Care Futures’ vision and the need for a different kind of narrative about social care.

• Clare Wightman from Grapevine Coventry and Warwickshire, who will tell us about their work with people with lived experience and public sector partners to design a new form of adult social care in Coventry.

• Stephan Liebrecht, Director of Adult Social Care at Barking and Dagenham, who will speak about how they are listening to people with lived experience and forging a very different kind of partnership with the social sector.

Other participants will include policy-makers, practitioners and people with lived experience, and there will be plenty of opportunity for you to share your ideas, experiences and views. We’d love to hear from you.

If you would like to reserve a place you can either fill out our booking form here or contact BetterWay@carnegieuk.org. If you can’t make this time, but would like to see a video of the speakers, let us know.

By submitting this form, you consent to your data being saved by A Better Way according to GDPR standards. We will only use your data for A Better Way purposes. You can opt out at any time, please just let us know.

Do join us in a roundtable discussion with a range of people to explore what is distinct about what they are doing in the North and whether there is a common thread.  Several people have suggested that the Better Way model in Time for a Change captures the practices that will deliver real change.  We want to hear what you think and how we might collectively propagate new ways of doing things.

Over the last year there has been much interest and some cynicism about the Government’s commitment to ‘levelling up’ and what this might mean for people in the North and Midlands.  At the same time, there are many places across the area where people and communities are already doing ground-breaking things.  This is patchy and diverse, but momentum is building to do things in a very different way. 

Laura Seebohm, our Convenor in the North, will host the discussion, which will be introduced by panellists who are currently ‘doing things differently’ from a range of contexts including a local authority exploring public sector reform, a place-based community business, a specialist charity for racially minoritised communities and a large housing association. We also want to hear from you as we go into break out groups.

This event is aimed at anyone who is interested in bringing about change: public and voluntary sector, community businesses and private sector, including individuals and organisations who are connecting institutions and individuals.

If you would like to reserve a place you can either fill out our booking form here or contact BetterWay@carnegieuk.org. If you can’t make this time, but would like to see a video of the speakers, let us know.

By submitting this form, you consent to your data being saved by A Better Way according to GDPR standards. We will only use your data for A Better Way purposes. You can opt out at any time, please just let us know.