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Owain Smolovic Jones
Moderator
Post 1

20 October 2016, 12:36 PM Edited by Matthew Driver on 31 October 2016, 9:58 AM

Week 4, Activity 4 Problems facing your organisation

Think about a problem facing your organisation that needs some serious thinking. Start a post describing the problem (no more than 100 words). Now find the post of a fellow learner and pose an open question to that person, something that might help the learner think about their problem in a different light. To get you underway, we have posted something about a current issue facing the OU at the present time – so please feel free to practise on us before having a go with your own organisations.


Owain Smolovic Jones Post 2 in reply to 1

20 October 2016, 12:40 PM Edited by Matthew Driver on 31 October 2016, 9:58 AM

Something to get you started ... How do we make this learning community a success?

We really want this leadership learning community to succeed. What does success look like? First and foremost, we want the course material and your interactions to make a real difference to your working lives. Second, we want to learn more about leadership in voluntary organisations and to be able to write about it in some published papers. We wonder, though, if we’ve missed something important. Ask us some tough questions …


Ian Jones Post 3 in reply to 2

15 November 2016, 7:21 AM

Time pressures are increasing in the sector how are you better understanding how managers can undertake learning while trying to collaborate to achieve common goals?

To understand wicked problems one must have a systems perspective on the delivery of services. How can such a course assist in broadening the perspective of managers so that they look beyond their operational and service boundaries?

Carol Jacklin-Jarvis Post 5 in reply to 3

16 November 2016, 9:21 AM Edited by the author on 16 November 2016, 10:00 AM

Hi Ian

You address a very important question to us in terms of our understanding as educators of the increased time pressures on managers and the consequences for committing to a collaborative approach.  I think part of our response has to be to ensure that our courses enable managers to engage with the challenges of their immediate context.  So, please keep feeding back to us in this forum to tell us how the course enables you to address the challenges of collaborative practice in your own context.

We are also engaged in continuing research projects to explore collaborative leadership, so will be able to share what we learn and feed that learning directly into our courses.

Thanks for the question.

Carol

Stephen Elsden Post 8 in reply to 2

23 November 2016, 9:50 AM

How would you promote this learning community to the voluntary sector, thereby increasing participation and the wider impact of this course?

Genevieve Rudd Post 13 in reply to 2

11 January 2017, 3:04 PM

Hi Owain. It's great that you want to course to live on, and that you also are willing to learn more and then share those ideas through published papers. When I read the proposition through, you numbered them 'first and foremost' and 'second' - I wondered whether these are two sides of the same idea? Perhaps... having the community live on + learn more + publish = a joined-up action, rather than a number of separate points. Is there a way of community publishing, shared research, shared responsibility for learning/expressing the ideas - much like we do here on the forum? Jointly written by 'experts' and 'learners', honest 'live' accounts, rather than filtered ideas (a la the topic this week!). I can't admit to knowing the solution here, but as I said in the beginning, those 2 goals you listed don't seem like separate ideas to me.

Darren Smith Post 22 in reply to 2

1 March 2018, 5:25 PM

Hi Owain- Does success of this course boil down to engagement and contribution? Could there be a paradox in a richer community contribution meaning success becomes protracted through saturation?

 

Is insightfulness an intellectual deconstruction skill? Or is it a presentation of general consensus data?

 

How can you as a course author promote the benefits of this leadership course to stimulate more engagement and thus, increase community contribution?

 

 

 

All the best.

 

Darren

Ian Jones Post 4 in reply to 1

15 November 2016, 7:26 AM

With increasingly scarce resources we see many partners less willing to collaborate as they go into survival mode. How can we approach them to better understand that cooperation is vital in supporting people and communities?

Also working with the public sector, particularly local authority, as their capability to deliver services diminish while at the same time their staff look at ways to keep their jobs. How can we work with such bodies to get them to understand collaborating is more important than them trying to do everything themselves?

Owain Smolovic Jones Post 6 in reply to 4

23 November 2016, 8:29 AM

Hi Ian

Good questions. I'm just going to reflect back what I think you're saying rather than try to answer the questions. You are basically saying that it is hard to generate collaboration because people frame the problem to be solved as personal-professional and organisational survival rather than the people and communities served?

What kind of opportunities are available to you to influence an alternative framing of the problem? i.e. If you were doing an honest assessment of your scope for influence.

Owain

Ian Jones Post 9 in reply to 6

24 November 2016, 7:42 AM

Owain, yes your reflection is accurate. On all occasions we get try to get the focus back on individuals and communities, particularly the most vulnerable members of our society. It is hard for public and voluntary sector to argue against the very people that they are meant to be supporting. We also try to get our trustees engaged as their perspective has to go beyond organisation to charitable objectives, getting them to collaborate with elected members and governors of health trusts is a way of focusing the debate on lasting outcomes and not short term organisational objectives. Front-line staff who directly engage people are key as well as they have the stories that are emotive and real.

Stephen Elsden Post 7 in reply to 1

23 November 2016, 9:48 AM

The biggest problem facing my organisation at the moment is how do we maintain our high quality and much in demand front line services, while reducing our cost base so we can become more sustainable in the future. We are exploring future scenarios that include growth, reduction, and possible partnerships and mergers. Active engagement with this problem is happening at many levels of the charity, but I would welcome some external perspectives and questions.

Carol Jacklin-Jarvis Post 10 in reply to 7

29 November 2016, 6:22 PM

Hi Stephen

So my question is, what does sustainability look like?  In other words, what precisely do you want to sustain, and what can be let go?

Carol

Stephen Elsden Post 11 in reply to 10

6 December 2016, 10:39 AM

Hi Carol,

What we want to sustain above anything else are the front line services we deliver. Whether these can be given greater security in a larger, better endowed charity is a key question. However, there are many other more intangible things we deliver - our desire for partnership, social impact and supporting and developing individuals (both those we support and those who work for us) - which I would want to see continue. I suppose you could call these values, and if we do explore more strategic partnerships and possible mergers, it is important that these values are retained. Without them, those front line services will be reduced in their quality and impact.

Stephen

Genevieve Rudd Post 12 in reply to 7

11 January 2017, 2:36 PM

Hi Stephen - Thanks for sharing your organisational problem. I wondered, how will your team, staff, volunteers, service users weather the changes of you reducing your cost base? As this may (or may not - it's your org!) potentially include loss of hours, staff, changes to open times, etc which will have a direct impact on all those engaging with your organisation.

Stephen Elsden Post 14 in reply to 12

13 January 2017, 3:43 PM

Hi Genevieve,

To clarify, we don't plan to reduce front line resources - if anything, we want to increase these so we can reach more service users. What we need to do is make our back office functions more efficient and cost effective. We are already exploring some technological options to save on communications and IT costs, and we are also committed to reducing our environmental impact and achieving cost savings through this. My management team are fully on board with this approach, as are my board, but yes, there is a communication challenge with the rest of our organisation to ensure changes are presented as positive.

Stephen

Genevieve Rudd Post 15 in reply to 14

13 January 2017, 7:55 PM

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your response. It's promising to hear that when you previously spoke about reducing costs, it wasn't a euphemism for sacking people - I must be a natural pessimist! Technology can have a hugely positive role to play in cost cutting and making functions more efficient, so it's great to hear you're taking that approach.

Wishing you all the best!

John Hemming Post 16 in reply to 7

28 January 2017, 2:05 PM

Hi Stephen,

You are looking at improving sustainability by reducing your cost base, which can be very difficult since depending on your structure, employees/volunteer mix, staff costs are likely to be the largest element and increasing use of technology can be a double edged, increased efficiency but at a high cost. 

What are you doing as regards developing the income streams, grant funders, NHS, Local Authorities, charging for your services?

John 


Peta Wilkinson Post 23 in reply to 7

14 June 2018, 4:44 PM

Really interesting Stephen what would success look like?

John Hemming Post 17 in reply to 1

28 January 2017, 2:16 PM

My organisations problem is:

It has been going for many hundreds of years and part of its assets are invested in local tracts of land.  This land is now a prime site for development.

Sale of the land would increase our income which will be fed in local worthy organisations.

However the land is Green belt and development would add to the already congested roads, over subscribed schools etc.

How do we keep everyone happy?


Tracey Miller Post 19 in reply to 17

8 August 2017, 9:35 AM

What are the implications for the local community in either outcome?  

Tracey Miller Post 18 in reply to 1

8 August 2017, 9:33 AM

Our biggest challenge at present is recruiting volunteers.  We have great retention rates and generally only lose volunteers due to health reasons or changes in family situations.  But finding people in the first place is tough.  Even five years ago it was much easier but people just don't have the time or the financial stability like they used to.  How can we get more volunteers?

Darren Smith Post 21 in reply to 18

1 March 2018, 4:22 PM

Hi Tracey- Are you appealing to groups like the British Legion, Womens Institute, or the Duke of Edinburgh scheme for new volunteers? Offering a time-bank scheme where you get volunteer time from them in exchange for a presentation, or, time back to them when they need to call in a favour might be an option?

  

   Have you ever considered how you could aid the education of someone studying Health and Social Science by providing an immersive volunteering opportunity?


Darren 


Darren Smith Post 20 in reply to 1

1 March 2018, 3:58 PM

Week 4 – Activity 4

 

One of our main challenges at present is raising the profile of our little known charity.

 

The majority of our demographic are more senior people who have visual impairments and do not embrace technology very easily. So using any kind of social media to spread the word has little or no effect.

 

If we can manage to inform them of our presence then we can offer solutions to isolation. We offer technology training to those patrons who have already discovered us. But how do we announce ourselves to those people not encountered in the eye clinic setting?