“Once they understood me, it got much easier”
— *Melanie.
This blog is going to be written by lots of people, not that any of them know that yet. I’m going to interview lots of people, or ask them to write something.
Lots of different people are going to tell stories about being understood or what it’s like to understand someone.
We’ll write about what it’s like to reclaim the ‘extra mile’ as normal. About de-radicalising help and helpfulness. About moving from numb to sensational. About investing in supporting lives, not simply life support.
I’m doing this because there is a growing movement towards revolution in services to the public across many sectors and all over the world. More and more people sense that the ecosystem of service and provision is broken. Many are going back and resetting via the primal urge and ability to care and help through building relationships and they are finding that it works.
I’ve laboured under many views about revolution. Is it about a design revolution, about new thinking, about killing off New Public Management (not entirely, but let’s do that anyway), about how the money works? It is, but something lies behind all of that.
In truth, it’s about the simplest of revolutions: it’s time for identity to matter.
“Do you know who I am?” has become a provocation, aligned to asserting status. This question actually belongs to citizens and communities rather than those assessing them.
My previous blog was about my work in reform. This one isn’t. In doing this work, I learned so much about what works, what hurts (me and others), what doesn’t work and what it’s telling us about services to the public and the dynamic between people, communities and state. 100% of what I learned was from people (data helped ask questions, people answered them) so this blog will be about people first and foremost.
It’ll mostly be interviews and reflections on those. I’ll interview those we have helped in our reform work and with their permission, relay some of that here. I’ll interview partners, colleagues and anyone who wants to add to this. If you want to get in on this, contact me though this blog and let’s talk 🙂
I work for a local authority as a director of public service reform. I’ve worked in councils, health, policing, housing, banking and in the voluntary sector for 25 years. The things I will write on here or get others to write will draw from many different places and situations, not just my current one.
I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
With her permission, I’m going to start by writing about *Melanie, with whom I chatted recently. She came in to talk to me about one of the teams working in a very Cottam-esque way because she wanted to say what a difference it had made. She also bought gin for the team and with that, a card that near broke my heart. The interview with this amazing lady, who is losing her sight and was close to a breakdown through “navigating our efficiencies”, spoke to me about how being understood by two of my amazing team transformed her life.
More next time…
Do you know who I am? 