Our staff team has now spent two highly profitable days looking at the place of Solutions Focused Coaching in the development of our organisation. It has been a real revelation. Phil Aspden and Janice McNamara from Summerhouses http://www.summer-houses.org.uk/ did a fantastic job and helped us realize how ‘problem focussed’ our approach has been at times. The ethos of the solutions-focused approach chimes exactly with our method of building cultural capital, which is essentially an ‘asset valuing’ model. It was highly refreshing to see things from a fresh perspective and great to spend two days together as a team.
We also spent an interesting evening in the company of some key stakeholders in Lancashire, Blackburn and Blackpool at a ‘Discuss and Dine’ event we held at Stanley House in Blackburn last Wednesday, with support from Arts Council, North West. Participants were glad of the opportunity to connect with colleagues from a range of disciplines related to creative and cultural education and there was a broad consensus that more networking events of this nature are vital. We’ll be looking into how we might do more of this. A number of key themes emerged:
- The importance of communicating the impact of creative and cultural learning in clear and persuasive language that policy makers will listen to.
- The importance of cultural organisations becoming ‘commission ready’ and working closely with other partners in the third sector to connect commissioners meaningfully with communities.
- The need for a sharper focus on creativity and culture within inspection regimes – if it’s inspected it will get done.
- The need for young people’s voice to feature at the core of our advocacy.
There was much else and a full report will be appearing shortly on our website. Thanks particularly to Gladys Rhodes, Strategic Director of Children’s Services in Blackburn with Darwen, who was a passionate and leading voice during the conversation. It was encouraging to witness the level of commitment and creativity Gladys and others were demonstrating. Thanks also to everyone else who supported the event – plenty of food for thought.
Do get in touch if you’d like to participate in similar events in the future or have ideas for improving networking opportunities.
Chris May