It Is Always Possible To…What?

I have started a business for people who want to make a difference.
I have called it always possible. But what the hell does that mean? What does it do?

When offering a service rather than a tangible ‘thing’ - an item for sale - the first challenge for any start-up is to define what lies at the core. What makes you interesting? What is your ‘why?’.

As Simon Sinek says, ‘people don’t buy what you do, but why you do it’.

With everyday that I work on the idea of always possible, it becomes clearer. Here is my pitch to you:

Why?

It is always possible to be brilliant. 

If you run an organisation that seeks to make the world better, or to challenge the things that don’t work - then I believe you can do it brilliantly.

I believe that if you’ve got the heart, soul and brain, you can make it work.

Whether you run a school, a government department, a tiny social enterprise, a youth club, a dance company, a research charity, a coffee morning, a synagogue or an after-school karate class - your provision has the possibility of changing the world, one positive experience at a time.

I believe that you need three things to be brilliant.

- The right people

- A clear purpose

- The right resources

It’s obvious? Think about an organisation you love working with or buying from, one that is thriving - what is it you love about it?

The organisations that don’t thrive, that either never get off the ground, or grow rapidly too big, or get so distracted that the floor collapses, will be missing one the three ingredients. I promise you.

No organisation is quite the same as an other, because each one has different people, a slightly different purpose, and different resources - but that is one of the most exciting things there is. But no organization is the first to try, fail and try again.

One of the hardest things to do, and believe me I know, is to step back and ask yourself the following questions:

- Does everyone in this organisation share the same values?

- Can someone we have never met explain why we exist?

- If 50% of our income streams vanished tomorrow, could we still thrive?

If you answer these questions honestly and you get three yesses, you can achieve everything you have set out to achieve. And much more.

If there is a no or two, then you’re with the majority. The thing is, though, you have just realised that something probably needs to change - which makes true brilliance only a short distance away.

What?

This is a long-winded sales pitch, you’re thinking - if you’ve got this far. Maybe. But the ‘why’ is fundamental, and I believe it is always possible to be brilliant. I wanted to set that context.

We all need a bit of help to be brilliant, and we are only brilliant because of our behaviours and the connections we build.

I’ve been around the block, for about 15 years so far. I’ve worked for/with some truly brilliant organisations, and I have worked with ones that have collapsed. I have supported charities, local authorities, training providers, schools, theatre companies, artists, social enterprises and more - I have made mistakes and prevented mistakes.

But my learning has led me to a point where I can use my knowledge and intuition quickly to create an environment for change.

I have met some amazing people on the way, and they are joining me for this journey, as associates, advisers and partners. If you book me, you might get them too, and they are worth their weight in gold.

We can help you, as friendly human beings who will *get* your business. We know you’re not like everyone else.

- The right people

We can help you develop your staff teams - whether it is helping clarify your vision and values or more formal training and CPD. 

We can support your leaders, with coaching or strategy planning - and we can help you hire the right people, or restructure existing teams for increased productivity and internal wellbeing.

We can help you to evaluate and self-assess your impact, and the impact of your team members. You need a culture that drives forward, gets things done - with a team that looks after each other and plays its best hand everyday. Sometimes a pair of outside eyes helps get to the heart of any barriers much quicker.

- A clear purpose

We can help you re-discover your ‘why’ - internally and externally. We can work with you around leadership thinking, and the creativity of being different to everyone else. We’re big, bold, creative people - but we have a keen eye for detail and for an opportunity.

We can link you up with local business networks, strategic influencers and bigger picture connections. With our help, you can distill your message so that everyone knows why you do what you do. We can improve your digital presence, the consistency of your communication and your presentation skills.

We have been designing successful education and creative projects across the south east and London since 1999. We can use what we know to ensure your good idea works in practice.

- The right resources

Our associates have raised and managed over £10million of public grants and contracts, philanthropic giving and commercial sales over the last decade.

We can help you write that winning bid, put together that killer pitch and make the most of your assets. Do you know what funding is available to you? We probably do.

We know how to hire the right staff, and to keep them. We can audit your health & safety practices and ensure that your policies are fit-for-purpose and keep your staff and service users safe.

* * * * * * 

If you like our approach, and you think that a bit of targeted support could help take your organisation to the next level - we’d love to hear from you. It all starts with a free no-fuss, no-obligation consultation to see if we can add value to your company.

Thank you for reading. Please share and ask questions. Have a lovely week.

Rich Freeman

web: www.alwayspossible.co.uk

email: ideas@alwayspossible.co.uk

tweet: @always_possible

call: 07877 307883

How Much Further, Education?

I think its fair to say that those tasked with running the post-16 education sector in England and Wales have, quite quickly, started to notice the wheels coming off the policy train. Since the May election, a raft of statements, reports and reforms have been issued by the departments of both Education (DfE) and Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) that call into question the efficacy of colleges and training providers.

The conversations about effectiveness and quality are not new and are obviously important; Alison Wolf sounded klaxons about vocational education back in 2011 resulting in a significant new funding regime and Ofsted produced a very luke warm annual evaluation on the sector last December. The tone does seem to have shifted in 2015, with a hurried air of concern, now that it is clear that continual drip-feed cuts to the further education (FE) and skills budget over the last decade have resulted in a big shrinking of sixth form college capacity across the board and the recent news from the National Audit Office that 70 out of the UK's 382 FE colleges are just staving off bankruptcy. Whatever your view on the academy and free school plan, it has dented the existing education infrastructure exposing Westminster hindsight rather than forethought.

For those of you who exist outside of the FE bubble, it can seem like a strange and complicated cocktail of provision and public funding (to be fair, you don’t have to be outside of it to feel that).

Secondary schools can have built-in sixth-form colleges, now competing more than ever with standalone sixth forms - both are the traditional home of A Levels and pre-university academia, but are increasingly offering GCSE re-takes, vocational study and engagement support for the low attaining in order to boost numbers (and cash).

General FE colleges now often have sprawling campuses across big towns or counties, with offers of everything for everyone - A Levels, BTECs, NVQs, Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Study Programmes, adult & community learning, GCSEs, English for foreigners, commercial business training, evening classes - with a number of income streams from the DFE, BIS, DWP, local authorities and the European Union.

And then, you have over 400 independent training providers - usually private businesses or charities - that draw down over well over £1billion of government funding to offer competition to the colleges with more niche and specialist provision, smaller classes and more bespoke, industry-led training. Over 70% of Apprenticeships are delivered by private providers, and this is the only part of the post-16 education budget not expected to bear the £900million of cuts over the next 5 years.

Last week, the government announced a 'major reform’ review process, that will seek to move across the country region-by-region auditing college provision and impact. Some expected outcomes of the review seem to have been pre-determined with expected "fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers” that might be centres of “greater specialisation” and “expertise” (a thinly-veiled criticism of the generalist nature that colleges have tended to foster in recent years). It is hard to know what conversations are happening behind closed doors, but at a recent conference of independent training providers, Skills Minister Nick Boles made it clear that the current model for FE colleges is not something favoured by him or colleagues.

I’ve worked in post-16 vocational and work-based learning for nearly 6 years, as a frontline and strategic manager - and more recently developing leadership training resources for managers in the sector and as a project consultant with a trade body representing nearly 100 colleges and providers. In my view, the inevitable forthcoming changes are huge. We could well see colleges merging to form giant, regional conglomerates delivering provision for over 40,000 students - potentially bigger than most universities. My prediction is that leadership will be ever-concentrated and increasingly political, with ‘specialisation’ being decided by national agendas or by the Local Enterprise Partnerships (who are playing an increasingly bigger role in devolved spending). More learning will move into the digital space, and vocational skills level courses will go higher and higher to compete with degrees. Those that could stand to lose the most are the young people who leave school with very little and are not yet ready for the workplace; all providers will have a duty to ensure engagement provision is fought for.

It will be an interesting time for the independent providers, who do serve a very real need in offering smaller-scale, responsive provision that can often be more personalised and more suitable for learner who need more support - if the colleges are going to become specialists in particular industry areas what will that do to the historical specialisms of the providers who are there to teach skills in plumbing, hairdressing, childcare, digital media, flood-defense etc?

They are not kidding when they state the need for resilience. FE leaders might often feel at the whim of many different masters (students, parents, employers, 3+ government departments, Ofsted, auditors, local authority), delivering more for less. The message from the government is that, currently, colleges are too big to fail but many are failing financial stress-tests. Obviously not seen quite as business critical as the banks, there are only small bailouts on the cards for the ones crashing hardest, so it is in an interesting answer to propose making them into study behemoths. The inevitable centralisation of merged college operations will be the money-saver, but could harm innovation and the bolder, broader moves that the better leaders can take. Independent providers have the flexibility to fill gaps, but often lack scalability or financial security to offer provision that won’t have maximum take-up.

This is one to watch at the moment, but the shape of post-16 education is being squished and reformatted now and for the foreseeable future. It won’t garner the news headlines anything like if similar reform were to happen to schools or universities, because there is still the cultural attitude that college beyond school is optional anyway, but as of September 2015, it will be technically illegal not to be in at least 15 hours of training, college or work (with accredited training) per week if you’re 16 or 17.

I’m watching the leaders, the movers and the shakers - looking for the values, the integrity and the professional will to steer these organisations through choppy waters. In times of crisis, behaviors need to be in-tune, with trust and accountability at the fore (definitely different to the banking sector) - working in collaboration with other providers to continue to innovate in delivery and quality.


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Richard Freeman is Director and Lead Consultant at always possible.

For information about getting support with organisational development, educational policy, leadership & resilience, please visit alwayspossible.co.uk or email blog@alwayspossible.co.uk

The Drama Triangle

Being a parent of two young, restless children on these hot, light nights tests my emotional and physical resilience to an extreme. They have both slept in the car on the way home earlier, of course, so have already enjoyed a 45 minute deep sleep. The calming-down effects of the usual food, bath, story routines are undermined by the intense sunshine and sticky skin under even the lightest of pyjamas. 

I know we don't live in a sub-saharan hot-spot, but it is well-documented that the Brits aren't particularly prepared for hot days and nights. And our Sussex home near the coast is built to insulate, which it does very well.

The children don't go to sleep until gone 10pm, and for the 3 hours prior to this there is a merry-go-round of irritability: tantrums, frustrated stomping about, apologies, hot cuddles, pleading, blackmail, angry outbursts, platitudes etc etc. It is a buffet of ill-advised behaviours.

But it is only ever later on, when everyone's defeated, that you properly start to reflect on what could have happened differently (clue: I am getting the car seats fitted with dashboard-controlled spikes so that they can't fall asleep in the back unless I say so). You think about the behaviours the children use to gain control of the situation in their different ways - and the behaviours my wife and I use to strive for firm fairness yet quickly lose ground to sheer exasperation. We are caught in Karpman's drama triangle and the only way out of it is someone eventually falling asleep. Probably the grown ups.

Dr Stephen Karpman's 1968 idea, was that conflict needs players and players need roles. The consequential objective of each role is just to have its own needs met - even if temporarily - in order to feel justified in its rationale/behaviour/feeling.

Karpman suggests that in each conflict there are three main roles:

1. The Persecutor: happy to allocate blame and to ensure that other players know they are in the wrong. They are probably angry, accusative, inflexible and feeling very righteous. In order to have their needs met, they require The Victim; someone onto whom they can project their irritation.
2. The Victim: The Victim takes the brunt of The Persecutor's wrath. The Victim feels hard-done-by, got-at, powerless, ashamed, unable to do anything. This is obviously a position of anxiety for most, but psychologically it can actually often bring some comfort. You know where you are when you are The Victim, and it's easy to seek the pity of others. If The Victim role feels natural to you, then you need to seek out The Persecutor (if you haven't already got one) but also The Rescuer.
3. The Rescuer: a big ball of guilt, who needs someone to help, because when you're the hero to others then you don't have to deal with your own feelings of anxiety or displacement. The Rescuer appears to be The Victim's saviour from The Persecutor, but actually cements the others in their negative behaviours - almost giving them permission to stay as the bully or the bullied as it makes everyone feel that they have a purpose.

The important things about these roles, is that they are not fixed to an individual. In the course of a conflict, the players will move around the three corners of the triangle - first shouting the odds, then feeling got-at when they are challenged, and then rescuing their former adversaries when they then go on to feel vulnerable. It is a rotating pattern of behaviours that, ultimately, serves no-one. Even when the conflict is finished, everyone of those players is likely to harbour some resentment - even if their short-term emotional needs feel sated.

What does this have to do with always possible, I hear you grumble - and is this just a parent-child thing?

Well, it has everything to do with everyday organisational behaviours, with corporate, community and collaborative development and - in a way - it is to do with parent/child relationships, but often metaphorically.

In some leadership workshops that I co-ran in March with managers from the FE and skills sector, we explored the drama triangle and whether it had any impact on the behaviours of those running education institutions. Of course! The lists kept coming:

Classic persecutors: Ofsted, awarding bodies, DfE, angry parents, angry learners, disgruntled staff, pissed-off neighbours, local authority, politicians, social workers...

Victims: teachers, Headteachers, learners (again), disgruntled staff (again), neighbours (again), politicians (don't blame us, we've got books to balance)

Rescuers: teachers (again), counsellors, social workers (again), local authority (we really do understand...), colleagues, Headteachers, Ofsted, whiskey...

You get it.

This theory has been around for nearly 50 years and is used daily in the fields of 'transactional analysis', and the study and understanding of social and professional behaviours. But, it is one of the simple ideas that I think makes a lot of sense, and to understand where you are on in the cycle during any given 'drama' enables you to get yourself out of it.

As a manager, leader and consultant, I will always be very mindful about the sorts of drama triangles that are sapping my clients' energies - and situations don't often look or feel like a theoretical diagram can neatly sum them up - but dig a little and patterns emerge. The obvious examples are where company leaders feel that they have absolutely no control over the future of their organisation - because of cuts in funding, because customers are more demanding, because you can't get the staff, because the competition are just that bit bigger - and the sensitive conversation to have is about how long this feeling has been going on and whether actually it is easier to be The Victim because the narrative it provides displaces the need to do something about it. The belief that The Rescuer will be along soon (a grant windfall, a good bit of publicity, a stay of execution from the landlord/taxman/whoever, some good results) is sometimes enough to keep people going.

When you write it down, it sounds a bit irrational (I think) - but I would guess that 80% of small values-led organisations, schools, arts organisations, SMEs, charities, have this mindset for a big chunk of their developmental years.

Is there an answer? Well, self-awareness can bring some different ways of looking at things.

Much of the follow-up work to Karpman has focused on the idea of ridding the parent-child power games in favour of more adult-adult conversation. If one part of the triangle ceases to play along (much like if you remove one of the elements needed to maintain a fire), then the drama collapses. It takes one party to speak above the noise and call for a bit of perspective.

The idea is then that the energy given out in perpetuating the drama could actually be used for the long-game, reframing the action towards problem-solving behaviours rather than the emotional quick-wins. Of course, much easier said than done, but that's where some outside perspective can often help.

If it works, then The Persecutors become Challengers. They might still have a bee in their bonnet, and they might have a thing or two to say - but it moves from bullying to a more collaborative approach that relies on accountability and transparency. Most importantly, they are clear about what behaviours from others will enable them to feel less angry or critical - and to have realistic expectations about how these can be achieved.

The Victims become Survivors, understanding that purely to seek the validation of feeling vulnerable means it can never move beyond that point. The key is to identify, and then take, some action - still often with the help of others, but without the co-dependency. This may mean letting go of some strings.

The Rescuers become Coaches. Having some synergy with the Challengers, this role helps others to identify the behaviours they need to exhibit in order to get themselves out of their rut. The better the coach, the less direct rescuing they need to do.

Of course, this is just a framework, but it can help foster a dialogue within teams - especially when the proverbial starts to hit the fan. There are people who won't buy-in to it, and there a organisations who feel their natural harmony and problem-solving is the glue which binds them - which, if true, will lead to a thriving company much quicker than others. But it is rare that no-one ever finds themselves in this trap.

I will still blame my role as grumpy daddy on the car-journey sleeps and the fact that British houses are poorly designed for hot days. It's nothing to do with me, guv. Not my fault.

A Pitch In Heat

This week I have been staring at unwieldy forms; submitting an Arts Council England application on behalf of Original Theatre Company, navigating the wordy Register of Training Organisations due-diligence and quality assurance pages, drafting another bid on leadership & management training. I end up conquering, even befriending, these endless boxes but I have to set the right conditions. Glastonbury coverage and muggy heat are not helpful conditions.

I am a conqueror. Just a hot one.

This evening I have been at the first ever Brighton RSAEngage event, an event for current and prospective Fellows of the Royal Society of The Arts to gather and drink wine and talk about changing the world. I have been a Fellow for 3 days, but felt more included than I have ever done when muscling my way in to these sort of seemingly important chinwags. It was informal and friendly; I felt able to talk to anyone, and everyone was equally flagging in the evening heat. My elevator pitch is not yet refined and goes something like: “I am an education consultant and I also work with creative and cultural organizations and the non-profit and charity sector and I support growth and strategy and help leaders be brilliant at what that they do and that is at the core of my offer, to help organisations that want to make a difference be brilliant, and that is through strategy and fundraising and coaching and consulting, I am interested in values-led leadership and how education can be broken apart and restitched as well as how the arts can fulfill a mandate for social change and I like people and I like cheese and and and and”.

I could do with some editing.

It could have been an empty talking shop, a bit elitist, a bit privileged - I’ve done those before - but it avoided this. Most people seemed as wide-eyed as me, but with a ‘thing’ that they believe in to talk about.

I might have excitedly said I will do some things with some interesting organisations - and that's what is incredibly motivating at the moment; there are some really god things happening. I met the CEO of ditchthelabel.org, a high-profile anti-bullying charity and we’re hopefully going for coffee. I enjoyed picking the brains of Naomi, who is a community theatre specialist, working with BAC and the Old Vic, who wants to establish a People’s Theatre that appeals to the 92% of people who never go to the theatre. I chatted with Lewis, who is an intern at a management consultancy that wants to transform a kiosk next to a windmill in Rottingdean into a conservation and environment education centre. I caught up with Rose who trains school governors. I spoke with Nick, a former Ofsted director, who now helps run a mentoring network for vulnerable young women and we talked about setting one up for boys. I heard from Nigel, who runs a new arts venue in Haywards Heath. I briefly introduced myself to Rowan, Director of Research & Innovation at the RSA who compelled us all to stick our noses into the deals being made about Brighton’s devolved money (the City Deal that will bring millions to the city in exchange for rapid economic growth - she is expecting an email from me about wanting to get involved. Somehow).

I’ll write soon about ‘what’ I’m doing and the philosophies that underpin it, but the scoping is still very rewarding.

What Am I Doing?

Hello. I'm Richard.

In November 2014, I registered self-employed and created the trading name 'always possible' as the genesis of an idea. I was still working full-time as the Operations Manager for a busy training provider in Brighton as well as juggling life as a father (a 5 year old and an 8 month old), a husband, a school governor and a human being who likes to eat, cycle, garden and sit down with my eyes closed and listen to sad music.

The urge to create was taking me over, and whilst my work was exciting, ever varied and valued - I was feeling stuck in a bubble and bogged in detail. I'm good at building networks and sniffing out opportunities, at advising and shaping new ideas, so every inch of my instinct was telling me to engineer that in a new way.

The name 'always possible' is intended to answer development questions - What about? Can I? Is there a way to?

It's always possible.

It's always possible to be brilliant and imaginative and successful. It's always possible to get things right and to make a difference. 

You just need to work out what's getting in the way and remove it. Always simple? Hell no. But I am confident I can help others - I have spent the past 15 years solving creative, business, planning, staffing and delivery problems.

I'm not an expert, or a guru, on anything. These lazy titles suggest that all the learning has happened and that curiosity is spent.

I am a specialist in a few areas, but a student of everything. I have experience , an analytical brain and an approach with people that works. The adventure and the challenge now is to see if these qualities can continue to help make lots of other organisations get better and thrive in a difficult market place. 

I'm keen to do this differently, and not on my own. I have already gathered some amazing associate consultants to join the biz, and there will be lots more on that later.

Why start this blog now?

My business cards arrived today, which seems to be symbolic - an old 'technology', but a new direction of travel for me.

I will blog regularly, documenting my journey, opportunities and challenges and the interesting people I meet and things I learn along the way. I'll not be betraying my clients' confidence, just mapping the discoveries of a new business finding its feet. Hopefully it will inform and entertain you.

Let me know what you think:

blog@alwayspossible.co.uk

Rich