Note from an online roundtable: Coronavirus - building community and connection 4
4th Meeting to inform Danny Kruger’s proposals for the Prime Minister
Held on Thursday 9th July 3.00-4.30pm.
Founding Better Way member Danny Kruger MP was invited by the Prime Minister to ‘develop proposals to maximise the role of volunteers, community groups, faith groups, charities and social enterprises, and contribute actively to the government’s levelling up agenda.’
Building on recent network discussions we produced a draft paper which we shared with Danny as work in progress. This meeting, attended by 74 Better Way members, was an opportunity to further inform Danny’s proposals, and also to help the Better Way feed in thinking to other politicians in this space.
As a result of the meeting, which Danny joined at the end, we produced this 2-page paper which is a summary of our thinking on what government can do to support connection and community.
Note from an online roundtable: Coronavirus - building community and connection 3
Note of a third online roundtable on the coronavirus crisis and the power of connection and community, 18 June 2020
Summary
We started with speakers who set the scene, then went into four breakout groups, and came back into a plenary discussion in which the groups reported back. The key messages were:
A common purpose in the Covid-19 crisis is driving collaboration. Can we create a future common purpose as we emerge from the crisis?
The surge in mutual aid, and the Black Lives Matter protests, have raised fundamental questions about the role of many institutions. A shift in power, and a letting go, is clearkly required. But there will be resistance.
The state and charities have a tendency to ‘colonise’ human connections to validate their own work. But we know from excellent examples it need not be like this.
The recent procurement guidelines have encouraged collaboration rather than competition, and these need to be maintained.
The role of local community anchors as ‘cogs of connection’ has been undervalued. And we need to better appreciate the different roles that individuals, community groups, established voluntary agencies, businesses, as well as local and national government can best play.
2. In more detail
Caroline Slocock, co-convenor of the Better Way, introduced the discussion. She explained that this was a third meeting on Covid19 and the power of connection and community. Our Call to Action for a Better Way called for a radical shift to liberate the power of connection and community and in recent weeks across the country we have seen inspiring examples of this, despite physical distancing.
The discussions have highlighted both opportunity and danger. Many of the things we have set out in our Call to Action (collaborative leadership, sharing power, changing organisations and shifting practices in favour of human relationships) are happening, sometimes faster and better than we could have imagined. There has been more solidarity and sense of purpose, flexibility, creativity, a speed of response, new connections and collaborations, as well as more humanity and kindness. But the future is more likely to be a negative one, with more inequality, more command and control, and more suffering. So what can we do collectively and individually to turn this into a moment where things go better in the future, not worse? And in particular this meeting will consider how we can we build on the collaborative leadership that is already happening, to change for good.
Nick Plumb, Locality
Nick highlighted findings from the new Locality report ‘We were built for this’. Local collaborative relationships are being built in many places, driven in part by shared purpose across sectors and across public agencies. Collaboration has especially flourished where there were pre-existing relationships with community organisations. Community organisations were often able to take the lead and move quickly, not waiting to ask permission. National procurement guidance issued at beginning of the crisis allowed greater flexibility and this also helped to create favourable conditions for partnership.
The report contains recommendations on community powered economic recovery, on ways of turning community spirit into community power, and on collaborative public services. These include a shift from the competitive mind-set which has underpinned public services for many years to a new collaborative mind-set. In the wake of a decade of cuts in public spending the report calls for a review of local government finance including new fiscal powers to reverse cuts to preventative services, and tackle inequality. The recent very welcome cabinet office guidance on procurement should be further embedded, rather than a return to normal. Government should also promote models of service transformation partnerships between councils, community organisations, and health agencies and peer learning programmes such as the Locality-hosted The Keep it Local Network should be expanded. There are several opportunities to influence government investment and policy to support a shift in favour of local collaboration, including the long-promised UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the forthcoming Community Ownership fund, and the forthcoming Devolution White Paper.
The report also explains that community-led anchor organisations can play a critical role in establishing ‘cogs of connection’ in a locality, but as Nick pointed out this not always recognised and rarely funded through public sector contracts, and that needs to change
Becca Dove, Camden Council
Becca is head of family support and complex families. She described a recent Zoom call led by the manager of Kentish Town Community Centre, with local residents, a council colleague who runs food hubs, a local GP delivering social prescribing by bringing people together in a garden, and partners from University College London. In the meeting there was no distinction between the council staff, residents, community workers, and academics. ‘Lanyards were left on the floor’, said Becca, and people made on the spot offers to help each other: ‘I can do that for you.’ There was a strong sense of the commons, of everyone seeing themselves as stewards, wanting to leave Kentish Town in a better place, and seeing connection and relationships as the way to do that. Becca wrote an article in April, recognising that the state doesn’t always have the answer, and that during the emergency the community have given the solutions to a problem in countless ways. The job of the council is to lend hand and hearts to the constant collective effort, making a contribution, respecting what residents need and want, and recognising the widespread goodness in the community. New public management forced everyone down the wrong road, but there are a lot of public servants who think and feel as Becca does, she feels.
3. Achieving more collaborative leadership
Participants broke into smaller groups to discuss the question, ‘What can be done nationally and locally to achieve more collaborative leadership in the coming months?’ Feedback from the breakout sessions, and the subsequent discussion, included the following points:
Common purpose
There is an underlying power imbalance, and while people have generally put aside competitive behaviours and organisational roles in the crisis, we can’t assume that will continue in future.
A sense of shared endeavour in the face of a common enemy has been critical to encourage collaboration. We will need to establish a new common cause in the months ahead, one capable of determining how we behave towards each other and which will maintain the shift from ‘I AM’ to ‘WE ARE’.
We will need to describe and name the future we want to see as clearly as possible.
Letting go
In times of crisis institutions have discovered they do not have the flexibility to respond to community action, and when they do respond, they often do so in ways which seek to validate themselves. They need to learn to let go and trust. Where that has happened it leaves a positive legacy and the foundations for a different kind of relationship.
The conventional charity model may not be the way forward. It has been challenged by the wave of mutual aid, and by the recent Black Lives Matter protests. Some organisations are thinking deeply out their purpose and role and how they work. But there are many in institutions of all sectors who are not ready or willing to let go, and will want to hold on to their power.
Understanding different roles
There are different and distinctive roles that can be played by community self-help, established community organisations, and the public authorities.
There is an unresolved debate about role of the state. Is the role for local government, for example, to protect citizens, by taking action directly, or should it adopt a more hands-off role which allow people to take action on their own terms?
It was suggested that charities achieve most when they see their role as meeting the purpose of individuals.
Businesses have been compelled to rethink their purpose, and a new alignment between communities and businesses might be possible.
Commissioning and procurement
The prevailing commissioning system is hard-wired to drive competition between groups, and that produces weak and transactional relationships. But good commissioning can encourage collaboration. Human Learning Systems, developed by Better Way member Toby Lowe, with Collaborate, presents an alternative to new public management methods, and sets out a better path for commissioning and procurement.
The Moral Economy
It’s not always about money, but it is always about connection, it was felt. The term ‘moral economy’ describes economic activity that can take place without money changing hands. This can happen on a very big scale (for example in the Arba’een pilgrimage in Iraq which can include 20 million people and where people are fed without money for days on end).
Civic immune systems – the precious nature of relationships between human peoples, can be infected and damaged by funding, interventions of voluntary agencies, or the state. Individualism on the political left and right has led to outsourcing many things that we used to do as families and communities. We should not seek to go backwards, but human life is enriched when we do things together. The distinctions between labour, work, and action made by Hannah Arendt may be helpful in our thinking on this.
Creating conditions for collaboration to flourish
Community spaces and other forms of local infrastructure can encourage connectivity and help to build a more equal and mutually supportive society, as Eric Klinenberg’s book Palaces for the People explains (and see an interview with him here).
We need to understand what it takes for people to relate to each other well. The language we use can help, or can get in the way. Many terms in widespread use (like complex families, vulnerable people) reinforce them-and-us divisions, and we need to frame our story in different ways.
A strong signal from central government in favour of collaborative practice, in service of local communities, and to create the conditions for people to do things on their own terms, would be helpful, and would confer permission for those in the public sector and beyond to do things differently. But it is best not to depend on that, it is always better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.
Some things, mutual aid groups for example. are best left alone, and certainly not regulated.
4. Next meeting
We agreed we should organise a further meeting, in a few weeks’ time. Suggested topics for discussion:
The unifying shared purpose beyond the COVID-19 crisis.
The changing and distinctive roles of individuals, community organisations, charities, and the state, and the contribution each can make to the social architecture we want to see in the future.
Better Way members are invited to contribute blogs and video clips on these or related topics.
Note from an online roundtable: Coronavirus - building community and connection 2
Note of a second online roundtable on the coronavirus crisis and the power of connection and community, 12 May 2020
1. SUMMARY
Once again, many people came to join us to talk about the Covid-10 crisis and the power of connection and community - we started with speakers who set the scene, then went into four breakout groups, and came back into a plenary discussion in which the groups reported back. The key messages were that:
Sometimes positive, radical change does come out of national crisis, but we can’t take this for granted – it takes hard work and it remains most likely that inequality will get worse, not better as a result of the crisis;
Together and individually we can build a compelling story of the changes we want to see;
New connections, collaborative leadership and stronger communities are being built, locally, and provide a potential platform and inspiration to others;
If we can draw examples and key lessons from them together and share them, we can help build momentum for this change.
2. IN MORE DETAIL
Caroline Slocock, co-convenor of the Better Way, introduced the discussion. She explained that this was a second meeting on Covid19 and the power of connection and community. Our Call to Action for a Better Way called for a radical shift to liberate the power of connection and community and in recent weeks across the country we have seen inspiring examples of this, despite physical distancing.
Our first meeting identified some things we would like to change for good and some things we want to work on (see appendix). At our first meeting we also told a tale of two possible futures: the first where we see far more connection and community, the second where things become more authoritarian and centralising. The danger is that in our excitement about the first we might ignore the powerful forces driving things in the direction of the second.
SHARING POWER
Nick Gardham, from Community Organisers, explained that the community organising network is concerned with the building of collective power, understood as the ability to act. That is, people coming together to mobilise around the things they care about.
In this crisis communities have indeed organised to respond to the immediate challenges people are facing. Public bodies, especially local authorities, are catching up. In the best examples we have seen an organised but not professionalised response to tackling the crisis:
In the Wirral three community organisations are working together and are running the council’s food distribution hub, providing over 7,000 food parcels. These have been recognised by the council as best-placed to respond to the crisis, because they are deeply rooted, committed to people, and hold the local relationships. The council has realised its best role is to sit behind with its infrastructure and facilitate and enable the response, not deliver it itself.
In Haringey, the Selby Trust has operated in Tottenham for many years, is deeply rooted and trusted, and connected to hundreds of local groups. In the Covid-19 emergency, the Selby Trust has developed a collaborative approach with council-employed local area health co-ordinators and 31 mutual aid groups.
However, there can be difficulties in ‘marrying’ the self-organised organic community-driven responses with the more formal and centralised approaches from local authorities. Some local authorities seem to have absolved themselves of responsibility and in some cases have been entirely absent. Some have placed great burdens on local groups. Those trying to contact the council have been passed from pillar to post. If some councils are not willing to engage, to enter into a community space, how can we encourage them to let go of their power?
We have seen the power of local and of neighbourly acts. A physically distant but neighbourly arm around people can be more powerful than action by local institutions. Some local authorities talk about ‘harnessing’ community driven efforts, but is that the best way of framing the relationship?
Furthermore, we need now to move beyond acts of neighbourliness to a shared conversation about social justice. This pandemic is not a leveller, and some sections of the community are deeply afflicted and hit hardest.
CHANGING PRACTICES
Amy Middleton, from the Mayday Trust, explained that her organisation has adopted a model which is answerable to the people it works with and supports, rather than to prescriptive contracts. Covid-19 has tested the resolve to stay true to principles and not revert to traditional working by for example simply managing risk, as so often happens in a crisis.
The Mayday Trust’s coaching teams, which provide person-led support for people experiencing tough times such as homelessness, have had to step back from face to face contact. How can they continue to provide meaningful coaching, not a tick box transactional service? The answer, it turns out, is to be led by the person and what they want, and to provide people with phones and other devices so they can be connected. The Mayday Trust has been able to make good use of small amounts of funding to help people pay internet charges and stay connected, and Amy hopes this type of funding will continue in future.
The internet can be scary for some who have avoided it in the past. But this crisis can be an opportunity to learn online skills. While we all understand the value of face-to-face contact it should be recognised that some people find that difficult, and the Mayday Trust is discovering that in those cases relationships can grow positively when the pressure for face-to-face meetings is removed.
If we are to help people thrive not just cope, we must stop seeing those we work with as vulnerable. Tough times and social isolation are not new for many people, and we need to allow people to exercise choice and control over their situation, not jump in to fix things. In recent weeks some of the people the Mayday Trust works with have applied to volunteer with NHS or other voluntary groups, becoming the person offering help rather than being on the receiving end only. Services need to recognise better that the people they work with are valuable and that they have assets they can offer their community.
WE CANNOT JUST WILL A BETTER WORLD
Duncan Shrubsole from the Lloyds Bank Foundation has recently written a blog for the Better Way, offering personal reflections. In some charity circles, he said, there much talk about opportunities to do things differently, but a willing a better world is not enough, it will be a long hard slog. And we should not underestimate the negative effect of Covid-19. It has made many things even worse, including economic exclusion, loneliness and isolation, domestic abuse, and the experience of BME communities.
Duncan’s blog addresses five topics:
Some really basic things need fixing and fast. The social care system is in a mess, benefits are too threadbare, and we haven’t invested enough in public services.
We need to better understand our society and economy as an ecosystem and to support and nourish it as such. We need both well-funded public services and effective and responsible businesses to do what they can best. We must fix the relationship between the centre and the local: we shouldn’t be helping people in poverty through local foodbanks, we should be doing it through a national benefits system; and we shouldn’t be mobilising volunteers through a centralised app, but rather through local charity responses. Moreover, the role of the charity and voluntary sector in the ecosystem need to be better understood, not least by the Treasury.
Understanding and shaping public opinion is vital. The slogan ‘stay home and save lives’ has been powerful. We need to carry people with us.
If we want to build a better world, we cannot just will it, we have to make it happen. It is wrong to see the NHS and welfare state as an inevitable consequence of the Second World War. People had to work from the 1930s onwards to make the case, and to withstand those who said we are bankrupt and we don’t have the money.
This crisis has revealed the multiple roles we each individually play and need to play. We work in organisations, we are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and we are also neighbours. We need to understand and bring to bear the multiple roles we play. ‘To thine whole selves be true,’ suggested Duncan.
HOW CAN WE CREATE A LASTING EFFECT?
Participants broke into smaller groups to discuss the question, ‘What can we do now and in the coming weeks to create a lasting effect?’ Feedback from the breakout sessions, and the subsequent discussion, included the following points:
Shifting behaviours: It is not enough to just look at the surface, where we see many different activities. We need to look underneath to see the shift in behaviours and attitudes. The crisis is showing an innate wish for people to help, trust and look after each other. We need to build on these instincts, in which there is a huge national interest, eg the Queen saying ‘the streets are not empty, but filled with love’.
New collaborative partnerships, relationships and new ways of working: These are forming, and old rules, hierarchies and barriers to change are being abandoned, as a result of the crisis, though this is not true everywhere. Organisations are finding new ways of working and changing their practices for the good. We must capture and build on this, and inspire others to show what is possible.
Changing the language: We are finding language is important. ‘Organised’ not ‘professionalised’ activity is what works, community organisers have found, and this phrase signals that mutual aid and other local organisation do need organisation and investment, which some think is not required. ‘Neighbour to neighbour’ groups or ‘neighbour activists’ rather than ‘volunteers,’ which has Victorian connotations, are terms being adopted in some places. One organisation told us they decided not to use the NHS volunteers, as they think it is better to use local people: local connections and relationships build and strengthen communities with lasting effect.
Telling the stories: If we are to achieve a shift in behaviour, and future investment in favour of community and connection, we must tell our stories well. We need a new narrative/framing strategy which recognises that we are in the same storm but different boats. We can produce a clear and effective narrative, using advice from the Frameworks Institute. We should recognise that human emotion, not just rational argument, is needed to make change happen. We will need to find ways to shift the conversation so that people who don’t want to engage with the Better Way thinking will feel that they must
Recognising and tackling inequality: This crisis is increasing division and injustice, and as we move into recession this is likely to become even worse. We should expose this, and not allow injustice to remain hidden. But we can also draw on the best examples of recent practice to show that it is possible to reduce inequality in future, and build a fairer world.
Acting urgently: The desire to get back to ‘normal’ will be strong. We have a short timescale, maybe six weeks before we start to drift back again to old ways, it was suggested. So we will have to act with urgency
Organising well and effectively: It took huge preparatory effort to create the NHS and the welfare state, with sustained effort, detailed policy proposals and implementation plans. We will need to be similarly well organised if we want to bring about change at scale. And we should remember that many elements of the infrastructure and many of the models of working that we will need for the future do already exist, at least in part.
Recognising the limitations of this moment: History indicates that out of national crisis significant change can come, but that can’t be taken for granted. We are not at an ‘Atlee moment’, it was suggested, and the conditions do not seem favourable for a national government-led effort in favour of a more equitable society. But it was also felt there has never been a perfect time to build a better life. So we must not underestimate the scale of the challenge, and we will have to be smart in building our collective desire for something better.
Starting with ourselves: We need to start with ourselves. We can look at our own organisations and consider what can change, and understand better what the people we work with, and our communities, want. We can achieve a lot by working together, as a network, bringing about real change within our sphere of influence.
Going beyond our own immediate circle: We should not just talk to ourselves, we can also influence others. We don’t need to start from scratch. The innate desire to be useful, and for basic fairness, is not found only in the social sector, nor only on the ‘progressive left’. We can recognise and build on the power of long term relationships, across sectors, and use this opportunity, when professional boundaries have often been set aside, to break down barriers. And as Duncan says, by being true to our ‘whole selves’, we can make connections well beyond our immediate work roles.
Finding common cause between community action and local government: Some local councils do understand that it is possible to seek out and build on the shared assets that exist in communities. We can do more to work with them, and to create the conditions for more to follow.
Building the network: We should recognise that many people are incredibly busy at this time, providing services and supporting people as best they can. For many, it is difficult to find time to think beyond the immediate challenges, but the desire to do so is very high. This is the value of a network like the Better Way. This is an important time for existing members to encourage more people to join, not least from the public and private sectors.
Sharing and promoting examples of positive action: As a network, we should not feel too diffident. A few people with a strong shared vision can sometimes bring about huge change. We need to tell strong and compelling stories, wherever we can. We can capture and highlight what is being achieved now when there is a shared sense of purpose, as a guide to how things can be done better locally and nationally in future. With others, the Better Way can highlight what’s working and tell the story of what’s possible based on what’s already starting to happen now, and our members can help by providing video clips and blogs.
We agreed we should organise a further meeting, in a few weeks’ time; and we’ll aim to bring in more members from the public sector. One topic might be: ‘How can we build on the collaborative leadership that is already happening in the crisis so that we #changeforgood.
Note from an online roundtable: Coronavirus - building community and connection 1
Note of an online meeting on the coronavirus crisis and the power of connection and community, 7 April 2020
Over 40 people joined our Zoom meeting, which started with speakers who set the scene, then went into 6 breakout groups, and came back into a plenary discussion in which the groups reported back.
Steve Wyler, co-convenor of the network, opened the meeting by saying that despite the terrible events facing individuals and organisations, there were also things already emerging from the crisis which might hold out the promise of a more positive future, and he hoped we might identify some of these today. The focus would be on identifying what is changing now that we’d like to keep for good.
Caroline Slocock, co-convenor of the network, said that the Call to Action for a Better Way, which was launched the previous November and reflected three years of discussion in the network, seemed particularly relevant to the current crisis. The disruption caused by the pandemic was starting to liberate the very power of connection and community celebrated in the Call to Action, 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.
But the response was patchy, and power still lay in too few hands. The key to an even stronger response, she said, lay in the four action areas identified in the Call to Action:
Sharing power, including creating new platforms to enable different voices to be heard;
Changing practices, including incorporating more humanity and kindness;
Changing organisations, including creating connection and community, not just passive services;
Collaborative leadership, including becoming ‘systems leaders’ and working across silos.
One potential example of changing things for good was what was happening in the homeless sector, Caroline said, where people on the street were being provided with homes.
NEWS FROM THE FRONT LINE
Laura Seebohm, from Changing Lives, which works with people in crisis across the North of England, explained what they are doing to respond to the pandemic. They are under great pressure to fill in for public services which are at full stretch, and they are working with vulnerable groups, not least helping to resettle people coming out of prison and people in refuges. They are finding that more and more people are selling sex to make ends meet, not just former sex workers, and that many of the people they are working with do not even have a phone or internet access. So they are urgently seeking funds to enable them to connect up with them in new ways, for example providing mobile phones, and wondering how the people they support will weather the storm.
Laura said there were two things in the crisis that she would like to keep for good:
First, the flexibility being provided by funders, who have been incredibly supportive and are giving them them autonomy and the power to be responsive.
Second, the creativity and shared vision that is being shown.
Paulette Singer, from the Clitterhouse Farm Project, in North London, then spoke about how they are changing how they are operating in response to the crisis. They had already developed a strong sense of local needs and potential though through five years of door knocking in their community, and this has stood them in good stead. Barnet Council, where 70% of services have been privatised, was slow to respond to the crisis, and voluntary groups have been stepping in with a massive grass roots push.
Paulette noted the ward she works in is one of the most 10% deprived in the UK, and many people there do not have access to Wifi or technology. The new volunteers were mostly from outside and from the middle classes, and that is perhaps an indication that mutual aid has not flourished in recent years in de-industrialised areas and those experiencing deprivation.
In response to the crisis, the Clitterhouse Farm Project has had to move to a networking approach and carry out a ‘systems leader’ role, bringing different grass roots and volunteer groups together. This has had its challenges, as there is sometimes competition between different groups, and there can be problems with ego at every level.
Paulette noted that some excellent community groups and social enterprises, which have provided a lifeline to communities long before the crisis, will not survive, and she described this as an ‘unfolding tragedy’.
Looking to the positives, she said that the Clitterhouse Farm Project has been trying for the last five years to get Barnet Council to recognise and understand the work of groups like theirs and this had now been happening at great speed, although trusting in and handing over to local groups can be deeply uncomfortable for local authorities. She was also encouraged by the heroic efforts to step up and step in to deliver mutual aid across the country. ‘In chaos, there is great collaboration’ she concluded and she hoped this collaboration would continue.
Rachael Orr, from Placeshapers, explained that their housing association members across the country are those which are grounded in and committed to communities. She has just come back from maternity leave and is finding what is now happening in some ways really positive, as the crisis is pushing people to work in a better way. For example, many Placeshapers members are now phoning older or more vulnerable residents every week, and some are already asking themselves whether this new way of working should continue as business as usual when things become more normal.
The Placeshapers members, Rachel said, are being pragmatic and adaptive, for example repairs staff are now delivering goods to vulnerable people. They are also practising place-based collaborative leadership, though mostly at this point with public sector organisations..
The approach to date has been to ask ‘What do people need right now?’, but she said that this is also a moment to lift up our heads and start asking. ‘What more can we do, and how can we do things better, including in collaboration with smaller local bodies?’
CHANGE FOR GOOD
Participants then broke into smaller groups to discuss the question, ‘What is changing now that we’d like to keep for good?’
Feedback from the breakout sessions included the following points that people wanted to keep for the future:
Solidarity and a shared sense of purpose, including a shared story, though that said many people were experiencing a much deeper sense of isolation than others.
Flexibility, creativity, and speed of civil society response, with the community ‘exercising a natural power and authority’ and gaining recognition for it, and often being willing to change at pace, and funders showing flexibility too.
New connections and collaborations, including new ways of doing things online and the forging of new relationships and alliances, with more organisations willing to put aside self-interest.
Humanity, compassion, and kindness, including a generosity between individuals and also organisations that was new, and valuing the whole person.
The breakout sessions also offered some reflections on how things could be done even better:
There was a need for more coordination and knowledge sharing to ensure groups did not duplicate, and could learn from each other.
This included connecting top down/bottom up efforts better and a danger that the risk-averse public sector may at some point stifle local initiative and energy.
There was a danger that outside ‘rescuers’ might disempower those they sought to help, rather than to build and deploy community capacity.
Many people are isolated, without even access to the internet. We should use the crisis to empower people, and should beware state/big tech gaining more power permanently.
Whilst the sense of solidarity was welcome, there was a danger that people fail to understand and respond to the different needs of at risk groups, and inequalities could deepen, and so organisations of all types need to do more to ‘let diversity in’.
Collaborative leadership had grown in the crisis, but we still need to work at it.
Some participants also felt that two distinctive futures were possible, one characterised by community and connection, the other by authoritarian and centralising behaviours. We cannot assume that the former will win out over the latter, and we will need to work hard and effectively to build a convincing and persuasive Better Way story.
Caroline Slocock concluded by inviting people to send us blogs about what they were doing and the potential to achieve change for good in the crisis; and said we would be in touch about further meetings to delve more deeply into these topics.