Perfect storm?

I attended a briefing by the leader of Surrey County Council, David Hodge, last week on Surrey’s “Spending Power” for 2015 and beyond. It makes grim reading. Everybody I speak to seems to be in agreement that whatever flavour of political party or coalition is in Whitehall after the election there will be significant further cuts to local government budgets. Leaders in Surrey CC have further tough decisions to make on where the axe falls. Not a fun task methinks. So far, Surrey has maintained a much larger spend on youth provision than many other counties, but can it last?

Meanwhile I am increasingly hearing from my voluntary and charity sector colleagues that they are receiving increasingly complex referrals (i.e. clients with a wider range of problems in layman’s terms).

A third bit of news this week is some research reported by the BBC that suggests “Behaviour of boys from poor homes is worse when they grow up with wealthier neighbours”. I am not surprised to hear this, common sense says to me that if you are a teenager sitting in a class full of people with iphones going on skiing holidays it must be harder than sitting in a class full of other people with little money. So, Surrey's young people from poor backgrounds need our support. 

A perfect storm of problems? Maybe not, but certainly a pretty bad combination. I believe that a very strategic response is required with a range of players coming together to try to maintain and improve support for the most vulnerable in our society in the face of cuts. I will be working towards this over the coming months. But it won't be easy. Suggestions on a postcard please…

Impact is the new black

Outcomes are so last year. Impact is the new way of showing that your organisation or service is making a difference, so I learnt at a meeting of Local Authority representatives and Youth Infrastructure Chief Executives held at the Cabinet Office last week. Why? Because measuring outcomes alone doesn't tell about your impact.

Impact is the difference between a world with your organisation or service in it and one without it. To take a definition from the Big Lottery, impact is:

“Any effects arising from an intervention. This includes immediate short-term outcomes as well as broader and longer–term effects. These can be positive or negative, planned or unforeseen.”

WHY do we want to measure impact? Because it is evidence. Why do we want evidence? To support an assertion. What should we be using it for? To build confidence over time. What is evidence….experience, pictures, words, statistics. 

Here are a few key points that I took away from the discussion:

• ·         You need to think about how you want to use the data. Have a think about other ways that you could use the data, to influence new potential funders that you haven’t influenced in the past e.g. lottery, businesses.
• ·         To measure your impact, it is recommended that you consider bringing a group of key stakeholders together to reflect on the questions. It gives you a major opportunity for dialogue.
• ·         Measuring impact is only really going to work when you have people all across the organisation bought in – including the CEO and the youth worker at the coal face. Often, youth workers are supremely unconvinced by measurement initiatives, yet can be the most evangelical if won over to the cause.
• ·         When a young person’s life is changed, it will often be down to several organisations, perhaps a school and a youth group, rather than just one. We therefore need to talk about contribution rather than attribution - collective impact and collective responsibility.

And if you want to start on this work, here is a list of questions to get your brain going…What is need? What is demand? Who is asking? What are your big aims? What are you trying to improve? What are you trying to reduce? What assumptions do you have about ways that you work? Do young people stick with you? What do they particularly stay about for?  If you are looking to change, where is the line between adapting and wholesale metamorphosis to being a new organisation? When are you no longer you? 

For more information go to: youth-impact.uk/

Anger and solutions

The sad events in France over the last week remind us of how complex some problems are and how they cannot be solved by one organisation. We (globally) need to try to understand why some people feel so angry and disenfranchised that they make life choices which are unimaginable to the rest of us. I deliberately haven’t used the word Islam because religion here has been misappropriated by people wanting to use it as an excuse to vent their issues with society, just as many atrocities have been committed in the name of religion related to the Northern Ireland conflict. These types of issues can only be solved when many parties get together to solve them. Governments cannot do them alone.

Similarly, it is important in Surrey that we work to encourage our most disenfranchised young people back into mainstream society. Surrey County Council and the local boroughs cannot and should not be expected to deal with them alone.

There are complex problems facing us in Surrey which can benefit from multiple organisations working together to solve. Going forward I very much see part of Surrey Youth Focus’s role as being too help people identify problems being experienced by our member organisations’ young people which are not getting solved. Our intention is to bring together a new set of players to help to solve them. The strong focus many corporates have on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) these days provides us with a new opportunity to help get long-standing problems solved.

For example, take the issue of getting young people with learning difficulties into meaningful occupation. These young people often have a tolerance for repetition that others do not have, which could be valuable to employers. I would like, at some point, to get together a group of HR managers from employers together with disability organisations to work together on an employment initiative to provide new types of roles suitable for people with learning difficulties. (If this has been done before… do let me know how it went…)

Do you have any problems facing young people in Surrey that you have been trying to solve for some time that could benefit from working with other organisations? Would you like help moving things forward? If so please do drop us a line, we would love to hear from you. 

All Change?

Listening to the radio this morning about the drive to get parents to give their children less sugar, I reflected on a change in our habits that has helped on one level, but has potentially caused other problems. (Click here for more information on the campaign).

Until recently, I was a full-time mum and used to frequently shop at supermarkets, often with one or both kids in tow. This meant that I was often subject to the typical requests for the sweeter cereals, for biscuits, etc. Now we are doing most of our shopping online, I am no longer subject to so many requests and it is easier to purchase more wisely without pester power. 

On the downside, however, the kids have less opportunities to learn about the shopping process and food ingredients now that they don’t observe it happening. True, they still sometimes see me cook, but it will take longer for the younger one to learn all the names of, for example,  fruits and vegetables. As so often with technology, the challenge will be going forward to make the most of technology whilst overcoming any downsides. Often, however, the downsides are not easy to spot.

With respect to reducing sugar consumption, I believe that it cannot be done by the strength of character of parents alone. I believe that a widespread change in society is needed, including regulation of food manufacturing and sale. If I could wave a magic wand over legislation, my first action would be to disallow sweets and sugary treats at low levels by checkouts. That would be one less pester inducing situation for a parent to negotiate.

It is tradition to say “happy new year”, but this sometimes feels to general for me, so instead I will say that I hope that you have the new year that you want, whether that be happy, peaceful, spiritual, loving, relaxing, carefree, reflective, calming, fun, exciting, connecting, healing, comforting, joyful or maybe something else….

Cate

Collaboration collaboration collaboration

The more that I think about the problems that we face, big or small, the more that I believe that collaboration is the answer. Get, say, five very different people in a room and you get not only five different brains, but also the different perspectives, knowledge, connections, energy and resources that they all have access to. 

An example for me is the issue of protecting our environment in Surrey whilst providing reasonably priced homes for our young people. I am very keen to see both achieved and believe that the focus should be on “win-win.” This can only be done by getting a range of people together to look at these issues. I am therefore very pleased to have been invited to represent young people in Surrey on the Surrey Nature Partnership Board (SyNP) and I attended my first meeting last week. SyNP has a strategic remit for “sustainable land management use, supporting the economy and promoting health and wellbeing” and works in conjunction with the Local Economic Partnerships. It is very much seeking to work with different groups, including developers, to achieve win-win outcomes for the environment and the economy.

Collaboration was the key solution listed for another social problem this week – ensuring all children learn to read well by age 11. Thanks to Beccy Bowden at Satro for passing me an interesting report entitled “Reading England’s future: Mapping how well the poorest children read.” This is available on the Save the Children Website. 

In some areas, many children have already fallen behind with the groundwork needed for literacy by the time they go to school. In other areas, they enter school with a reasonable level, but then fall behind. Surprisingly to me, children from low-income families in smaller towns and rural areas are particularly likely to fall behind in reading. Cities are doing okay – in fact London is top performer in the country. London’s success was previously thought to be due to improvements at secondary school level, but this study has shown that it is London’s primary schools that are making the difference.

The conclusion of the report was that we need local action - “schools, parents, early years services and the wider community to unite and to own the goal of all children reading well.”  There couldn’t be a more perfect cue for me to mention again that Communilab will be our online forum enabling online collaboration to solve issues facing young people in Surrey. We will be launching in the new year. I am very excited, we have a lot of people and organisations interested in the project from a wide variety of areas – businesses, Surrey County Council, universities, third sector organisations, schools and colleges, health organisations, local councils. Our main Sponsor is Barclays and we also have Community Champions including Penningtons Manches, Surrey County Council, Pfizer and Exxon Mobil. I believe that it will make a significant difference to young people in Surrey. If you want to be kept informed click here.  

Honesty, dishonesty and too much disclosure?

The subject of honesty has come up in several different guises of late. Most people would, if asked, say that they are not dishonest. However, with the British stiff upper lip and “mustn’t grumble” approach we often hide feelings and thoughts, especially in the workplace. At a recent workshop on leadership, we were encouraged to be more honest in our dealings with partner organisations. As money gets tight, the “elephant in the room” with a group of statutory bodies and/or third sector organisations can often be money, where all organisations play a defensive game to protect their own staff. One leader of a public sector organisation said that she wanted to be more honest in meetings with partners.  

It is well known that many young people are now choosing to reveal large portions of their lives in great detail for the world to read. Is this too much disclosure? Many feel that it is. However, some may give a very censored view of the world – talking about all the great parties that they have been to, the friends they have made, but not the anguish they are feeling. When some young people look at the social media of others, they believe that everyone else is having a good time but them.

I have chosen not to regularly use Facebook or other social media to share my private life. Instead, to keep up with various friends around the world, I prefer the very outmoded Christmas Letter. Various people have expressed different opinions on how to write a letter. One person didn’t want to put in that his mother had dementia – people want to hear good news at Christmas, he believes. Another acquaintance said the opposite - he didn’t like letters full of happy events only - news about expensive holidays, house extensions and achieving children – since it left him feeling inadequate. 

When it comes to children, people often write about all the positive things about their children, sounding like they are bragging, but on the other hand, if one of your children is having difficulties, it may not be a good service to the child to tell the world about their problems, especially given that the child may read it themselves.

Overall, I think the world could do with more honesty, more honesty about thoughts and feelings, both concerns and also positive feelings when things go right. This is particularly true in face to face meetings, which are, perhaps, different from our broadcast communication from the world. I have had two "honest" conversations recently where I considered which route to take and chose in the end to be direct. The scenarios are still working themselves through, so I cannot say whether my path has worked yet, but I certainly felt better afterwards for having been honest with the person rather than hiding my opinions and feelings. 

So, my challenge to you this week is to reflect on your own honesty. Are you putting up a front with someone, when underneath your thoughts and feelings are very different? Would honesty be the best policy? How do you want to shape the moral compass of young people in your life when it comes to honesty?

Mental Health

What a difference a week makes. If you read my blog last week you will have seen that I was feeling rather delicate following the sudden illness of a close family member. I am so relieved to say that he has progressed as well as can be expected and we are starting to wonder when he may be ready to come out of hospital.

You will also have read last week that I gave myself permission not to be at peak performance, to work a little slower, to prioritise the most important tasks and to give time to those in my life who needed it. I now feel back on form, ready for the brain to engage and solve issues, ready for the fingers to fly over the keyboard. However, hopefully by giving myself permission last week not to be at peak performance, I will have given myself time to process difficult emotions, to deal with the situation and to maintain my mental health going forward.

Mental health issues are frequently in the news these days. I was particularly sad to hear the story of the 16 year old girl in the West Country who had been sectioned but was held in a police cell for two days whilst the police tried to find a more suitable place for her.  Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are due to be recommissioned soon in Surrey. I very much hope that we can find a way to give support to every young person who needs it in Surrey. I believe that the third sector can play an important role in this and am talking to people involved to encourage collaboration between all the appropriate parties.

My question to you this week is this: when times get tough emotionally do you give yourself permission to stop, to rest, to reflect and deal with the issue? Or do you carry on life at your normal pace, determined to push on and get things done, regardless of your own emotions and those of people around you?  Similarly, are you teaching the young people in your life how to pause and take the time to look after their mental health when life gets tough?