Changethinking

Somewhere, in my past I remember being told ‘more haste less speed.’

The Draft Structural Reform Plan is in plenty of haste. Built into that, is the feeling that there is no time to talk about these major changes in our education system that will happen by September 2010.

To discuss openly can only ever be the right thing to do. Consultation is a process that, in the end, has huge benefits including involving people, creating ownership, making changes, being reflective.

So, why is there so much haste in these sweeping changes? At what level of breakneck speed are we expected to see the education system move into academies and free schools?

The Draft Structural Reform Plan, published by the DFE in July 2010 states that they will replace “the old, top down systems of targets and central micromanagement”. The power is being given to the people and the communities, only responsible to the Secretary of Education of course.
Improvements will be made through; local democratic accountability, competition, choice and social action.

But how does the setting up of academies and free schools be democratically accountable and provide social action or indeed choice. Schools set up by parents and anyone that wants to is not the same thing as being democratic

They would, I suggest, create competition and provide choice for those who can afford to move their children and to wherever offers the best in facilities and results.

But what are the opportunities for the schools in less wealthy communities?

And where does this fit with the increasing needs of children living in poverty in our country? Will it bring a good education and a chance to broaden young people’s horizons?

It may enhance children who already have much, but what about those who have not? Are we heading to a fairer society? Will this narrow the gap between the rich and the disadvantaged?

The haste in which this will happen is staggering, over a period of 4 months, including the summer break, legislation will be in place.It is hoped that the first schools will be converting to Academy status in September 2010, one month from now!

Plenty of haste at a breakneck speed for major changes.

Let’s be clear about what the changes are, and for whom, and which children will really receive a better education as a result.

Europa have just released the latest 2009 state of entrepreneurship survey – which interestingly shows that 45% of Europeans would like to be their own boss, if they could.

The EU survey suggests that entrepreneurs are held in lower regard in Europe than their contemporaries in the USA.

The survey highlights the differing attitudes in the US, Europe and Asia to entrepreneurship, but does show that the preference for self-employment remained stable across all regions.

Women seem to lag behind men and young people as a cohort expressing a preference for self employment.

Those surveyed shared their opinions of entrpreneurial individuals as either ‘job creators’ or as ‘exploiters’.

What was not a feature of the survey, to its detriment we think, is factoring in social entrepreneurship or the context of social enterprise as a vehicle for community business change.

Perhaps if more Europeans knew more about social enterprise or social entrepreneurs,  or the impact the sector can have on communities – the range of relative levels of hesitancy to outright distrust of entrepreneurship expressed might be very different.

What do you think?

You can find the survey synopsis here.

The entry pages to the European Small Business Portal can be found here.

The wonderful vision of a Big Society where people help each other, not for reward but just because they can.

In some places where this is happening through volunteering and support groups you can see that confidence is built and self esteem is lifted. People reluctant to step forward for fear of being unable to join in can find they step out on a ladder which gives them a feeling of self worth, helps them to have fun with their families and can even lead to a start of something new in their lives.

A great example of how a school ‘Home to School’ support really helps directly with people is shown in Children and Young People Now, wk 22 – 28 June 2010.

At the Marion Richardson School in Whitechapel, 30% of parents are now involved in some form of volunteering. Previously they were reluctant to leave their homes.

There is a credit union, after school clubs, maths and reading clubs. A group has started for teaching Arabic to Bengali and Somali parents, which is led by a Moroccan parent .

Alison Jones, who is employed by the charity School Home Support, is often found in The Parents’ Hut – the mobile in the playground. She supports parents as a listening ear on family sickness, bereavement, unemployment and housing and domestic violence.

The Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities programmes and courses are also a way in and Alison says,‘It helps them to get to know other parents, but also learn about violence in our community, how to stop kids getting into gangs, what is domestic violence and child abuse.’

At SmithMartin Partnership we are involved in many schools around the extended day and activities that are happening in after school clubs and holiday schemes

We like this approach, being there in a place where parents are comfortable, even if nothing else the time to listen can be a real life line.

And as Alison says, ‘For most parents its about having the confidence to move out of depression and into the community.’ What a difference that must make.

Doherty, Foster, Mason et al have produced a great primer for the person intent on mastering the management of social enterprise.

Published in 2009 the book Management for Social Enterprise contains a wide ranging and detailed analysis of many aspects of successful social enterprise management.

It combines not only operational advice, but also gives pointers across some of the ethical issues, corprorate tensions and community reactions that an emergent social enterprise can deliver.

There is also a strong section on financial management of social enterprises, which although created by academics scores well in terms of readability for the lay person. We recommend it.

You can find other books on social business on our SmithMartin ethical business book page…read more here.

The Arthur Guinness Fund, UnLtd and Rathbone have joined forces to create the Guinness Bring It To Life Awards, offering new young entrepreneurs with a community changing idea the chance to get started.

Aimed at ideas driven social venturers in the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham or London – the new fund will support ideas, exisitng or new, that have social or environmental aims.

The Bring It To Life web site states that…

Two levels of Award are available for entrepreneurs. 15 Catalyst Awards, each worth up to £2,200, are available for those who need the running costs to get their idea off the ground and 6 Development Awards, worth up to £15,000 each, are available for established social entrepreneurs to get their ventures fully operational.

You need to send in your expression of interest by July 9th, 2010. The full application process closes on 23rd July.

The winners of the awards will be announced, it is planned, by September 2010. See the award web site for more details.

What I want to be………

Daycare Trust are asking children and young people of all ages to join them to celebrate National Childcare Week 12th – 16 th July.

The art competition is based on “ What you want to be”. It may be a racing driver, a teacher, a writer, a spaceship astronaut, who knows……

Winners of the competition will be invited to an awards ceremony in Central London where they will receive their prizes and the chance to meet some famous book and tv characters, like Big Chris and Roary the Racing Car and their creator, Keith Chapman. The closing date is 18th June 2010.

All the winning entries will be published on Daycare Trust website and Flickr and other outlets, as well as being included in a booklet to mark the occasion.

SmithMartin Partnership LLP is a supporter and sponsor of the event and are pleased to be part of the Daycare Trust’s continued work, campaigning for accessible and quality childcare.

The research carried out by Daycare Trust continues to be relevant and informative to parents, employers and government initiatives. One of the recent guides produced by Daycare Trust is,
‘A Guide to childcare for disabled children’ which provides lots of details and support contacts .

You can become a member of Daycare Trust and receive much of the information for free. Contact through the website.

The Digital Participation Fund deadline is approaching. Applications have to be with the fund by 5.00 p.m. on the 1st. June 2010, for this first round.

Designed to support initiatives that increase participation in online activities, get more from already being online and to get help to exploit the real social and economic benefits of being online.

The Fund is open to any charity or incorporated organisation, with the Fund stating that there is likely to be several rounds of funding available over the next three years.

The Fund notes say they are looking for projects of any size, that can be evaluated, replicated and that offer depth and breadth to internet access.

You can get full details of the Fund, the aims it has and all the forms for application here, in both PDF and Word format.

If you are already helping people get access to the online world, or are planning to, check out the Digital Participation Consortium.

The government is to spend £3million pounds on training children’s centre outreach workers. This is a drive to ensure that the most disadvantaged families are reached and the needs of all children and families are being met.

Now that children’s centres have been running for some time they are good at planning and delivering services and activities and ensuring in many cases that financial stability is a priority.

Our partnership is involved in developing children’s centres and continues to support them in both their marketing and work with the community. The local neighbourhood and a knowledge of families and organisations can make so much difference to ensuring that they are part of the community and not seen as another service beyond a closed gate.

Over 5000 workers are intended to be part of the training programme, which is being developed by Children’s Workforce Development Council . It is being provided by  National Children’s Bureau through a programme called Families Going Forward and underpinned by 4Children.

Nathaniel Whittemore has just published an interesting reflection on the role of business practices in social entrepreneurship. His work appears on the change.org site.

The context of his article was a critique of the management consultancy McKinsey & Co. and their recent debate on whether the language of business is relevant in our sector.

His argument is summarised here…

…talking about “the language and practice of business” and assuming that is a monolith is sort of like talking about “the language and practice of nonprofits” and trying to lump community development initiatives, affordable housing, humanitarian relief, and undergraduate education all together. In other words, it just doesn’t work.

Running our own small business and trying to help others in a diverse range of communities of interest to start social businesses clearly places us well out of the orbit of McKinsey. However, the argument proposed in the change.org piece rings loud and clear to us.

Highly complex and detailed management reporting or business plans, and the knowledge of how to produce them, is clearly an important constituent in delivering effective change in a social business. It goes also to establishing credence and mission based objectives for any organisation.

However, at ground zero of delivery in a local community all strategic analysis and esoteric conceptualising is subservient to the immediacy of solving the current problem, the now of small things.

Not to cope with this aspect of a social business start-up will handicap its development from the earliest stage. We would argue that what makes for the most successfully entrepreneurial organisation is the embrace of theory and methodology BUT coupled to passion, drive and social reformation.

One of our partners, in describing our partnership philosophy, says that we are social radicals but fiscal conservatives.

Not sure that every team member would recognise the model as we believe state spending is an integral part of the enduring social contract, but a great truncation of a sophisticated and socially passionate set of drivers for any group of people who want to effect change – by interacting with diverse communities of interest and power.

As Whittemore has it…

…entrepreneurs in general tend to want every single tool they can get in their toolbox. They don’t want to limit themselves to only one approach simply because that’s what has been done before’.

This rings true to us – across the roundabout, under the bypass and into the community centre.

We have been reading our positive psychology manuals this week. We have a number of projects undertaking governance change and developing a positive culture, flat organisations without ego driven collateral damage and still have a leadership presence…never the most straightforward of transitions.

Simplistic  mantras and web lists can be a glib exercise, but from all cliche always emerges a hard nugget of truth.

So, about notions of behaviour and presence when leading and group of people? Do leaders emerge fully formed from the womb? We think not. The best ones learn from their experiences and determine their modes of behaviour from that experience.

Bullies move forward without reflection and their egotism and hard headedness can achieve results, or rather a result emerges, but perhaps not the one that the concensus would deem most appropriate.

In the Third Sector accrued collateral from experiences and developing relationships should be honesty, reflective action in line with the ethos of the organisation and positive outcomes in tune with the social master plan.

Here’s a list…

1. Be Open
2. Be Appreciative
3. Be Curious
4. Be Kind
5. Be Real – no false pretenses of positivity

We would add a number 6.

6. Do something unexpected.

That could be anything from buying the doughnuts on a Friday for the whole team, telling people – without asking – what music you’re currently listening to, or being the first up on the stage at karaoke nights.

This is not spilling your ego onto others, its inviting them into your mental landscape. Surprising and effective.

When  you ask the team to do the difficult thing, or undertake the more unexpected project plan…they’re more likely to come with you to storm the barricades. You see!

Our list from 1 to 5 came from a presentation by Dr. Barbara Fredrickson in an article for Positive Psychology News by Elaine O’Brian. Read more here.

Everybody in our organisation can be a better leader, whatever task they undertake.