Category: Ideas Space

A Question for our times – Is it really all or nothing?

May 4, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments

Forgive me for being a little simplistic, but it feels like this pandemic might be polarising us into one of two different camps. I’m calling them the ‘All or Nothing Camps’.

The ‘All Camp’ are full on out there working on the front line and holding what seems like our very existence together. They are, in many cases, having to work in ways never imagined before and often under extraordinary pressure. The stakes have literally never been higher. Not only are these people doing critical tasks (looking after people who are unwell, keeping our supermarket shelves stocked, collecting our rubbish etc.) but they are also exposing themselves and their families to significant levels of risk from COVID 19 as they go about these activities. They are truly worthy of the nation’s Thursday night cacophony of handclapping, saucepan banging and even, according to friends here in Bristol, the playing of bagpipes!

Meanwhile the ‘Nothing Camp’ are living like prisoners within their own homes, restricted from going about their routine lives. Some are anxious about their future employment. Some are balancing the demands of working at home with meeting the educational and leisure needs (not to mention the emotions) of their children in the next door room. Some are surrounded by numbers and noise in cramped spaces. Others are living on their own and experiencing a growing sense of isolation and loneliness. Many feel a sense of helplessness, unable to make a difference to their world in this time of crisis, making them feel guilty or even worthless. All this, a concoction of unfamiliar experiences and a myriad of different feelings.

So, how can we productively find our way through this?

As a Coach and Mentor, I have the privilege of working with a number of people leading Social Care organisations. Here, in the ‘All Camp’, I am seeing some inspirational responses to the pressures they face. These leaders are negotiating a path through this storm. Each of them is working with a renewed clarity of focus in terms of what they need to do and why. They have also forged a new simplicity in how they are doing things; they are cutting a swathe through their previously bureaucratic systems and processes. Just this week, I have noticed their focus extending to building the resilience of their staff in the recognition that this uncertain journey is unfolding as a marathon rather than a sprint.

At present, despite my coaching conversations, in truth I can only consider myself as a member of the ‘Nothing Camp’. This being a position, along with many others, I am not comfortable with. Maybe I should think about all of this differently?

What if those of us in the ‘Nothing Camp’ were to take a different perspective and view this marathon as a long-distance relay race instead? Here the ‘Nothing Camp’ is renamed ‘Team B’. When our turn comes, we pick up the baton from the ‘All Camp’, now known as Team A. Then the key questions we could ask ourselves are:

For Team A: “How do I best look after myself so that I can keep running well in this leg of the relay?”

For Team B: “How can I use this time or experience to become stronger and better at what I can contribute when it’s time to pick up the baton?”

As I have frequently heard it said, we are all in the same storm but in different boats. Fortunately, we know from history that “this too will pass”. In the meantime, we can all grow stronger and better if we take personal responsibility for #SeeingThingsDifferently whichever group we are in right now.

Lucy Hurst-Brown

OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE

April 15, 2020 / admin / 2 Comments

Like the statement above, just how are we all reading the unprecedented circumstances that we find ourselves in? The answer to this single question will possibly define the course of our futures as individuals, organisations and even as a society. It is said that crisis creates character and I wonder how the current times will shape us as individuals? What I do know is that not only do we have choices in how we respond to life’s events, we also have the personal power to follow these choices. To get specific, I am choosing to read the above statement as “OPPORTUNITY IS NOW HERE” and I’m determined to find and make these opportunities a reality.

While I do not want to minimise in any way the myriad of severe challenges that we all face in terms of potentially losing loved ones, staying healthy while working in Key Worker roles, fearing or actually being made redundant, being kept apart from relatives and close friends, many of whom are especially vulnerable etc. I chose to believe that there is potential for positive change in the UK going forwards and opportunities for all of us within this.

We are already witnesses to a number of positive changes such as the re-emergence of strong local communities, a concept that has been viewed as in terminal decline for decades. Pollution levels are dropping like a stone almost world-wide. Some family relationships are strengthening beyond expectations; someone told me this week that their teenage kids were now viewing them as both human and interesting people to be around!

We have also started to do things differently and are valuing our time in new ways. Those working from home are wondering how they ever had time to commute, their work life balance has dramatically improved yet they are still getting strong results at work. A number of people have told me that their ‘virtual meetings’ are shorter, more focused and much more efficient. People are shopping for essentials locally and realising the importance of supporting local enterprise. I could go on …

Finally let’s remember that our kids are showing us the way with their rainbows of hope painted wherever passers by can see them. So I want to ask 3 questions that may help us to both see and seize the opportunities of now:

What am I already doing differently and better that I can take into the ‘new normal world’ whenever that emerges?
What opportunities could open up for me in terms of my work and/or personal life and how can I make them a reality?
How can I support some of the positive societal changes e.g. lower pollution levels to stay for the long term?

I would like to challenge all of us to ponder these questions. We have never had such a strong push by events outside of our control or the need, in the words of Blue Giraffe Vision’s strapline, to be #SeeingThingsDifferently

Lucy Hurst-Brown

And with the circling of the years!

December 29, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

Where does time go? It seems only yesterday that I was staring at the clock making its countdown to midnight, while chatting with a close group of friends about our hopes and dreams for 2017 and of course imbibing in a touch of what is known in our household as the good grape! Last year, we even wrote our hopes down on brown labels and then hung them on the Christmas tree. Mine has since been tied to my desk lamp and I guess it will need to come down on New Years Eve to make way for my aspirations for 2018. I am pleased to report that my hopes have largely come to pass; specifically, I aimed (i) to set up a new enterprise (big tick with Blue Giraffe Vision) and (ii) to get some better balance in my life (medium sized tick – certainly better than the previous few years).

While I have definitely travelled in the right direction this year, I am also only too aware of the many things that I would still love to achieve both personally and professionally. I am also aware how hard it is to stay on track with the new intentions that we set ourselves each January 1st. I believe that the marking of New Year in some form or another gives us a wonderful opportunity to lay things down and equally to start things afresh. However, it is easy to feel tired or cynical of this practice, remembering one’s past failings to keep those good intentions while simultaneously being bombarded by millions of messages screaming out at us about just how we can live that perfect future, if only we follow this or that 6 step programme!

Having gone freelance this year for the first time, I have had a little more opportunity to read and as a result have intentionally spent some time looking at the issue of personal resilience and wellbeing. This seemed enormously topical having spent over 30 years in full time employment with limited time out. In addition to this personal experience, working as a coach has reinforced just how big an issue this is for most people. Not simply lasting the course of one’s career, but continuing to learn and love what you do as well as maintaining creativity and optimism is vital for companies and employees alike. I have read and watched much interesting, insightful and often useful material but it has sometimes also been hugely impractical. One such proponent of successful careers and wellbeing advises that we should all undergo a daily 2-hour regime of exercise, meditation, cold showers, writing and more before anyone else in our household even awakes!

With these many different lessons in mind I have decided to try some of the more useful stuff out this year, with an emphasis on establishing some practices that are genuinely accessible and highly pragmatic. I intend to share my findings along with those of others who have kindly volunteered to be guinea pigs, willing to try out some ideas and share their experiences too.

What I already know is that it is not just what you do, but also how you maintain it. Moving from starting something new because you know it will help you, to it being transformed into a new way of life or habit, is one of the secrets to success. It will make for an interesting and hopefully life changing 2018.

I will leave you with a quote that I read this week that I intend to use to set me on my way:

“Start small, start now!”
Seth Godin

Many thanks Seth and here’s to 2018 – may it be full of new adventures, excitement and great health. Happy New Year to everyone.

Lucy Hurst-Brown

Great leaders inspire all to ride the tides of change

November 17, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

I guess I have always been a bit of a ‘change junkie’. I love the feeling of adrenalin surging through me when I’m staring into the face of an exciting future project and can barely wait to get going. In equal measure, I can feel frustrated by the all too often wise words of caution from some around me, who may see the process of getting to this new destination fraught with danger. I’m a glass half full type of person and am lured into the change by a confident expectation that this future place will be so much better than the current state of affairs! In many ways it has served me well in my career to date, where life for people using health or social care is rarely what is should be and the agenda for change is just so compelling.

However, we all have a very different relationship with change; some love it and focus on the future, some hate it and focus on the past while some simply ‘go with the flow’ focusing primarily on getting through today. For many it brings out strong emotions, because change involves not only embracing the new, but also letting go of the old. My personal experience has shown me that managing change well is a vital leadership skill. The term leadership itself implies facilitating some sort of continual movement from one place to the next. As a result, there are endless leadership books and courses on what is referred to as change management. At the heart of most lie the twin principles of communication and involvement, which when done well definitely oil the wheels of change for any organisation.

However, as I get a little longer in the tooth I’m beginning to wonder if there is not a lot more to it. I believe it is very simplistic to think that organisational change either happens or doesn’t happen depending on some senior management decision. I think change is all around us; it happens whether we want it to or not, or to quote an ex work colleague of mine “change is the norm”. If we take a look at the natural world as a reference point, nothing ever stays the same, in fact it is in a constant state of motion. The seasons change, the tides ebb and flow, the sun rises and falls, the clouds scuttle across the sky, the flowers bloom and die and so on. We are in truth constantly living in the midst of change and of course are also changing ourselves – a quick look in the mirror confirms that one for me! The question I think we need to ask ourselves is are we trying to resist it or are we learning to ride it well and even shape its direction? When we learn to ride change well, we find that we are able to influence the direction more easily. Moving a stationary object from one place to another is a lot harder than directing one that already has momentum behind it.

I therefore think that one of the key roles of leaders is to bridge the gap between how things are now and the desired organisational future, so that people can successfully make the needed journey. Part of this is done by communicating a compelling vision and effectively engaging those involved. But I also believe that part of this is about acknowledging the reality of ongoing change within and around us, learning to work with it and taking advantage of its momentum. Leaders have a role in modelling and building a culture where everybody is supported to ride the tide of change well because it doesn’t stop for anyone.

Lucy Hurst-Brown

Tackling Loneliness Head On!

October 31, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

Last week Radio 4 re-broadcast a slightly edited version of my 2016 Four Thought talk about the acute loneliness frequently experienced by people with learning disabilities. It can be heard again at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07hgh5h Unsurprisingly perhaps, a number of people have contacted me via social media and email in response to the talk, for this issue is both a shocking and challenging one. Something of course that many people without disabilities also face.

The concept of community with its shared activities and deep connections to those living close by appears to have eroded enormously over the last 50 years. Today, most family members no longer live in close proximity to each other. Children leave home to take up work, get married and have children themselves often many miles away. Equally modern transport routinely enables our mobility far and wide on an unprecedented scale and social media has fostered often distant rather than local connections (even if only virtual) focused around shared interests, beliefs and values. Over the same period, the Welfare State has come of age and is almost universally viewed as one of the hallmarks of a modern, civilized Britain; there to educate our kids, heal our illnesses and yes … look after the most vulnerable. While I am a huge advocate of the Welfare State, I do wonder whether the ‘law of unintended consequences’ has resulted in it being a toxic influence on our sense of responsibility to family and neighbours? Has the idea that someone else is responsible for ‘others’ crept in to some deep part of our shared consciousness and so added to the breakdown in community? Does this reduction in local connections mean that most of us no longer know our neighbours let alone people of different ages and stages of life? Does it actually play a part in the loneliness crisis?

What makes me particularly angry, is that in the situations such as those I describe in my talk, the people concerned usually have formalised contact time with staff paid to support them. In theory this support exists to enable them to live as independently as possible and to experience a fulfilling life. Yet, despite this support, loneliness features large. It is impossible not to conclude that those of us who work in Social Care are frequently getting it wrong. Worse still, there is no excuse; paid support should include a focus on connecting people to others with the aims of sharing interests and forging meaningful relationships. Yes, I am proposing that despite the breakdown in community all around, people with learning disabilities should be able to break through these societal barriers because, they so often have the dedicated resources to help them to do so.

The most important question of all is what should we be doing about it? There is, I am glad to say, some good news. Over the last few years there has been a growing awareness of this issue, and as a result, some creative responses emerging. These responses I believe could be multiplied to make a meaningful difference on a larger scale if only we would sit up and take notice.

Helen Sanderson has for some time been supporting the development of Community Circles. This is a process that brings two or more people together around someone who wants to make changes in their life. Through discussions and planning it enables people to get out, to do the things they want to do and vitally to develop a growing network of friends and contacts. It’s really worth visiting their website to understand more at http://www.community-circles.co.uk or following @HelenHSAUK and @C_Circles on twitter to hear what’s going on.

Another great example is the Supported Loving initiative that is being undertaken by Choice Support (take a look at http://www.choicesupport.org.uk) who have been running a campaign this year to address some of the biggest challenges people with learning disabilities face in forming and keeping relationships and then sharing best practice. Their conclusion is that it is all about staff and how they work to make this happen. As an organisation they are learning lots and are very keen to share it, so that lives change for the better across the UK. Sarah Maguire Choice Support’s Managing Director talks much about this and is worth following on twitter @SarahMaguire30

The last inspiring example I want to share at present is the work of Paradigm (take a look at http://www.paradigm-uk.org ) who have this year launched The Gr8 Support Movement. This aims to inspire and challenge support workers to connect with each other and to continually learn how to be better at what they do. The movement has set out 8 qualities that make for a great support worker. Two of the eight qualities (Connecting and Supportive of my loving) address this issue of loneliness directly. Sally Warren, the Managing Director of Paradigm also talks about this on twitter and is worth following @SallyAWarren. I would greatly encourage organisations and individuals who are wanting to learn more and find solutions for where they work to get involved with this.

There are likely many more great initiatives worthy of sharing and I really would welcome any feedback/comments that people reading this blog are happy to share, as sharing could just make all the difference.

It is of course a hugely complex issue. However, I am sure of one thing, that if we are to counter this epidemic of loneliness in a society where the ancient practices of community have so broken down, then we need to be intentional about it. If we take intentional action we could seriously make a difference. And … you never know Social Care might just be at the forefront of changing our society for the better by acting as a catalyst for the rebuilding of our communities!

Lucy Hurst-Brown

What’s your appetite for risk?

October 2, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

Some of the most memorable times in my life have involved some degree of significant risk. Indeed, those moments when I have felt most alive have often been characterised by a heady mixture of danger and excitement, a rush of adrenalin, soon to be followed by the warm glow of achievement and finally a reminder that life can be very good. A trip climbing with no recognised safety equipment in very wet conditions to the top of the Pinnacles in Borneo was one such moment!

Something that both infuriates and saddens me in equal measure, is the fact that we live in an ever increasingly risk averse world. While we recognise on the one hand that taking risks is a necessary part of life, the systems around us seem to increasingly conspire against us, cramping our style with more and more ever tighter regulation.

At one level risks can be relatively mundane such as crossing the road or using a sharpe knife. The latter was reported in the Guardian newspaper recently as the dangers of “avocado hand” – apparently a growing number of people are injuring themselves with this middle-class culinary favourite! Often these risks are unacknowledged and when they are, they are generally regarded as essential to getting on with an ‘ordinary’ life.

Other activities perhaps fall into a somewhat more exotic risk category such as climbing El Capitan, the vertical 3000 feet granite rock formation in Yosemite National Park. Tragically only last week a British man died due to huge rocks dislodging from the rock face and crushing him. Risks such as these are acknowledged, but almost all involved in such pursuits report the pay off as far outweighing the potential danger. Why is this?

Apart from the simple fact that many activities that are enormous fun have some degree of risk associated with them, there is in my opinion a very close relationship between personal growth and risk taking. Pushing the boundaries takes us into learning territory; learning about ourselves, those around us and the world itself. If and when we take up these challenges, new possibilities open up and our lives become significantly richer. This is true at an individual level, but also true at a macro level; much of civilization’s progress has been the result of mankind pushing boundaries, exploring new arenas and general experimentation. Put another way, risk has played a central role in our progress as human kind.

Returning to my frustration… In recent years a growing culture of blame and burgeoning litigation has frequently led to severe penalties dished out to individuals and organisations for things going wrong. The result has been the emergence of an almost institutional fear of risk, the imposition of risk assessments for almost everything and often suffocating restrictions established to reduce or remove the risk altogether. I have seen this influence time and again when working with people with learning disabilities. In each and every case, the person would not be in receipt of paid support unless they had significant needs of some sort. These so called needs lead to a degree of vulnerability and therefore risks with getting on with life independently. Yet unsurprisingly, just like everyone else, they want to live life to its full which involves those mundane risks and of course at times the more exotic risks. Surely a primary role of social care must be to support people to actively take risks and as a result to both grow and have richer lives. If we fail to do this the social care system becomes little more than a method of containing people; keeping them safe rather than enabling them to flourish. In short, not something that I, or the many others I know striving for the very best, want to play a part in!

If we want to lead rich lives and be part of a thriving world where on-going learning is the norm, we need to start #SeeingThingsDifferently We must embrace the fact that we should promote and support people to actively take risks (of course in a managed and responsible way) rather than shy away from them. We must prevent our organisations from grinding down peoples’ aspirations by insisting on restrictions that seemingly exist to make those in charge feel safer. Instead we need to find ways to ensure people can get on with the lives they want to lead. I for one want to take a stand against the growing tide of blame and litigation and to live in a world where anything (or at least almost anything) is possible.

Lucy Hurst-Brown

Seeing Things Differently

September 5, 2017 / admin / 0 Comments

Some of my earliest childhood memories are of the Apollo missions that dominated the 1960’s and early ‘70’s. Kennedy had thrown down the gauntlet; America was to land the first man on the moon and my imagination was stirred by the dangerous but inspiring adventures playing out in front of me on our small black and white TV. Men of vast courage were quite literally blasting off into the deep unknown of space. The highlight of these space explorations came in 1969 and is seared into our collective memories with Neil Armstrong’s famous words “… that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” uttered as he finally stepped down onto the moon’s surface.

As a young child I had no awareness of what all this might mean; the political implications for the Cold War, the technological implications for computers, medicine, materials and much more. I certainly had no insight into the philosophical and spiritual implications of these missions. But now, looking back to these events from the second decade of the twenty first century, I can see just how significant it all was. The audacity of Kennedy, the brilliance of the scientists and the courage and excellence of the astronauts.

Arguably however, the most significant implication for mankind from these missions was captured in a single photo taken by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission the previous year. A devastatingly moving shot of the earth rising from the vantage of the moon. Almost all the astronauts from these Apollo missions have reported a major change in their view of life and our planet in the light of this new ‘world view’; experiencing some form of spiritual or philosophical transformation having literally looked back on our earth. They were transfixed by its beauty, vulnerability and unquestionable interdependence. This shared ‘out of earth’ experience has dominated the lives of these brave men, who, made of ‘explorers stuff’, were not known for their sentimentality. Their bravery took them to a place where they could quite literally ‘see things differently’. Not only did it change the way they led their lives, but in turn by sharing this experience with us, it changed the way we all see the earth, and has probably been the single biggest factor in driving forward today’s environmental agenda. Our planet is special, deeply interconnected and hugely vulnerable and we all now know it.

This ability to see things differently is a powerful skill, giving us the potential for major break throughs in some of the biggest challenges that we face as individuals, teams, organisations and ultimately nations. I have set up Blue Giraffe Vision, a small Consultancy organisation, with the possibly audacious purpose of supporting people and organisations to take a look at some of their challenges from another perspective. All this in the belief that #SeeingThingsDifferently has the potential to release vital innovations and ultimately, the hoped for positive impact and outcomes we are seeking in our work places.

I’m keen to give it a go because I believe it will work in today’s very complex world, and my hope is that others will want to join me on this adventure!

Lucy Hurst-Brown