Bulletin #8, October 2018

Our national gathering in July attracted people from across the country, and one thing was striking. The level of determination, energy and ambition among Better Way members is very high. 

Perhaps that is because, against all the odds, something is in the air. We can sense a positive shift in thinking and practice. Across our network and beyond, we see signs of it.

This growing realisation, that many people are now attempting to build momentum for hopeful change, and that many are poised to go further, is what lies behind our Call to Action, which we will launch on 29th November.

Our bulletin is full of examples – we hope you will enjoy exploring them.

Please forward this bulletin to others who may be interested, and if you are not yet part of a Better Way group but would like to be, just let us know. 

Steve Wyler and Caroline Slocock

About A Better Way

We are a network of people across society, calling for a radical shift to liberate the power of connection and community. Together we have drawn up some simple principles, and our members are using them to challenge business as usual.  The network is hosted by Civil Exchange, in partnership with Carnegie UK Trust and is also supported by Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. You can find out more here: http://www.betterway.network/. 

A Better Way ‘call to action’ - an invitation

On 29 November, 10.30-12.30, in London, we will launch a Better Way Call to Action. This has been produced with members, is grounded in real-life experience, and sets out actions to:

·       Share power with people and communities;

·       Change practices to help people thrive, not just cope;

·       Change organisations to focus on communities and solutions;

·       Create collaborative leadership to achieve systemic change.

You are warmly invited to join us – just email Alison@carnegieuk.org  to find out more/book your place.

Beyond command and control

If you have ever come across the work of John Seddon at Vanguard you will know it is often provocative and always insightful.  His new book Beyond Command and Control is a must-read for anyone concerned with service design and delivery. As he explains, we have been failed by conventional methods:  standardisation, target setting, budget management, inspection and the rest. But, starting with a though understanding of what creates value for people, we can design systems which meet need and drive down costs. 

John Seddon will join a Better Way discussion on 12 November, 2-5pm in central London to explore this with us. Places are limited to 12 people, and to make the session really productive we would like everyone to read the book beforehand (copies can be provided). Please email Alison@carnegieuk.org  by 16 October if you would like to come.

Better way thinking and practice

Better Way for organisations.  Many of our members are using Better Way principles to help them bring about change within their own organisations.  One example is Polly Neate at Shelter. More here.

Better Way for systems change. Leaders from public services (council, health, police) as well as schools and charities, have come together for the first time in Surrey to produce a shared plan for work with young people , starting with ‘being crazy about the kid….’  More here.

Better Way in a neighbourhood.  In Bentley in Doncaster a group of local residents have produced a Better Way magazine, telling a hopeful story about the place they are proud to live in.  More here.

Common cause – what others are doing

National government. The communities framework published by the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) seeks to foster connectedness and local pride, active citizenship and local control, shared community spaces, and shared prosperity.

Local government. The New Local Government Network’s Community Paradigm report has been receiving a great deal of attention. It is encouraging to know that there are plenty of people in the world of local government who realise things must change, and indeed are willing to have a go. 

Civil society. The independent inquiry into the future of civil society proposed a PACT, a shift in behaviours, attitudes and practices to help address the big challenges we face. Members of the inquiry team have now produced a What Next report on how to build further momentum for this.

Labour party. The title of Labour’s civil society strategy, From Paternalism to Participation, declares a positive intention to move well beyond the municipal models of the past, and at the launch Steve Reed acknowledged the influence of the Better Way in shaping this strategy.

More ‘must reads’

Human connection. Hilary Cottam’s book Radical Help argues that the twentieth century welfare system is beyond reform and what is needed is a new model with human connection at its heart. Here an article gives a flavour.

Enabling state. Since 2013 the Carnegie UK Trust has been setting out an agenda for a very different approach to government, which it called the ‘enabling state’.  In this report it sets out what progress has been achieved, with comparisons across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Models of care. The Buurtzorg  model, in Holland, where neighbourhood care is provided to people in their own homes by small local teams, operating within a highly decentralised organisational structure, has been much admired.  But attempts to replicate this in the UK have struggled – here the Kings Fund explains why.

What our members and others are saying

Commissioning. It’s time for clarity about cost, price and the real effects of competition, says Better Way co-founder Kathy Evans.  ‘There is a common assumption that more competitive markets create more competitors. In fact the opposite is true.’ More here.

Collaboration. Sue Tibballs, from the Sheila McKecknie Foundation, argues that collaboration is all about trust in others, and about ceding some control.  More here.

Charitable grantmaking. In this blog,  Sufina Ahmed asks whether the charitable funding sector, as a whole, stands ready and able to share power. 

Strategies for social change. Any charity which seeks to change public attitudes, policy or society must learn from Extinction Rebellion, says Martin Brookes in this article.

Technology.  Digital technology is seen as the enemy by many people who want to bring human warmth to empathy-starved services.  But that attitude is wrong and limiting, argues Nick Stanhope in this blog.

And finally…

Many thanks to member Lawrence Walker for sharing this brilliant parable about two organisations, one called Hubris, and the other called Humility. Both were set up to help individuals and families affected by alcohol and other drug problems. But as their names suggest, they had very different cultures. And, no surprise, the results they produced were very different. We are sure you will enjoy this story, and will want to pass it on to others.