Remaking organisations: a chance to build and share power
Running an organisation is a bit like being a football commentator on the radio. Let me explain.
The game moves so quickly that listeners can find it hard to keep track of the position of the ball. Which half is it in? Are we attacking or defending? One ingenious solution was to put a grid over the pitch and to give each square a number so the commentator can then say “Manchester United are in square 9”.
There is a problem with this approach. Because of goal kicks, the ball spends a lot of time in the six yard box so commentators found they were continuously saying “back to square 1”, which got a bit repetitive.
We’re all back to square 1. Strategies and plans which were painstakingly developed look like artifacts from a bygone time, full of assumptions and aspirations which are no longer feasible or applicable. They look that way because they are. They’re all having to be redone.
Whether you run a museum, a football club or a council, you are being forced to completely change how you do things.
We’re in a precarious position. Decisions which are made over this summer could have profound impacts. The Better Way network challenges us to think about how we are sharing power, rather than hoarding it. This needs to be at the front of our minds as we remake our organisations. We should all be asking ourselves how will we make sure the organisations which we are remaking are sharing power.
Clare Wightman from Grapevine reminds us that we can go further than this. Power is not always a finite resource which needs to be distributed fairly, like slices of a pizza. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it is not. There are times when we can work together in such a way that everyone feels more powerful, where we do not only share out meagre portions of power but create a more confident and powerful community. We can grow things as well as share them out.
I am CEO of a charity called The Peel. Before the lockdown we ran a community centre in Clerkenwell, London. We are now asking ourselves what to do with the centre. It’s important to answer this question and to find an answer where power is shared but the answer is only part of the story.
We have to think about how we are answering the question. Are we developing our strategy in a way that builds community, that brings people together and lifts up all participants, or are we running a series of activities that extract information and views from people, leaving us with a great strategy but leaving participants feeling drained and cynical?
Some of the best football teams have such a developed sense of purpose and trust that players who might have appeared mediocre in other contexts start to shine and excel. We can learn from that. Rather than thinking about how our organisations can win resources and power and then share the spoils, we should ask ourselves how we are building and sharing power everyday.
Thomas Neumark is the CEO of The Peel, a community development charity in Clerkenwell. He is interested in finding ways to make neighbourhoods work for everyone.
