Headless chickens seem to be ten a plenty these days – gnashing of teeth, hard bitten nails and many people mimicking Private ‘We’re doomed!’ Fraser from Dad’s Army.CC is no longer a measurement, it is a panic button marked ‘Credit Crunch’.So, how should we as a Voluntary and Community Sector respond given that we can’t print real money and our ‘Fat Cats’ can only really be described as scrawny?Let me share with you some of the thoughts and ideas for Action that have come to me from a variety of quarters – they may help, and they certainly shouldn’t do harm!.
Become a King Maker – Charities and voluntary groups are overwhelmingly people driven – this is a strength and in times like this it is important to value and nurture your people.Make them feel like Kings!
Free Hugs – My lastest tin badge says ‘Free Hugs’.We are a sector rich in humanity and mutual support.Use this characteristic to improve the quality of what you and your team of volunteers do.If quanitity has to fall because you don’t have enough funds, this will compensate.
Walkie-Talkie – As a 7 year old, I spent what seemed like hours outside a shop drolling over a package that said I’d be able to keep in contact with my own friends ‘even when not in the same room.’It was way beyond my 6dsavings, but it was perhaps the start of a lifelong interest in communications.And Communicate, Communicate, Communicate should become your mantra – problems magnify when fed by misunderstanding and misfortune, solutions arrive when all your team grasps what needs to be done.
Piggy-Bank – A very wide person once said, Confucious like, ‘The best way to save money is not to spend it.’Your reaction may be, ‘Well, duh!’.But think about it – if you can find a way of cutting your cloth more effectively you will save the effort of raising that money you save.This exertion can be focused on raising it for areas where you are harder pressed.
The Golden Nugget – no, not a sugary breakfast cereal gone but not forgotten; rather, the essence of your organisation.Go back to the fountain of youth from which your group was started and use this refreshed purpose to help you prioritise what is most important about what you do.
Pick yourself up, brush yourself down, start all over again.If you are in difficulties then don’t give up.The old adage that ‘hindsight is a wonderful thing’, but despite rigorous interview techniques, I’ve never found someone with this superpower.However, my Mother often says,‘As One Door Closes, Another One Opens’(yes, it always seems to have capital letters when she says it).This is usually said when you least want to hear it, but is invariable true.You, your people, your charity will grow from having gone through a difficult period – rather than allow it to tear you apart, use it to learn and develop from.
Revisit old victories -remind yourself how good you and your people are.You are tackling something very important to someone and, in the near past, you have a good example of how well you do it.Use this as a springboard for popping your head over the trench and realising you may be struggling with the battle, but there is a war to win.
Shakespearo – ‘If it were done when it is done, then it twas well it were done quickly’Probably a misquote from the Bard, but the essence being address a difficulty immediately holds goodDon’t flinch at hard decisions that need to be made – most people prefer to have it straight and be in a position where they can make decisions about their future or their part of your mission.
Become a Galaxy Hitchhiker – ‘Don’t Panic’ – there is no problem to which there isn’t a solution.It may not be apparent, it may not be you that can find it, it may take a while to find it, it might not be where you expect it to be. But it is there!
And finally….
Accentuate the Positive – this Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters number pulls a lot of the points above into one melody. ‘You got to a-c-c-entu-ate the positive, e-l-i-minate the negative … and don’t mess with Mr Inbetween.’Go on, download it from iTunes or look it out in the vinyl section of your Charity Shop.
Reflecting on the Unitary Ipswich decision (or rather the lack of it), I was surprised that in the wide coverage the option of a merger of all Suffolk local authorities was not mentioned as one of the choices Suffolk could make. As a member of the Suffolk Strategic Partnership Board and a keen observer of the divisive effect of local government reorganisation on two occasions, it seems to me that the potential for best serving Suffolk’s people is not met by internal bickering over boundaries. Reorganisation, whilst exercising political minds, certainly seems of little interest to the general public wherever they live (urban, market town or rural Suffolk). Despite this lack of interest, it is very important – financially, environmentally, economically and socially. The core question should always be what is best for Suffolk
We have in the Suffolk Strategic Partnership and the Community Strategy, a framework and common purpose for building a powerful collaboration. Although on a larger scale than most, merging all into a new Suffolk local authority, would offer strong enablement of solutions to Suffolk’s needs – Community, Economic, Green and so on. Structurally we would have to ensure a much more localised way of responding to the particular needs of communities – delivering the ‘districtness’ or ‘boroughness’ of places – but this isn’t beyond the ken of Suffolk and its leaders. My personal starting point is a belief that ‘Suffolk’ is much more than a brand – it is an important descriptor of place, people, culture, prosperity (as richness of life) and community.
Whatever the new shape of local-government-things-to-come, it will require a shift from some current entrenchments. From where I stand, looking over the parapet of those trenches, what I see is opportunity. I find the increasingly used term of Suffolk as a ‘mosaic’ of communities used to conjure up an image of fragmentation – what I see is a symphony of blended diversity worthy of the Albert Hall – and one that would sound even better if the instruments were tuned to the same pitch!
This is a personal view, rather than an organisational position – what do you think the future of suffolk’s local government should look like?
Dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, I formerly launch my blog. My understanding is that Blogging is a bit like writing a Diary, but allowing other people to peek in – so:
It has to be interesting
I’m not allowed slander or libel!
It might (or might not) encourage response
If really successful it gets converted into a book or a TV series
My only guarantee is to fulfil one of these criteria – and I’ll let you be the Judge.
Here goes –
I formally proclaim one of my key personal objectives in my work with SAVO and beyond: I want to help release the latent potential of Suffolk ’s people. By this I mean, I’d like more of us to take on more of the joys and responsibilities of shaping the County. This means more people wanting to contribute rather than take, valuing their community and recognising they have a responsibility to help it grow and develop. It is too obvious to state that volunteering is one litmus test for this, and I think for some this all encompassing phrase is off putting. It sounds a terrific commitment, it sounds very worthy, it sounds time-consuming and it sounds as though it will cost money. And I guess volunteering is both all this – and none of this. Therefore, my focus shifts to Citizenship – but stays only a moment as this sounds even worse! It sounds a bit too Govenmenty (Yes, I do invent words!) , maybe even too American. The next option, Neighbourly, is warm, cuddly but also could have overtones of sticking a nose in where it isn’t wanted.
No, scrub that last thought, let me go for it: Suffolk ’s people ought to be more neighbourly. There, I’ve nailed my first Blog flag to the mast!
As diaries are often short, I suppose my Blog ought to be as well. So I’ll finish with a question for you, my reader: What ought we to do about this?
The Blog 
