I started working at Research in Practice during the peak of austerity. Whilst the policy might officially be at an end, restrictions to public spending continue to constrain what is possible within public service.
In fact, with some local authorities facing bankruptcy, the system can feel more fragile than ever. When combined with issues around recruitment and retention, it makes for a challenging time to both lead and work within social care.
Our Leaders’ Forum has always been a reflective space for sector leaders across the Research in Practice network, which this year felt more important than ever as we supported colleagues to consider how they might develop the resilience of their systems.
In planning the event, we wanted to ensure that our thinking around resilience was helpful and constructive. Resilience is too often interpreted as being an individual’s ability to cope (and so can locate responsibility solely at an individual level), but we wanted to frame resilience in a wider sense.
We used Pooley and Cohen’s (2010) definition of resilience as the starting point.
‘the potential to exhibit resourcefulness by using available internal and external recourses in response to different contextual and developmental challenges.’
Does the market help or hinder resilience?
The role of the ‘market’ is often noted in discussions about sector capacity – and so a session on the influence of ‘the market’ was an important aspect of Leaders' Forum.
Associate Professors Luara Ferracioli and Stephanie Collins shared their critique of market-based solutions drawing on their think-piece ‘Care for a Profit?’; Claire Dove (Crown Representative for the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector) referenced Mark Carney’s critique of conventional wisdom around value in her presentation; and Mike Burke shared findings from the National Audit Office’s report on ‘The adult social care market in England’.
Recruitment, retention and inclusion
We also heard some great advice from the Association of Directors of Childrens Services (ADCS) and Association of Directors of Adults Services (ADASS) around recruitment and retention.
Rachael Wardell, Chair of the ADCS Workforce Development Policy Committee encouraged us to think beyond current crises to consider how we can respond to the challenges of the future, whilst Karen Pavey (ADASS lead for workforce) encouraged leaders to put themselves in the shoes of the workforce when considering opportunities for progression.
Rachael and Karen also urged us to think about how our organisations can become truly inclusive, a theme which Teresa Hills from Luton Borough Council picked up in a session on creating inclusive spaces to build system resilience. Teresa led a really rich discussion around creating safe spaces for Global Majority colleagues, much of which is captured in this excellent post for the London Innovation and Improvement Alliance.
Dr. Sarah Pollock, Dr. Helen Scholar and Susan McCaughan shared key lessons from the Longitudinal study of child and family social workers. Participants were invited to consider how culture translates into practical reality, particularly around how organisations can create a positive environment and practice approach.
Regulation
Regulation and resilience aren’t things that some people might intuitively link together, as regulation and inspection can sometimes be a challenging experience. However, concepts like Human Learning Systems position learning as the engine for performance improvement. So, in a healthy system, regulation and inspection can contribute a great deal to effective learning and system resilience.
The advent of CQC assurance for adult social care offers an opportunity to reflect on what effective inspection and regulation looks like for both children’s and adults’ services. The conversation that we had with both Yvette Stanley, National Director, Regulation and Social Care at Ofsted and Nigel Thompson, the Deputy Director of Multiagency Operations from the Care Quality Commission helped us to consider how inspectors and regulators can nurture positive relationships with local authorities.
The power of community
Our final session of the event was based on the premise that activism and agency are vital elements of a healthy and resilient system.
Dr. Elizabeth Ackerley shared her work on Young people's activism in times of austerity, which was conducted with RECLAIM, an organisation who support and amplify the voices of working class young people. Katie Shaw from RECLAIM shared some of their work during the session, including when they met with John Bercow to challenge the use of violent and dehumanising language by politicians.
There was so much food for thought, particularly around the importance of relationships when nurturing activism. The stories served as a reminder of the power that the people within our communities hold, and messages here chimed with the earlier session from Chris McLoughlin who shared how Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council have used values as a starting point for their work.
Recognising and respecting the power of communities not only helps to foreground accountability to those we serve, but also plays a key role in supporting system resilience – by creating learning feedback loops, for example.
The Research in Practice Systems Leadership resource shares what it looks like to move from a traditional leadership space of command and control into a space where we facilitate innovation via shared learning and collaboration with other organisations and local communities.
Such an approach – which so many sector colleagues are striving for - enables resilient organisations, and can support people and communities to thrive in our wider systems.
