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Fulfilling Potential

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Why do we obsess about fulfilling the potential of young people?

Clearly this is an important challenge – but what about the over 25s? Over 50s?

Perhaps we need a more genuine approach to developing the potential of people.

The language of ‘opportunities’ is different to the language of ‘potential’.

Potential is something innate to the individual. It is a product of nature and nurture, passion and purpose. Opportunities on the other hand are usually spotted by planners and employers and waved like carrots under the noses of the populace in a misguided hope that it will prove a sufficient incentive to precipitate change. Most times it doesn’t. Opportunities are the products of economies and markets.

Opportunities are a product of top down strategic thinking and planning. Potential is a product of personal development and can only be developed ‘responsively’. It requires that we respond to the needs, interests and ambitions of individuals.

So let’s develop person centred services designed to facilitate self-belief in potential, possibility and the recognition and selection of options – some of which might include the planners and employers ‘opportunities’.

I was working in an FE college yesterday where there was a focus on ’employer engagement’. Now the last time I looked at the Leeds economy ’employers’ (especially those who would ‘engage’ with FE) were busy reducing employment – not creating it. So how about we spend more time and money on engaging passionate individuals who want to do something with their lives, in pursuit of their own agendas, rather than on the agenda of employers, QCA and LSC.

It might just work….

Do Me A Favour…please?

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..and tell me what I am missing?

The Catalyst Centres in Leeds are into the implementation of  ‘sales plans’ designed to build membership and make the Catalysts the vibrant networking hubs that they need to be.

But the pricing strategy leaves me drop-jawed.

If I understand it properly the starting membership price of access to a ‘hot desk’ starts at £5 an hour.  With a minimum spend of £25 per month.

Now I understand that it is not about price but about value but it also HAS to be about access and inclusion for local people from the communities whose enterprise culture we are being tasked to ‘transform’.

Anyone who has been visiting the Catalyst Centres at Shine in Harehills or Rise up at Seacroft will know that they are not ending 2008 bursting at the seams.  (I am not sure how busy they are down at Hillside as I have not been dropping by there quite so often.)

I suspect that this represents a lot of investment that is not yet being used to anything like capacity.   Buildings, furniture, heating, lighting, salaries, laptops, printers all sitting there – burning cash – and not being used enough.

So the sales plans are underway and the centres are looking for people with money, working from home, who might be interested in a vibrant networking environment to get them out of their isolation. We are talking Sales reps, IFAs, life coaches, LEGI partners etc…

Does this really describe the target market for LEGI investments?

Or are we already witnessing a shift in social and economic policy objectives to achieve economic viability for the buildings and their owners?

I am really pleased that we have this great infrastructure available for residents of the LEGI areas in Leeds and the wider areas of influence. Indeed they may become real assets for the City. They could also become economic white elephants.

To avoid this we must develop a strategy for community engagement around enterprise (this is not the same as selling enterprise) and a funding strategy for the catalysts that allows them to play their part in transforming the enterprise culture of local communities – rather than making life on the road a little easier for an already employed mobile workforce.

So please do me a favour and tell me what I am missing….

The E-Factor

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Had a great morning yesterday when I got to meet some of the team responsible for the development of the LEGI programme in North East Lincolnshire – and got to enjoy the splendour of Cleethorpes!

So what impressed me about the e-factor approach?

  • The enthusiasm and belief about what could be achieved in North East Lincolnshire
  • The commitment to real outreach work (facilitating an understanding of enterprise rather than trying to sell services and facilities)
  • A commitment to develop the demand for enterprise services before investing in too much infrastructure (an ambitious property development programme is underway – but only after the outreach and adviser teams have already got some hungry and ambitious clients)
  • The functional, astute and prosaic approach to developing property – this is about affordability, commerciality, sustainability and flexibility – not about signature buildings and grand statements
  • The close integration of all parts of the delivery team – most of the key staff work for a single social enterprise.  They share an office and have a close commitment to, and history with the communities they serve
  • There is a real sense of ‘shared destiny’ across the various strands of project development – a real recognition of how success in all aspects will be critical to the success of the project as a whole
  • Some really great case studies of significant progress already made to transform the lives of clients – these will provide a strong platform for developing an excellent reputation where it matters – in target communities.

Big thanks to Charlotte, Tony, Matt and Paul for spending  time with me. I am really interested to see how things develop in North East Lincolnshire.

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Engaging in Enterprise

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“If you want to reach people no one is reaching you’ll have to do things that no one else is doing. In order to do things that no one else is doing you can’t do what everyone else is doing.”

Craig Groeschel

Craig is a preacher in the US and this quote was in the context of taking the church into the community. However I think it is relevant to the challenge of engaging individuals in enterprise – especially those from the poorest communities.

What are you doing – that no-one else is – that gives you a chance of connecting with potential clients that no-one else is engaging?

Ripples from the Zambezi – Introduction

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Sirolli introduces his book as the results of years or practice in the art of economic development through person centred development or facilitation.

He describes the growth of Enterprise Facilitation™ through word of mouth advertising and client testimonials.

He describes how current interest in entrepreneurship has made the work of spreading his methodology more straightforward. As more women join the enterprise market and more people become interested in flexible and home working through self employment the market place for Enterprise Facilitation™ in just about any community seems to be a growing one.

A Diverse Client Base

Clients come from a wide range of backgrounds and one of the founding principals of the methodology seems to be that help is available for anyone living or working in the community. Building social systems that ensure that a diverse client base is:

A) Recruited, and

B) Provided with a high quality and relevant service, is perhaps a key Sirolli lesson.

He describes the client base as “in the market right now looking not just for employment but also for a way to make a living without compromising their need for dignity”.

How does this description fit clients for your enterprise services?

What about people who are not ‘in the market’ but who already make a living through benefits and/or the gray economy?

What options do they have ‘to make a living without compromising their need for dignity’?

Indigenous Growth

Sirolli also claims that ‘civic leaders are accepting much more readily the notion of indigenous growth’.

What does he mean by the concept of ‘indigenous growth’?

How does it contrast with other approaches – such as:

  • business attraction/inward investment or
  • developing social infrastructure to attract the ‘creative classes’?

Sustainability and Human Scale

Sirolli also makes the point that 1000 home based business in a community ‘cannot even be seen’ while a factory employing a 1000 people will ‘change the physical landscape, even the air a community breathes’.

How is this a compelling reason for person centred economic development and indigenous growth?

Ubiquity of Passion, Intelligence, Self-motivation and Energy

This is one of the founding assumptions of Enterprise Facilitation™. That in every community there is the passion, intelligence, self motivation and energy to plant the seeds of economic development.

Many of the communities targeted by economic development programmes appear to have lower levels of passion, intelligence, self motivation and energy than their more prosperous neighbours.

Why else might levels of ‘enterprise’ be so low?

Are these human qualities somehow missing from economically failing communities – or have they just gone underground?

What are the mechanisms that cause some people from these communities to hide or apparently lose their passion, intelligence, self-motivation and energy?

What can be done that might help them to re-connect with these qualities?

You can can comment on any part of Ripples from the Zambezi by joining the Enterprise Reading Group.