Shifting the dial on collaboration

29th April 2026

Here are some notes taken from the meeting on 29th April. Attendees came from a range of public and third sector organisations.

Shifting the Dial on Collaboration – Caroline Slocock, Co-founder of the network

Caroline introduced the Better Way principles and behaviours, emphasising collaboration and relationship-building as key components.

Cate Newnes-Smith, formerly Chief Executive at Surrey Youth Focus and now Founder Mountain Top Consultancy

Cate shared her experience as former Chief Executive of Surrey Youth Focus, a collaboration charity that worked across multiple agencies in the Surrey Children's System.

Surrey Youth Focus held an unusual place in the system – its original role was supporting children’s charities including sitting on boards to represent them. Over time it morphed into being a collaboration charity, bringing people together on a

range of issues related to children and families. Despite being a very small organisation it was extremely well connected at all levels through strong relationships – health, councils/social care, police, OPCC, education and charities of course.

It carried out numerous collaborative projects with the public and third sectors. Often, when it initiated a piece of work, team members would just reach out to the people they knew in different organisations to join the work. This could be at any level.

Here is the summary of the event.