This last quarter the Easier Inc. story has been all about communities. They've come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from big old Comunities of Practice to small circles of friends and family. Here's just a glimpse of what's been happening...
A Regulation Community of Practice
Last quarter I mentioned a Regulation Community of Practice that we were setting up with our friends at the Centre for Public Impact and Lankelly Chase. Since then we've run 3 sessions exploring a theme of how we can create more generative regulatory relationships. Action as well as disussion is already emerging but for now, here's a blog I coauthored with Katie from CPI, sharing some of the ealy learning.
iAbacus
Another community where cool things are happening is over at the Next Stage Radicals. Our numbers there have grown quite a bit in recent times and our once a month zoom sessions have revealed all sorts of cool things. For example, new member John Pearce shared a great tool for supporting reflective practice called iAbacus. For anyone who has been following our work on Confirmation Practices this is an absolute god-send. It provides a really neat way to capture, share, scale and spread the Confirmation Practices approach through some elegantly simple software.
NB Mindset before tools is always the rule but if you're already into Confirmation Practices then check it out!
Moral Outrage!
Down in Devon I've been getting to know another community of cool people doing cool stuff. Coming from a variety of roles and organisations, this fledgling community of practice is going to be working with Easier Inc. to explore the role of moral outrage in system change. If you're not sure what that's all about then have read of the last edition of this newsletter or the blog linked above.
I'm so excited to find out what's possible in practice. We are going to be pushing forward with a range of activities that are all about discovering 'the art of the unreasonable'. More soon!
Gateshead Futures
On the theme of moral outrage, I was invited to speak to Gateshead Futures last month - a community convened by Andy Crosbie of the Collective Impact Agency. I took the opportunity to ask, "Do stories of hope get in the way of system change?". I've had a growing sense that these stories risk insulating us from the urgency for change, even encouraging us to think 'if they did it there and the 'big' system is still the same then maybe we don't need system change at all'.
In what's bound to be an unpopular view, I'm asking people to instead share their stories of horror - the unintended consequences of today's system and how it impacts on the lives of everyday people... every day.
Share your stories in the comments below or get in touch.
Changing Lives
Sticking with the North East of England, the last few months have seen me working with the charity Changing Lives. They work to support people who are going through the most challenging of times and come across their fair share of 'stories of horror'. The thing is, the more I see and hear those stories, the more obvious it is that they could have easily been yours or mine. The dividing line between living a 'normal' life and experiencing a really tough time, is much thinner than we may usually appreciate. Moreover, marshalling the boundary are almost always some 'big' system issues, not a bad/stupid/lazy person. It's all too easy to rationalise that we're not experiencing the tough times because we're smarter, more diligent or somehow better but the evidence isn't on that side.
I picked this up in conversation with Laura Seebohm - one of the directors at Changing Lives and someone who is passionate about the need for system change. You can listen to the podcast we recorded below. Thanks Laura!
NB Laura is going to be running an EXPLORING ALOUD event with me, focusing on how the trauma-informed practice she describes in the podcast can help anyone in their life, whoever they are.
Exploring Aloud With The Easier Inc. Fellows
Appearing in other upcoming EXPLORING ALOUD events are Easier Inc fellows, J. Kim Wright and Paul Jocelyn.
Kim will be unpacking 'How ordinary people achieve extraordinary things' and Paul will be sharing his 'Insurgency Tactics for L&D'.
It's hard to recommend these sessions highly enough so do check them out...
Growing In Fellowship
In further Fellowship news, this month saw a joiner and not quite a leaver, but an evolution.
Arriving into the Easier Inc. Fellowship is Nadine Smith. Nadine's background is in building and supporting nonprofits and charities to create social change and public impact. She worked at the centre for government for over a decade helping politics, people and policy come together to solve society's biggest challenges. Until recently, she was working as one of our friends at the Centre for Public Impact but decided it was time to spread her wings and do her own thing. We're delighted to support her in that and to help our clients connect to her expertise too.
If you need someone who can help you tap into your need for purpose and unleash the power and voice of communities then look no further.
(Not) leaving the Easier Inc. Fellowship but also spreading wings, Jeremy Cox (who has been with Easier Inc. for a couple of years and a close collaborator for much longer) is branching out with his own thing, JC Thinking. There will be lots more to come from Jeremy and JC Thinking so keep your eyes peeled and join us in wishing him the best with his new venture.
Human Learning Systems
There's so much more to share from this last quarter but Easter holidays are approaching so I'm going to wrap with this...
The growing community of partners and pioneers in the Human Learning Systems approach have been working for months now to pull together a new report, updating learning about what it takes to take an HLS perspective in practice, writing up case studies and preparing a micro-site from which to share it all. We're nearly ready to send it all live but in the meantime, we've been adding case studies into the existing resource pages a few at a time. If you want to see what the future of public service looks like then hit the button below.
And Finally…
OK. That's it. Holiday time! Here's to a happy, sunny and peaceful Easter.
Very Best Wishes,
Andy and the Easier Inc. team.
Thanks for reading!
Format: News
Tags: Client Story
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