Putting relationships first: working relationally with communities
The topic dicussed in this meeting of the relationships cell on 13 July 2022 was working relationally with communities. As public bodies seek to plug into community power, how can they do this in a ‘relational’ rather than an ‘extractive’ way? The risk for public bodies, as they try to help communities build connection and strengthen relationships, is that they try to turn voluntary organisations and community groups into instruments, rather than letting them do what they do best, or that they are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of relationships they have to build.
Our opening speakers were David Robinson from the Relationships Project, who is our thought leader for this group, Lara Rufus-Fayemi, the Strategic Partnerships and Engagement Manager at Newham Council, and Paul White, from e-culture solutions. David told the group about the work from the Relationships Project’s Relational Councils Network, a peer learning space for anyone working in or with local authorities seeking to make relationships the central operating principle. Lara talked about the work Newham Council is doing to create people powered places. Paul, who is a former Chief Technology Officer at Devon County Council, is now working with the voluntary sector in Devon to help transform the relationship with the public sector and unlock community power. He talked about the untapped (and undervalued) potential of the sector and lessons from what is happening in Integrated Care Systems now in Devon.
Key points made by the speakers and in discussion include:
Relational councils are drawing on this Relationships Framework, which includes good advice about how to build strong relationships with the community. Relationships need to be nurtured at many levels, from relationships with colleagues to communities to the places and spaces in which people meet, as shown in this slide.
There are many cultural and other barriers which need to be addressed by the public sector, from institutional language which is not centred in real lives and prevents good communication, lack of the time needed to build trust with communities, too much bureaucracy, to turnover of staff just when good relationships are formed, to underfunding of the voluntary and community sector to do the important role that they play.
There’s a need to develop a more relational language, listening, focusing on people’s lives, not jargon, and allowing local people to tell and celebrate their stories. It can help to engage champions within the community to deliver messages.
Newham Council has set up a permanent, ground-breaking Citizens Assembly to learn about what matters to local people, and is also trying to establish people-powered communities by setting up local community assemblies which engage in decision-making about how funds should be spent in their area. They are also working with UCL to train up local people as ‘citizen scientists’ to research their own communities. They remunerate citizens who take part in these exercises and provide technical support to help them participate.
Lara set out a series of principles for how to work with communities, which are set out in her blog about creating people-powered places here, including focusing on the people first and finding common cause, taking calculated risks, being open, investing in funding and time and really listening.
Place has to be considered holistically and a conscious effort made to engage everyone, not just the groups that are first to come forward. It’s important to look at the collective resources in a community but often knowledge of local groups is sketchy at best, Paul told us. He said that there were 6,500 registered voluntary organisations in his area, including social enterprises, with considerable potential to help the public sector to meet the high levels of unmet demand that exist. He is setting up a local directory to help in this. Local businesses are part of the community and should be engaged too.
Lack of resources in the voluntary sector to engage is an issue, they are already very stretched and their capacity to take part is often taken for granted by public bodies. Grants to help them engage in the Integrated Care System, for example, are essential. Too much paperwork should be avoided.
Time has to be invested to truly understand the community and what motivates them, and it is very unlikely to work if responsibilities are contracted out to consultants from outside the community, as trust is key.
Training can help to ensure local people have the skills to engage.
You have to take all of your team with you on this journey.
It’s important to be honest about power imbalances and find ways of ‘holding the space differently’ which allow local people to be the vehicle for change, not an instrument.
Accessing community power, when it is done well, has the potential for the public sector to address deep-seated issues such as poverty much more effectively and to address needs which are currently unmet.