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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
31 January 2017
Updated: 04 December 2020
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I have worked in world of ‘crisis support’ in various roles for 15 years. For me, crisis support is for people who feel they cannot cope or move forward without external help. The people I have worked with who are in crisis are often dealing with a multitude of issues they need support with such as rough sleeping, mental health needs, domestic violence and substance misuse.
All of my roles have all been for small specialist charities, and I have often wondered about the impact on charities and their workers when responding to people in crisis. Similarly, I have also questioned how important these charities really are for those accessing it. Surely there are statutory services that are better setup for this type of work such as hospitals, the police, or GP services?
I used the opportunity open to me through my Clore Social Leadership experience to look at these questions. Specifically my research asks: ‘What do male sex workers experience when they engage with frontline support services?’ Due to my professional experience I felt that the people I had often worked with would not engage with statutory services, so this was my opportunity to see if my thoughts were echoed by other professionals, and also those accessing the services.
My research findings
What became apparent is that the reality of how things should be done and how they are experienced are in stark contrast. Policy and guidance documents that have been around for as long as I have been working are not being followed - either through a lack of resources and time, or a lack of understanding or care. These are my top line findings:
- Multi agency working practices are just not happening in this sector;
- Specialist sexual health services are often seen as being aimed at ‘white heterosexuals’ which therefore stops some people feeling able to access them;
- Funders do not understand the time, money and resources it takes to support an individual in crisis.
My research highlights some of the voices of male sex workers and the staff who support them when they are in crisis. Charities are often not funded or resourced enough to respond to these crises, and this has a huge impact on these men’s lives. Since conducting and publishing my research, several specialist sex work services have closed down. My research consistently states that when in crisis these services were often the only places these people felt they could go for support and respect, so where will they go now?
I have focused my research on male sex workers, but I believe the findings and questions raised from it are applicable far beyond this area of work. Both the workers and men’s experiences are indicative of people across the UK who find themselves in similar crises or lacking specialist support.
To read the full research report, please download it here. Feel free to share your comments about Hayley’s blog and research below, or you can contact Hayley on Twitter.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
10 January 2017
Updated: 04 December 2020
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When I began my year as an older people’s specialist Clore Social Fellow I was interested in looking at asset based community development (ABCD) in relation to social care. My interest had been sparked by what I heard about how this was being put into practice in Leeds. During my Clore year, while shadowing in a hospital which is leading on one of the NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans, (STPs) I started to wonder how relevant these ideas were for the NHS.
STPs are place based plans, and planning guidance from NHS England talks about ‘creating new relationships with patients and communities’. This made sense to me. How can you develop place based plans without talking to the people who make up that place? I discovered a range of organisations working on community and citizen engagement in health. I also discovered a lot of criticism of STPs for failure to engage. Looking at some of the STP plans I found the extent to which they mentioned engagement with citizens or communities varied enormously. I could also see some obvious barriers to engagement, including the speed at which the plans have had to be drawn up.
Almost all STPs are led by NHS bodies but the partnerships include local authorities. However, the extent to which they have played a major role varies. Local authorities could play a crucial role in linking STPs with communities. They are not just relevant as the lead for social care and public health; housing, accessible street, community development are all relevant to health, and all part of local authority responsibilities.
The voluntary and community sector is also a key way into place and community. Most STPs refer to their role as providers of quality person centred interventions. Not all recognise the role of the voluntary and community sector as a way to engage with local communities, particularly with disadvantaged groups.
My thoughts on the barriers to citizen engagement in STPs and some possible solutions are set out in my report. I don’t believe this is a challenge solely for STP leadership. It’s one that leaders across health, local authorities and the community and voluntary sector need to grasp.
Please click here to read Sue’s full Provocation Piece, developed as part of her 2016 Clore Social Fellowship.
Share your views by commenting below or contacting Sue on Twitter.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
09 November 2016
Updated: 04 December 2020
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This week saw the publication of my Fellowship research Collateral Damage. In it, I have sought to shine a light on the hidden problem of children who witness police home raids. These children, whose parents or siblings have committed crimes, are the unseen victims of those crimes, often left deeply traumatised by the raids, and overlooked by the police.
In the report I have sought to make clear recommendations to key groups to encourage them to take some simple steps which have the potential to bring about significant change. But in those recommendations are some important lessons for leaders seeking to bring about change in a far wider range of sectors.
1. Easy does it
In San Francisco, inspired by the testimonies of young people, the Chief of Police has adopted a trauma informed approach to all arrests. This means that the police now do some very simple things to reduce the traumatic impact on children such as getting down to their level to talk to them or, when possible, giving the offender the chance to say goodbye.
It is easy to be lulled into believing that, because a problem exists and is deeply entrenched, only those with the ability to develop complex and intricate responses will be able to bring about solutions. But sometimes the most powerful responses are simple and straightforward. They just need people willing to get on and do them.
2. There's no I in team
Following on from the report, key charities such as Pact and Banardos, have made a commitment to working in partnership with their local police forces to develop solutions - such as the police providing families with contact details for those charities following a raid.
Leaders seeking to bring about social change can't do it in isolation. We must be able to work in partnership, across sectors and within sectors with 'rival' organisations. This means moving beyond the blame game and developing shared goals. And this will often require leaders who are willing to not take the credit or get all of the recognition they might deserve.
3. Talk isn't cheap
It almost defies belief that until now we have been willing to turn a blind eye to the harm being done to the children and siblings of offenders - and to the impact this has on society as we increase the likelihood of them becoming swept up in the currents of criminality. But it does not take many conversations on the topic to realise that this is because as a society we have a deep-rooted belief that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And unless in the longer-term we tackle this narrative, we will never see really systemic change in how these children are treated.
This is the case for many of our most entrenched social issues, yet 'communications' is still seen by many leaders as an afterthought, the fluff to get around to when the real work has been done. But through communications - changing mind-sets, raising awareness, and bringing together stakeholders - we have a chance to move beyond sticking plasters to long-term solutions.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
21 October 2016
Updated: 04 December 2020
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"People who never make mistakes never make anything. Leaders should not only be assessed by the successes they achieve, but how they handle their failures too. Social leaders should not be afraid to fail."
This slightly counter intuitive statement was made by Prof. Nick Hardwick, who shared his leadership journey at Clore Social’s recent Leaders Now breakfast event.
Nick Hardwick was HM Chief Inspector of Prisons between 2010-16, and previously the first Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Having spent the first half of his career in the voluntary sector, he worked with young offenders for the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, young homeless people for Centrepoint and refugees and asylum seekers for the Refugee Council. He was awarded a CBE in 2010.
The topic of Nick’s talk was one which he has a lot of experience of: making mistakes. If you never make mistakes you are not trying things hard enough was the central message of the talk - and it seemed to be one that resonated with a room full of social sector leaders.
Often we think that tasks prove to be difficult because of our own inadequacy or inability. But, as Nick shared, things are difficult simply because they are meant to be difficult. If you are doing the right things, you will inevitably find yourself making mistakes. “We are too intolerant of failure” said Nick, speaking of leaders across different sectors.
But making mistakes is only half the story. Good leadership is demonstrated in being able to deal with the errors made. “The rule of holes is to stop digging”, Nick reflected, “and to own up when a mistake is made”.
Unfortunately, as Nick pointed out, the bigger the mistake, the harder it is to accept it. As a result, efforts are often directed into proving that an error wasn’t made, rather than correcting it. Leaders in every sector often fall into this trap, but covering up is often worse than the mistake itself, and it is always better to own up to the misstep made.
Great leaders use the help of the people around them to identify errors and these will often take the shape of our opponents. Although Nick has experienced this first hand in the public sector, of which people are quick to condemn, those voices are often right, and a good leader should try to consider these rather than be defensive.
“There are three rules regarding mistakes”, Nick concludes, “Number one - make them. Number two - be prepared to deal with them when they happen. And finally - when they do occur, have the courage to identify them and put them right!”. Important lessons for leaders of a sector which often finds itself in crisis.
Leaders Now is a new event series for social sector leaders. Each month we invite speakers from inside and beyond the sector to share their leadership journeys and encourage debate at the House of St Barnabas. Sign up to our newsletter and look out on our website for news about the 2017 events.
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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
24 August 2016
Updated: 04 December 2020
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Andrew Barnett has been the director of the UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation since 2007 and is the Convenor of the Funders’ Collaboration on the Leadership.
Social sector leadership is an issue that’s close to my heart. I’ve worked with some exceptional individuals during my career: passionate and empathetic, thoughtful and strategic, collaborative, outward looking, with vision and foresight. They’ve not just been effective; they’ve been an inspiration to me. These qualities are found across the 163,000 organisations that make up the sector but not consistently so. Some heading up organisations lack the sort of insightful, collaborative and ‘generous’ leadership that feels so necessary when organisations should be collaborating, rather than competing, in the interests of their beneficiaries. Understandably, the response of some leaders is to retreat in the face of the huge external challenges whilst a tiny few – a small fraction of the total - act in a way that brings discredit on the sector as a whole and the values it stands for.
We have often neglected to invest in developing the next generation of leaders with such investment perhaps regarded as an indulgence. The fragmented nature of the sector – with many smaller charities and a limited number of larger ones – creates conditions in which we just hope and pray for good people rather than identifying and developing them. And this happens at a time when the social sector plays an increasingly important part in the fabric of society and yet faces some of its biggest strategic challenges. We have huge potential to be forces for good if only we can address this deficit.
This was the context for a ‘retreat’ held six months ago in Windsor. The gathering was convened by Sally Bacon from the Clore Duffield Foundation (a pioneer in this field), Sara Llewellin from the Barrow Cadbury Trust and myself from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s UK Branch (another early supporter of Clore Social Leadership) with the support of Shaks Ghosh from Clore Social itself. We were joined by colleagues from thirteen other funders, from the sector’s major umbrella bodies and from government. It was an opportunity for challenge and critical assessment. The big question was how we, as sector “stewards”, could ensure that it was well led and governed now and in the future.
A sense of urgency was hung over our discussions and a number of observations emerged: there is no ‘market place’ where organisations can find affordable and accessible leadership education (and no sign-posting to what exists); for a variety of reasons, demand from the sector itself appears weak (whether driven by short-termism or lack of resource). We felt strongly the need to support charities in their work. This is not just to reclaim their place in the affections of the British public, challenged of late by the behaviours of the tiny few, but to fulfil their potential acting alongside the state and a private sector who share the mantle of meeting the demands and needs of the British public now and in the future. We committed to collaborate on a bold initiative to transform social sector leadership - what some call “pulling all the levers at once” and others as “a collective shot in the arm” - to be delivered within a fixed timeframe but with an impact that lasts beyond the activities themselves (or funding).
The Funders’ Collaboration on Leadership, as it has come to be known, has brought together 50 individuals from funders, umbrella bodies, social sector organisations, and government with the aim of developing innovative and scalable solutions to the problems identified at the retreat. The focus is on four main themes, each of which now has a working party:
- Restoring trust in the voluntary sector.
- Sharing foresight information and preparing the sector for the future.
- Improving the standard of governance by informing and skilling trustees.
- Developing a new leadership style for our sector.
Each working group has been challenged to develop a defined, time-limited experiment that tackles each priority head on. If we can demonstrate evidence of the potential to be transformative, the plan is to prototype, pilot and take each to scale. We have a strong interest in ensuring this initiative adds up to more than the sum of its parts and we will be seeking to link the work of the different groups in ways that create a multiplier effect. We have a strong commitment to avoid duplicating other sector initiatives on governance, leadership and trust, complementing and supplementing them, where we can. We will disseminate the findings from the work and keep the collaborative flame burning with events and communications.
This doesn't happen by accident. It happens because of the commitment of people like Shaks, those who joined us in Windsor and others besides. And, it doesn’t come free. We are pleased that the Office for Civil Society has set aside a budget of £1.7 million for the most innovative projects and the Big Lottery Fund has agreed to match this. This leaves £1.7m to be raised from other sources including trusts and foundations who will be encouraged to trial the approaches with the organisations in their grantee portfolios.
We intend that a real difference is felt by the organisations who make up our sector, those who work with us, who benefit and even those who have been of our detractors of late. We estimate that there are 1.3 million leaders in our sector. To empower them further, we must extend a rich but coordinated offer of support to remarkable people in a context in which their work is not only valued but sought out.
Join in on the conversation with #FundersCollab and keep an eye on both the Calouste Gulbenkian (UK Branch) and Clore Social Leadership pages to stay abreast of the work being done by the Funders’ Collaboration on Leadership.
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