Changing Futures is a UK Government and TNLCF-funded programme supporting 15 local areas across England to make changes at the individual, service and system level for people facing multiple disadvantage.
Over the last year, MEAM has brought the local programme leads together for regular discussions about key aspects of the work. In this series of blog posts, we reflect on some of the topics covered, drawing on their insight and input from others in the Changing Futures programme and the wider MEAM Approach network.
In this second of this blog series, we explore the why a focus on workforce development is an important part of system change for people experiencing multiple disadvantage:
Why is a focus on workforce important?
A supported, skilled and motivated workforce is essential for an effective, trauma informed system. When staff are unhappy and unmotivated, effective support for people experiencing multiple disadvantage is unlikely to be achieved. Many services have been struggling to invest in their workforce to the levels they would like since cuts to public service funding began in 2010, and this has resulted in difficulties with attracting and retaining staff.
While some of the macro-level challenges to improving workforce retention many be beyond local partnerships, local areas have made important steps towards creating environments which develop the skills of practitioners working directly with people facing multiple disadvantage, and which help to foster a connectivity across local systems. This recognises that people in many roles – shopkeepers, paramedics, librarians, receptionists – come into contact with people experiencing multiple disadvantage daily and have an opportunity to facilitate better interactions and to challenge stigma. This broader view of “workforce development” appropriately recognises multiple disadvantage as an issue which impacts a community beyond an individual.
What have areas been doing and learning?
Training can be a seen as a default solution, but it’s not a silver bullet when it comes to workforce development. While stand-alone training has it place in terms of upskilling, its impact is limited when people have to return to systems which remain unchanged. Short term contracts, low pay, limited career progression within frontline roles, staff burnout, the experience of frontline workers not being fully recognised by other professionals in the system, and the lack of frontline expertise in decision-making spaces, all serve as factors which can inhibit the potential of training initiatives, no matter how well intended. What can be invaluable is the opportunity to bring a diverse range of people in varied roles (and of varied seniority) into a room to learn together, creating cross-sector learning spaces which support systems thinking, broaden perspectives, and nurture human relationships. This can contribute to a healthy learning culture where the focus is on exchange rather than “top down” teaching.
To bring professionals and the wider community on board with these learning opportunities, there needs to be a sensitivity and compassion to the pressures points and challenges faced by others in the system – a process of mentalisation and empathetic understanding. A learning offer needs to be responsive to opportunities as they arise, and these opportunities can only be spotted when you are embedded within the community you serve. Developing a bespoke offer or co-creating learning can increase engagement.
Local areas tell us that it’s not worth being precious about ‘multiple disadvantage’ as a label; this language may not resonate within certain sectors, but there are often agendas and initiatives which align and can be tapped into using the right language. Offering learning in bitesize chunks from a varied ‘menu’ can encourage people with limited time resource to join in.
Local areas also suggest that there can be a tendency to overlook the support necessary for senior leaders when thinking about workforce development; it is easy to make assumptions that they are “robust”, “have it sorted” or that they face few constraints to “doing the right thing.” However, if we are asking our leaders to do things differently; to take risks and make bold decisions, then we need to ensure that they too have a feeling of safety through peer support and access to reflective spaces. We need to value and celebrate open, honest and caring leaders that resist system tendencies. If we can bring people in these positions into non-hierarchical learning spaces with other roles, including delivery staff and people with Lived Experience, we can help close feedback loops and improve connectivity and learning throughout the system.
Would a more formalised approach to workforce development be helpful?
A number of areas have thought about the potential of a more formalised ‘Multiple Disadvantage Qualification’ with an opportunity to design, either locally or nationally, a ‘standard’ around practice which could include, for example, education around trauma informed approaches and coproduction. Areas report a challenge around how workers don’t see multiple disadvantage work as a “career” and a qualification or training framework would be helpful to demonstrate a path for progress and to indicate what skills / abilities are valued when working with people experiencing multiple disadvantage. However, there are also limitations to consider. We know that this work is so broad and personal that the idea of condensing this into a ‘course’ could make the work feel prescriptive; could a standardised qualification adequately reflect the complexity and fluidity of the work?
What does this mean for local area work?
While there are some challenges to workforce development that will not be addressed simply through what local partnerships can do with their current resources, there are some immediate things to consider:
- Being generous with training and pooling training resources is beneficial – it improves system knowledge of a topic / practice, standardises an approach from organisation to organisation, brings people from across sectors together to learn, and builds value and trust between organisations.
- Bringing senior leadership into training opportunities is particularly helpful – this creates links to the frontline work, reduces hierarchy and helps everyone to see each other’s power and constraints.
- Training is a valuable opportunity to show an area’s commitment to co-production. By involving people with lived experience with the design and delivery of training, it enriches the material and allows people with lived experience to shape how a challenge is perceived and responded to by staff.