I work with visionary leaders like you who are serious about changing services to improve outcomes for people.
I grew up with Manchesterism. I know what it looks like in practice. It’s not a fad or a trend. It’s been a journey of courage, innovation, partnership and leadership spanning thirty years. It’s about people and place and its shaped how I do what I do……..
Five years into running my consultancy, I found myself asking an unexpected question: Am I still doing the work I'm meant to be doing? What followed wasn't a change in direction, but a deeper understanding of the value I bring. This is a reflection on growth, human-centred transformation, and why the way we create change matters just as much as the change itself.
Baroness Casey's review makes it clear that many of the biggest challenges in health and social care are systemic, not individual. If we want lasting change, training alone isn't enough. Creating learning cultures where people develop, reflect and collaborate as part of everyday work is one of the most powerful ways to build the confidence, relationships and capability needed for truly human-centred transformation.
When NWADASS invited me to work with them to capture learning about workforce integration across health and social care I immediately knew that I wanted to get into the people aspects of change. Where I’ve seen real change happen, at pace, is where people have been empowered, enabled and equipped to come together, get to know and understand each other better, share challenges and ideas and start to try something new. My interest was immediately sparked when I heard that several other councils had begun their journey towards blended roles at the same time as Tameside and yet Tameside had, when I began this work, been the only North West council to successfully implement. I wanted to get to the heart of what it was about Tameside’s approach that had made the biggest difference……click the pic to read more
It’s my second business birthday!! Where did that time go?! I take time out to reflect on my journey, how my work relationships have changed since I became freelance and the challenges of enabling different in big public sector organisations. I couldn’t let my anniversary go without a nod to my Great Auntie Janie, my childhood role model who taught me I didn’t have to conform
If you’re a social worker or occupational therapist working part time, I’d love to hear your experiences. What are the practical things that make it work? What makes it hard? How do we do more of it? I’m working with the LGA and ADASS to learn more so we can work alongside councils to enable more flexible working to be available more often. Click the pic for more…….
Change is an ever-constant in public services and there are loads of examples of brilliant changes that people have made happen. So why aren’t these examples spreading and scaling? What stops us learning from what others have done? What do you want to know and how do you want to know about it so that you can draw on the experiences of other change agents to make change happen where you work? Clic the pic to read more ……..
In 2021, the Community Care job seekers survey found that flexible working is the most important benefit that social workers look for in a job and yet only 19% of social work jobs advertised in Community Care were offered with part time or flexible hours. Look closer and you’ll hear stories from social workers telling you that full time is always preferred by employers and that securing a social work job with a non-traditional working pattern is hard to come by. So how do we make flexible working work for social work - safely and in a way that balances the needs of service users with the needs of social workers. I’m looking for your help….Clic the pic to read more
