Today was Day 1 of ‘Losing Control‘ – a 2 day conference in Birmingham hosted by The Social Change Agency and Practical Governance to challenge organisations to ‘let go of traditional ‘command and control’ organisational models and standard campaign techniques in favour of methods that focus on flatter hierarchies, dispersed leadership, collective decision-making and grassroots participation’.
Birmingham Cathedral
Those who are unfortunate enough to follow me on social media will have heard me talking about ABCD and other blogs would give you more insight into this concept if you are unfamiliar with it. The concept of ‘Losing Control’ fascinates me and ties in beautifully with the rationale behind Asset Based Community Development, when done correctly. Yes it’s exciting and makes for an interesting process for professionals that work in communities but more fundamentally, it leads me to another question…
Can you lose control if it’s not yours to give away?
The highlight of the day for me was hosted by Heart of Hastings (website is down at the moment so this link offers the most information), who a community organisation intent on ‘putting power and resources in the hands of the economically excluded, based in Bedfordshire’.
The title of the workshop clearly caused the ‘jargon-ometer’ to hit fever pitch. In sectors such as Health, Housing, Education, Social Care and even the Third Sector we construct terminology to fit our working structures, rather than honestly depict an accurate portrayal of real life. We do it too often, and it needs to go away.
Heart of Hastings representative Glen put it far more profoundly – ‘you call it economically excluded, I call it skint’.
Glen introduced us to the concept of ‘Organisational Workshops’ (OW’s), where participants master new organisational, as well as social, knowledge and skills through a learning-by-doing approach. Emanating from South America, Brazil to be exact, OW’s call on participants to form a temporary organisation which they self-manage in a market setting. Skills gained can be used to form new ventures, organisations and are easily transferable.
Glen is a fascinating guy. He used to set up raves in unused spaces in the 1990’s which drew 10,000 attendees at one point in time. Following his youth Glen wanted to help people self organise in a more worthwhile fashion and understand the concept far more deeply. He is a resident on Marsh Farm in Bedfordshire and the OW that has been used there has afforded 23 people to gain long term employment.
From ‘Chaos’ to ‘Order
In what felt like the blink of an eye, we all found ourselves in the middle of an OW. An exercise set by Heart of Hastings to deliver a number of projects; build 3 houses, effective manage the books of the project, risk assess all of the projects, provide catering for an event and finally, provide entertainment.
Self-organising in action
Attendees quickly agreed a strategy of moving to the area where their skills were best matched, and the tasks were all delivered within the 25 minute time frame, including 2 poems about the whole process.
There were huge lessons to be learnt for me as a leader here. Not least, I can sometimes be too dictatorial and impose a way of working rather than letting people forge their own path. But, as they say, the first step to solving a problem is acknowledging there is one.
Institutional Power
The Marsh Farm project was, as you would expect, not an overnight success. More a 17 year battle, resisted on a multi-institutional level, at the perception of relinquishing power. But, what power?
Even now, in spite of the many social successes already witnessed, still the project, and others like it, face barriers to funding. They have struggled to engage with the Department of Work and Pensions for them to recognise the skills being gained and avoid sanctions. Additionally, effective promotion of the model is difficult to achieve.
Glen’s experience was that Institutions wanted to find excuses not to act. The group just self-organised, got on and did it. They converted an old rubbish tip to a working site, and a long standing farmhouse to a home for 6 social enterprises. They created spaces for inclusion, not exclusion – a different future in comparison to past the participants had.
3 lessons:
- Institutions like power, communities like getting things done.
- Communities know best and don’t work to our structures.
- Power is only useful when it’s given away.
3 challenges:
- Move more towards the latter.
- Be brave.
- Be Bold.
rosswilliams79 