Annual Gathering 2021
We held our annual Gathering this year on 29th November, bringing people together online for the second year running. This was an opportunity to share learning from the past year and help formulate our strategy for the next and beyond in an interactive way.
The theme of the Gathering was ‘Building the Bigger We’. This was the stand out phrase from our 2020 Gathering, and captured the need to build momentum around the principles and behaviours set out in a Better Way by growing the network and spreading the word. Ultimately, we had previously agreed, building a Bigger We would mean a very different kind of world in which:
Everyone is heard and believed in, given a fair opportunity to thrive, and the ability to influence the things that matter to them.
Every community comes together, looks out for each other, respects difference, and enables everyone to belong.
Society as a whole values and invests in everyone and in every community.
A Better Way in turbulent times?
We opened the Gathering by discussing ‘where we are now’, starting with what the network had been doing over the last year. Caroline Slocock, the national co-convenor of A Better Way, explained that the network had grown. We’ve become bigger and more diverse and members have shared ideas and inspiration in more than 50 meetings. We’ve expanded from 680 to 880 people, and our twitter followers have grown from 1,660 to 1,850. Our Time for a Change publication which set out our Better Way model, was warmly received and circulated widely, not least on twitter. More people from across the country, and from many different backgrounds and organisations, are joining us, and our understanding of how to improve services, build community and create a fairer society has deepened as a consequence.
In the wider world, we’ve heard inspiring stories from our members about how a Better Way approach can change how things are done, she said, especially at local level. As the pandemic has shown, mountains can be moved when there is a common purpose and when there are strong relationships within communities and across organisations.
She explained that we’ve also heard that divisions in society have deepened during the pandemic, and it’s becoming harder to challenge injustices. Services are struggling and sometimes failing. Too often, power, which is already in too few hands, is being consolidated, and the voices of those with least power are still not being heard. Faced with this, there is a deep and growing unease about what lies ahead, from global warming to a country and world becoming ever more unequal.
Despite all this, momentum toward a Better Way does seem to be building in many places and in fields of activity, with champions in both the public and voluntary sectors, but this still falls short of the system-wide change, for example in areas like health and social care, which will move us closer to our ultimate vision.
We then asked the Gathering whether they recognised this picture and what they were doing and feeling at this time. Breakout groups reported back that the picture painted above did resonate and they agreed that at the outset of the pandemic, despite the challenges, people had pulled together and there was an optimism about the potential to shift to a better way of working, as people took more risks and joined forces and achieved things at much greater speed. However, they also said:
There is now enormous pressure on those we serve and massive challenges in the community. Trust is also breaking down and social division is growing. We need to ‘lean in to trust building’.
There is an issue of resilience for people trying to bring about change, with an increase in demand while resources are getting even tighter, and some loss of optimism. Under pressure, some organisations are reverting to type, with ‘management by Gant chart.’ And it can be hard to keep in mind the bigger picture when faced with the short-term, sometimes fear-driven, focus of the media.
Relationships were identified as being very important, but are not always seen to be so, and competition for resources could also be undermining, we were told. Lots of people in the network are seeking to apply Better Way principles and behaviours but get stuck when talking to decision-makers who don’t see relationships as important.
We heard of some local authorities that are consciously trying to build on the relationships established through the pandemic. Newham was creating, for example, an anti-poverty alliance. It is clear that the statutory sector’s lead is very important. We also heard about the Time for Kids initiative in Surrey which had grown out of a small group of positive people from across the statutory and voluntary sectors who wanted to work together to achieve a better way.
New technology had helped connect some people, but were we listening to everybody?
Networks like a Better Way which allow for peer-to-peer conversations were seen as very important to building resilience among those seeking to drive change.
In an online poll taken during the Gathering, over 70% felt that momentum for a Better Way is rising (8% fast, 65% slowly), a quarter felt it is about the same and 3% said it is falling slowly.
The key messages that came out of the discussion were: ‘be intentional about making change happen’, go where the energy is’, ‘get out there and reduce the distance’, ‘build on positive relationships’, and seek to ‘create constellations out of single points of light.’
Behaviours for a Better Way
In the second session, which was introduced by our Convenor in the North, Laura Seebohm, we heard about what the network had learnt through its discussions over the course of the year about the four behaviours for a Better Way - putting relationships first, sharing and building power, listening to each other and joining forces.
David Robinson
Putting relationships first
David Robinson from the Relationships Project, the ‘thought leader’ for our Putting Relationships First cell, explained that we had held five sessions with lively discussions:
Some of the key points coming out of the discussion are featured in the draft document circulated for the Gathering, and are shown here.
We had heard of many really good things happening in this area, David said. Over 2021, we had also been taking stock regularly, up and down the country, about the impact of the pandemic. It was clear we are still on a very uncertain course, and that there is likely to be a long, long tail with ‘deep tissue damage’. The challenge we have faced is to turn a common sense idea into common practice, he said, and move from ‘one place wonders’ to good examples being everywhere. We are accustomed to campaigning against things we oppose, and are less good at campaigning ‘with the grain’, elevating the importance of relationships. When a social worker, for example, puts relationships first, we say that s/he ‘goes the extra mile’, but we need to change this so that behaviour is seen as the ‘first mile’. Barriers to this happening are multiple, from culture, leadership models and systems, and he agreed that the challenges are getting bigger. To move forward, it’s important to demonstrate human qualities ourselves and build trust and share power. We can move from ‘Me to We’ and increase social capital, he concluded. The window that had been opened in the early stages of Covid-19 as people supported each other is still open.
Some of the comments from the discussion that followed in breakout groups and plenary included:
Relationship-building is critical but tends to be ‘stamped out’ by command and control practices and targets. This can be changed by consciously changing the norms e.g. by including relationship building in job descriptions.
‘Relationships on their own aren’t enough of course, but making them a core operating principle, rather than the ‘fluffy extra’ is the point.’
‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’, so don’t start with strategies when trying to change things, address the culture. But ‘relationships eat them both for dinner!’ one person suggested.
Leaders have the power and responsibility to set a new culture. This quote from Prof Edgar Schein was provided by one participant: "The only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture. If you do not manage culture, it manages you, and you may not even be aware of the extent to which this is happening."
Change is a continuous process. It must involve informal as well as formal behaviours.
‘People are the air within the Better Way “beach-ball” [i.e. the behaviours model] – their whole lives – not just the bits we can deal with.’
Sharing and Building Power
Sue Tibballs from the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, the ‘thought leader’ for our Sharing and Building Power cell, reflected on what we had learnt over the course of the year, with some key points set out in the draft document circulated for the Gathering shown below.
Sue Tibballs
Sue explained that the cell had discussed these topics:
Authentic voices, hearing from Jude Habib from Sound Delivery and Brenda Buringi and Amanda Hailles, both of whom talked about how Sound Delivery had helped them to take on leadership roles as people with lived experience and how important these voices are. It was right, Sue said, to start with these voices.
How power works and the tools we need, drawing on learning from SMK’s wider work which was to be launched in December 2021.
How to build inclusive and equitable communities around a common cause.
How to unlock the power of imagination, including the power of the arts, for example Forum Theatre which can help homeless people reimagine their lives.
How to challenge abuses of power, including by practising ‘servant leadership’ rather than making citizens a servant of powerful institutions.
It is really difficult to change the culture, she concluded. At the heart of all this, she said, it’s important to understand power and become more literate in how it works. Power is not binary, as we tend to think, happening on one side only. The key is not so much about giving power away as recognising that we all have power and must use that power conscientiously and well. Sharing and building power is fundamental to the three other behaviours in the Better Way model - putting relationships first, listening to each other and joining forces - and these behaviours are critical to sharing and building power, so much so you could almost think of the latter as an overarching, core principle.
Some of the comments from the discussion that followed in breakout groups and plenary included:
It’s important to be reflective about the power we have and use it wisely, but also allow ourselves to be challenged in a good way by community power.
‘Given we are saying that being power aware is in part recognising that we are all limited by our own experience and so we need to ensure there is real diversity of experience in the ‘room’ if we are to have a chance of really understanding.’
‘For sharing power to be real within an organisation it needs a culture within the organisation that supports that effort and that culture needs to be the same for all in the organisation and not just some.’ The right culture includes being able to share vulnerabilities - genuinely being allowed to share and express when things didn’t work as expected and to learn from this.
It helps when sharing power to also have clarity of purpose, clear objectives and focus. Large organisations inevitably become hierarchical, but this can be mitigated by the potential use of distributive leadership.
‘Reflecting on what I've heard, I think there is a need to try to articulate what 21st century leadership is/can be. Greta Thunberg is a fantastic example of this. Undoubtedly a leader, but starting with absolutely no positional power. Personal power can achieve so much in a positive way.’
The four behaviours are heavily inter-related.
Karin Woodley
Listening to each other
Karin Woodley from Cambridge House, the ‘thought leader’ for our Listening to Each Other cell, then reflected on what we had learnt in the five discussions during 2021 on these themes:
Recruiting the right people, those best placed to listen and act on what they hear.
Using citizens’ scientists and other techniques in research and policy-making.
Karin said that cells had explored how to create respectful relationships where it is possible to listen deeply and each had focused on different ways to address failures in the existing process in order to use experience to change policy.
Some of the key points from these discussions are included here.
She said that ‘radical listening’ meant stopping the normal ‘intellectual sorting’ process and ‘unlearning’ how we lead. In order to truly realise the transformative nature of relationship building and listening, we must radically change how we listen, recognising that ‘we are not the specialists’ and being quiet and resisting the temptation to speak and sum up. It is especially important to listen to people who have been pushed to one side and remain voiceles in the pandemic, amplifying their power.
Some of the comments from the discussion that followed in breakout groups and plenary included:
Proper listening requires time and space. ‘Post-Covid panic can mean there is even more pressure to find 'solutions' when in fact Covid had demonstrated that we need to spend time and allocate resources to empowering lived experience voices.
We must reach out to the crucial people who are too often overlooked. Generalised language, such as ‘young people’, can obscure groups who are being excluded from the conversation. ‘Listening is critical when diverse communities are concerned. Now we have many mechanisms to engage but we need varied methods for understanding what we are listening to.’
Listening can surface conflict and anger. We need to get conflict out in the open and not suppress it. And also listen to others with courtesy and respect, which can be hard in the currently toxic environment. ‘When we are unheard, we shout. When our unmet needs remain unacknowledged, we express them in the language of judgement and blame.’ ‘The trick is not to get emotionally hijacked by others' anger; that's what enables us to remain courteous and to listen.’
‘Not all communities shout when they are poorly served - many I work with retreat into greater silence and despair….Hard to reach groups tend to be very easily found in the criminal justice system.’ And another comment: ‘Hard to reach means easy to ignore’.
‘Trust in listening processes frequently requires all people in the conversation to share lived experience.’ People also have to trust that their voice will really be heard.
‘The language has been hijacked and that is a problem. Co-production and recovery are words with radical roots, and they need to retain their radical meanings to prevent disingenuous and disengaged consequences.’
‘There are forces that are dangerously and deliberately whipping up people's fears and spreading misinformation - we see it on vaccines, refugees, a backlash to Black Lives Matter etc. So while we need to reach out and engage communities we also have to be wise and savvy and seek to challenge and minimise negative voices.’
‘If listening is a process and not an event then it needs to be a continual relationship and dialogue that includes action and delivery. Often we listen at the “what is the problem” stage, conducted by those who aren't the arbiters of the resources, who filter and filter what they have heard, and then the dialogue stops as the powerful go away and design the solution. Which they then "consult" on in processes designed to affirm their assumptions, and by which time it is too late to change.’
Cate Newnes-Smith
Joining Forces
Cate Newnes-Smith from Surrey Youth Focus and Time for Kids, the thought leader for our Joining Forces cell, then shared her reflections on the discussion held over the year on these topics:
Dealing with imbalances and inequalities when joining forces.
Joining forces across sectors, particularly with the private sector.
Joining forces to inspire, rather than to control.
Some key messages from these discussions are shown here.
Cate said that the key lesson she had learnt during these discussions was the difference between true collaboration and partnership; and explained that in a Better Way we had chosen to speak of ‘joining forces’ because it seemed more active and definite than collaboration. Partnership was a bit like inviting other people to your own party or, when more participative, inviting others to help you throw a party you’ve organised, for example, by bringing food, or helping others to set up their parties. Joining forces, or collaboration, in contrast is much more like a street party, where everyone joins in and the event is organised together.
Some of the comments from the discussion that followed in breakout groups and plenary included:
‘Covid-19 has shown that not working together is not an option, so the question is how to join forces well, not whether.’
‘We are running a race together, but we don’t all cross the line together.’
Power dynamics in collaborations are very important and there needs to be honesty about power imbalances. Relationships and trust are critical and need to be built between the voluntary and statutory sectors.
‘We need to move from a focus on our own organisation to a focus on community i.e. putting the community above our organisation. The bigger the organisation, the harder this becomes. Strict personal KPIs often work against this e.g. spending funding by year end not being in best interest of people served. We need common principles, but not necessarily a common understanding, as that may not be possible when joining forces.’
One breakout group reported that there wasn't agreement around seeking allies in the business world - there was a feeling that people in the public sector have spent too long trying to win hearts and minds there and we should concentrate on powerful allies in civil society.
Three big cross-cutting issues
The next session looked at three big cross-cutting issues that had come out of the many many meetings we held in 2021, with each being introduced by reflections from a speaker.
The first question is:
1. What kind of leaders should we be?
During 2021, we’ve 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? What kind of leaders should we be?
Nick Sinclair
Nick Sinclair who runs the Local Area Co-ordinators Network and Community Catalysts New Social Leaders programme, said he had found that many people had been provoked by the pandemic crisis to ask themselves, ‘What does it mean to be a leader?’
Looking at the example of Local Area Co-ordinators, he thought the key lesson was that when you stop trying to control people and outcomes you allow agency. He told the story of Hugh and Janet who were helped by an Area Co-ordinator, Richard. Hugh has dementia and they reached out for some support which would not involve them separating. Richard spent some time getting to know them, finding out what they wanted, and what they were like. Hugh, it turned out, was a talented carpenter so Richard put them in touch with a timber merchant who provided him with free wood with which Hugh made bird houses. Richard linked him up with community organisations who then auctioned them for charities. What this illustrates is that it is important not to see people as service users, but as citizens and leaders too, Nick said.
He said when he talked to people in his new Social Leaders programme, they often felt like imposters because of a deeply rooted feeling that leadership is about hierarchy and command and control. ‘We can all be leaders and all be followers’, he’d discovered. It all depends on the context and particular knowledge. We should work ‘in a spirit of curiosity to find each other’s potential’. Leading involves being a distributor and builder of power, using the four behaviours in the Better Way model, and becoming a deep listener and facilitator of change. If more of us can model this, the existing model of leadership would change and create the conditions for those at the sharp end to take more control, he concluded.
Here are some of the points made in the subsequent discussion:
As leaders, morals and principles are important, but we can all too easily be pulled into simply being managers - and sometimes it’s easier to retreat into management in a crisis because it is a kind of comfort zone.
Safe spaces for leaders to share thinking and challenges are important - ‘self-reflecting, self-knowledge networks. Too often people feel isolated , under par and overworked.
Faith in the team is required for this kind of Leadership-Followership model, which involves sharing power and shifting the culture. Trust is critical on both sides. A learning culture must be established, which allows people to make mistakes and push at the envelope rather than always getting things right. ‘Part of being a good leader is knowing when to follow, if someone else is already leading on something you want to happen, just follow and it may (or may not) be appropriate that over time you also offer your leadership skills to support.’
Curiosity is an important quality, listening before acting. Empathy is needed, but we must start with ourselves.
Leadership is not just something you do at work, you can be a leader in normal life. ‘I'm interested in the statement "when we become leaders." Isn't that old school thinking of leadership being about a position in an organisations? When did Greta become a 'leader'? The moment she sat down outside the parliament, on her own with a placard?’
Leaders have to develop facilitation and convening skills, and not avoid the difficult issues. ‘I think that leaders have to be able to hold all sides where trust has broken down or been damaged. This might mean we have to challenge our own "morals and values", and those of our organisations.’
‘With increasing diversity within the UK population, how do we harness what that brings to the table and change it brings to leadership debate.’ ‘I would add that diversity needs more than representation, it needs to be deliberately inclusive. Also that without acknowledging the inherent inequalities of the structure, we cannot truly shift the leadership role.’
‘EDI without Justice is like football without a goal. You can substitute as many players as you want to have different players on the field- but what is the goal? That's why we have a JEDI approach- we foreground the Justice as the goal. Justice is tackling the injustice and inequality and seeking systemic change....’
‘Inclusion inevitably means we're working to replace ourselves with more people who share lived experience of inequity and cultural and social stigma but sometimes it’s important to invest in those people, where that is needed to allow equitable engagement.’
‘Feminist leadership principles - self awareness, self care, dismantling bias, inclusion, sharing power, responsible and transparent use of power, accountable collaboration, respectful feedback, courage and zero tolerance - work for me.’
‘This might be controversial, but I think there's a lot of talk about leadership at the moment and maybe not enough about managing the highly complex environment we are in. I think management needs re-imagining even more than leadership does. But we can't avoid that because it has to be done.’
‘Good looks like leading in your mission and values, not just leading your business. Agree we need to work on building trust, we lack brilliant convening and, in some ways, more importantly facilitation skills for building justice focused collaboration, in braver spaces...’
How to counter the existing ‘command and control’ model? - here’s what one breakout group said:
Overall – call it out and don’t be complicit in it – don’t be sucked in to processes that are tokenistic or window dressing.
We must understand our own bias, experiences and values as that will be informing our beliefs and approach.
When we are in roles that have perceived power, we must recognise that and be mindful of it.
Our systems need a mix of generalists and specialists.
What does representative leadership look like and how do we build greater representation – that should be a core function of leadership.
We can’t forget that leaders are human too – it’s important we understand the fears and vulnerabilities of people in power.
Leadership is often about helping groups build a shared understanding.
Beware when people are taking concepts and “doing” them without any care or respect for the underpinning methodology or philosophy of the approach – if you take away or ignore too many pieces.
2. How can we unlock our humanity and imagination?
In our meetings over the last year, we’ve 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?
Phoebe Tickell
Phoebe Tickell from Moral Imaginations explained that through Moral Imaginations she was working with civil society organisations, local authorities and communities to embed imagination into place.
Imagination is an extremely powerful force for change, she said, 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.
Children are naturally imaginative as we can see when they play, but ‘imagination gets colonised’ in the pursuit of ‘one right answer’ and we end up with ‘cookie-cutter’ brains. As a consequence, imagination is sidelined into entertainment and is often only reserved for some people in our society who work in the arts, for example. But we all need imagination, so ‘we need to de-colonise and re-wild our imaginations’.
To do this, we require:
Dedicated time and space as adults to imagine.
Permission (which is often withheld in a performance culture, where people may fear humiliation or being laughed at if they exercise imagination).
Help through portals and exercises, which unlocks not just the brain but also feeling.
In the subsequent discussion, these were some of the points made:
Story-telling is a powerful technique to unlock imagination and humanity. It can be much more effective than simply trying ‘to fight policy with policy’.
‘We share more in common than appears…we need to start dreaming again. Martin Luther King din’t have a plan, he had a dream.’
‘When I was working as a theatre director often the most important thoughts and breakthroughs came as we had a pint outside of the rehearsal room exactly because one's brains work differently when out of the very instrumental work environment and we were being more ruminative. As Pheobe says our brains really do have different ways of working and it is important to tap in all its ways.’
‘There was agreement about the importance of time and space, and also permission to get into that space.
We should get people to try, and win over hearts and minds that way. These shifts need day-in-day-out practice.
Good faith is important in helping people who disagree with each other to find common ground.
‘This is really hard for people who simply feel they cannot imagine a different life. Creativity is necessarily about being open to change – it takes time and tending to – sometimes also being held. It’s also about conflict… of the individual grappling with their own story, of organisations trying to change, of creating more empathy and tolerance. Collective imagination can help to centre equity into contexts through story-telling and deep understanding.’
One breakout group talked about the difference between different people and their ability to access imagination and creativity - and how that does differ naturally between people. We also talked about the journey of realising over 10 or 20 years that your imagination and creativity are important and to believe in them. We also touched on the importance of collective intelligence and imagination in teams.
3. How can we remove the roadblocks?
In the course of the last year, we’ve 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?
Kristian Tomblin
Kristian Tomblin from Devon County Council explained that he had worked for 15 years in a commissioning role for services for people with complex needs, including the victims of sexual violence. Five years ago he had started a listening exercise and concluded that he was complicit in a service architecture that causes harm. He and others were heavily invested in managerialism and target cultures, and found it hard to imagine beyond what we already practised and thought. The focus was on service optimisation.
Reflecting on how to break down this culture, he said change starts with us, echoing the final Better Way principle. ‘We change the system by changing ourselves’, he explained.
It is important to listen, and not just to make that an add on. This is the real work, not a distraction from it. You need to make time for it, go out and ‘make stories visible’ and don’t just talk to people who agree with you. The currency of achieving is learning, he said. The only rules should be ‘don’t break the law and do no harm’. He tells people he works with to experiment, test and learn, build community and show more empathy.
Change goes viral when empathy is deployed, he concluded, quoting Andy Brogan:
‘Trust is the outcome. Empathy is the practice.
Since behaviour is reciprocal . ..
If we want more change then we should show more empathy.
Change goes viral when empathy is the vector.’
Here are some of the points made in the following discussion:
Recognising we are part of the problem is a good starting point, and empathy must start with ourselves in order to find genuine authenticity.
It’s important to listen to people’s stories and develop an ‘empathetic ear’.
"Be the change" - Ghandi.
Time-wasting can be a major block to change - it is a well-known technique for those who resist change to string things out in order to dissipate energy.
You need to go where the energy is, rather than butting your head against a wall. Seek out the people who want to do things differently and work with them. But don’t avoid the difficult issues, or conflict.
Crises, like the pandemic, can help to unblock the road blocks.
‘One of the benefits of the pandemic for those of us privileged to be in roles that allow it, is the opportunity to think differently about our life balance (I don't like the juxtaposition of "work/life balance"). We can use our time to make ourselves as effective as possible as leaders. For me, exercise is essential to this: meditative cycling and climbing which is a complete distraction.’
Take time to tune in and understand the true dynamics and develop a map of the blocks and enablers, visible and invisible.
You need to give real permission to create a learning culture, as making mistakes can often end up being punished.
‘Positive dissenters are our friends..’
We need accountability frameworks to ensure change happens and that those with power cannot restrict the pace or extent of change.
Values matter but the practices we actually follow matter more in making change happen.
‘The importance of trust and reaching out, building bridges and being organisations comfortable with bringing together unusual suspects to make change happen and to bridge points of different for common benefit.’
‘The voluntary sector can be good at challenging others but less itself and when seeking common ground it can sometimes find a superficial place of agreement’.
Where next?
Steve Wyler, the national co-convenor of A Better Way, explained that we want to build on what we’ve learnt in 2021 and take our work to an even higher level, adapting and changing as we have all along, in order to build a Bigger We. We’ve heard how much our members value the opportunity in our network to share and inspire each other, he said.
The experience of Covid-19 has shown the potential to do things differently and challenges such as global warming and growing poverty demonstrate that we must, explained. We want to grasp the opportunity to widen the conversation, increase our impact and promote systems change. So, subject to the views of the Gathering, Steve said that we plan to:
Continue with our existing four cells based on the Better Way model, and support regional or local groups where there is appetite for this.
Set up discussions on the three big cross-cutting questions set out above and also where people tell us they want to work together to tackle common issues and, if there’s an appetite, run a series.
Building on our roundtable in October 2021 on social care, hold further roundtables on major services and systems and seek subsequent opportunities to influence wider change and bring new people into the network.
Continue with discussions without formal agendas including our twice monthly drop-in meetings for new members and existing ones who want to touch base, and also look for other opportunities to deepen relationships between members..
Experiment with different types of meetings – including collective imagination spaces.
In a poll, 85% of participants said this work programme was about right. Here are some comments left in the chat bar:
‘I really like the programme for next year. However, I would also like to have discussions within Better Way about how our principles and behaviours can be applied to some of the specific cultural and societal challenges that threaten to undermine the achievement of the Better Way. These are wider than the systems and structures we directly work in.’
‘Yes I agree. Some that I see include: healthy use of social media for young people, the belief that owning expensive stuff/brands (cars, trainers, etc) makes you happier, how do we help young people have healthier attitudes towards body image, etc.’
‘Whilst I appreciate that being online has helped Better Way widen and reach out, nonetheless it would be really good to have the face-to-face meetings back please.’
‘Is it time for "thought leadership' to become very practical and start running issue-processing sessions for members?’
We then talked about how to increase our influence, with Steve and Caroline outlining their initial thoughts. As our network grows, so do the opportunities for distributed leadership. We hope to discover even more ways for members to play a part in widening and diversifying the network, strengthening its influence and helping it become a catalyst for wider change, they said. For example, we hope to:
Publish a book of essays and articles by our members early next year.
Identify thought leaders for new cells.
Encourage members to spread the word and bring new people into the network, including across the UK.
Establish a new role of Better Way ‘connectors’ for this purpose, and some may even establish new cells in their areas.
Create twitter campaigns encouraging our members to take part.
Explore the idea of ‘buddying’ for members who want to more actively support each other.
We will also be investigating new ways to secure the future of the network, including options for longer term funding, putting the network on a more sustainable footing while also maintaining a light touch and responsive way of working.
Some points made by members in response included:
‘Strengthening each other to do better may be a sufficient role and is an important purpose.’
‘Over the longer term, be ambitious. This is not a quick fix.’
‘We are wondering about, how we connect with other similar networks, if we could produce some "so what" pieces, and if we should attempt to engage with those who disagree.’
‘I would be happy to help grow the influence of the network including joining Twitter conversations and coming to small meetings to explain the Better Way’s work to influential people.’
‘Today's society is dictated by media and politics. Tomorrow's society could be very different. Connected deeply to itself at every level and in open conversation with itself. Storytelling/networks/culture and independent media are part of this networked society, they help to enable it. Better Way could be part of a larger conversation around this society in transition.’
‘A campaign of letters to all our MPs about Better Way work and principles and inviting conversations with them and leading to roundtables hosted by them.’
‘A Better Way “training camp”.’
‘The mix of people who contribute to Better Way is really helpful. I still think the role of Better Way as a safe, yet challenging place for discussion is good - “re-wilding the conversation”.’
‘We do have to target the politicians … we also need to draw in more younger leaders so that they can draw strength and challenge as we do from the Network.”
‘It would be great to encourage links between Better Way members around practical challenges - that helps roots our discussions, which sometimes can get a little bit high level and esoteric in the real world challenges we are all facing. The essays can be a start to this.’
‘We should also perhaps acknowledge more that there are other networks and sources of insight and expertise that have overlap and with whom we could forge common cause around our principles and concerns.’
In an online poll, 70% said the network should continue beyond the end of 2022 , 30% said they didn’t know, and nobody said it should not continue.
Concluding remarks
Sufina Ahmad
Sufina Ahmad, the Director of the John Ellerman Foundation which supports a Better Way, made some concluding remarks. She said she had personally valued the space created by the network even before the Foundation became involved, and this was her third annual Gathering. Three points particularly struck her from this year:
Language really matters, it can make things worse, be taken out of context, and can lead to culture wars. She was heartened to take part in a deep and thoughtful conversation today about language, e.g. the language of beneficiaries and grantees, looking at the ancestry of language, what it really means, avoiding practices like greenwashing.
Resilience had emerged as a key issue - people had always been stretched paper thin, but now vulnerability was being pushed to new levels, particularly as a result of the pandemic. Sharing power and leadership can help sustain us and help us challenge notions of leadership and support new forms.
Earlier in her life, she had focused on her personal independence, but building a ‘Bigger We’ really resonated with her now. We need to build a better form of ‘interdependence’ and find the right relationships to pursue the good life. But are we doing enough to build this inter-dependence? The network has a wide membership, but it is still missing huge swathes - for example, campaigners. As we build a Bigger We, we need to bring them into the conversation.
What people value about a Better Way: quotes from the event
During one break in the Gathering we asked people what they valued about A Better Way, and here are some of the things they said:
‘Meeting new people from diverse sectors with similar values, hopes and fears.’
‘The opportunity to learn from others which means that my own ideas evolve and improve. I've learned a massive amount from Better Way meetings.’
‘I’m a new to the Better Way Network, and tripped over you. But it’s been brilliant to discover a whole swathe of people across the country who are chewing through and finding their way through this dichotomy between service-led solutions and community-empowerment.’
‘I value having my brain expanded by Better Way and discussing ideas and concepts above the day to day. I also value the wide variety of experiences from across the country (mostly England I think, we could benefit from some more pan-UK experiences) and the relentless optimism that people have!’
‘l always value from Better Way the embrace of thinking, passionate people, and the evolution of the ideas here that keep on being able to provoke as well as nurture my own.’
‘I enjoy encountering a variety of different people and diverse range of views. And it would be good to go beyond platitudes. I have in mind hearing from others about how they've overcome problems like listening to people they don't typically speak to, or clarifying what collaboration means in practice, or saying what a culture is and what it's not, or saying how trust was rebuilt, or describing how they reached innovative breakthroughs and so on. Powerful stories like these provide a rich source of learning me thinks.’
‘I have benefited from the wonderful relationships that I have built, that have helped me believe in myself. I am a very different person from who I was 4 years ago. My ideas and beliefs are ever changing - surfacing new issues/ideas, making sense of them, embedding them into my practice, then believing them. Better Way is a key contributor to my evolving thinking.’
‘Better Way is like jumping into a wild hot spring in winter with the fascination of new depths and a reassuring temperature of thinking that connects you to find purpose with others.’
‘Solidarity with challenge. Leadership without ego.’
‘I really value being in a safe space and place. Being able to listen to different perspectives. seeing ‘old familiar’ places but also new ad different ones. National perspectives. Thoughtful contributions. Brain food.’
‘I love Better Way Network spaces and events - always leave with great brain food.’
‘Always great energy and lots to reflect on.’
‘For me personally one of the benefits I have taken and continue today to take from A Better Way is that it is the one of the key (and few) places where I have been able to learn, have my skills upgraded and, found support and fellow feeling as a leader. I think that should be an acknowledged purpose of the Network.”
And a challenge:
‘This is my first time to the “Better Way” network event - Just want to understand if Better Way is one of the many power systems that may be contributing or maintaining current structural divisions or equip within it culture to embrace those voices to make shared and meaningful change. How many in this space want to give up some of that power that make your lifestyle comfortable!’
Before the Gathering, we also circulated a survey to members and reported back on the results at the Gathering. Everyone who responded said they like the Better Way principles, with 83% saying 'very much'. 94% of respondents also told us they like the model of change which sets out our four behaviours for helping to realise those principles. Comments include: ‘incredibly useful’, ‘I use this regularly in my work’, ‘meaningful no matter what sector you are from’, ‘very much about how as well as what.’ When asked whether the network should continue, 89% said that they believed it should and nobody said it should not.