realisedevelopment.net

Just another WordPress site

Unlocking the Talent

by

Just re-read the Unlocking the Talent paper from HMG March 2008.

Here are some of the bits that have stuck with me.

This is a government committed to unlocking the talents, not of some of the people, but of all of the people. We want to see every region, city, town and neighbourhood do well, not just the few. Our national prosperity and competitiveness depend on our ability to tap into the creativity, energy, ingenuity and skills of the British people.

Well yes – but we have got more prosperous over the last 30 years but much less happy.  The drivers for this are not purely economic…

We need to unlock the talents of the British people, so that each of us may rise to our full potential, for the benefit of all of us.

But this is about more than individual fulfilment and success – it is about our place in the new world developing around us. Britain can no longer be a country held back by disadvantage and unfairness, but instead be a nation firing on all cylinders, and ready to embrace the future. With the rise of the economies of China and India, we need to unlock British talent so we can be competitive in this rapidly changing global economy.

Ditto comments above – this is not all about global competitiveness and ‘laggards’ holding us back.  The rationale for fulfilling potential is not about prosperity – it is about humanity, becoming, identity etc.

Government at all levels must be focused, imaginative and courageous to create opportunities for people to flourish. A key element of this is to forge more influence, control and ownership by local people of local services such as employment, health, education and transport.

To tap into the talents of all of the people, not merely the few, we need to involve people actively in:

  • improving deprived areas through regeneration and promoting work and enterprise
  • encouraging active citizenship, and reviving civic society and local democracy
  • improving local public services by involving local users and consumers; and
  • strengthening local accountability.

Community empowerment is the process of enabling people to shape and choose the services they use on a personal basis, so that they can influence the way those services are delivered. It is often used in the same context as community engagement, which refers to the practical techniques of involving local people in local decisions and especially reaching out to those who feel distanced from public decisions.

Interesting that this empowerment stuff is only targeted at ‘deprived areas’.  Strikes me that doing this in some of the more affluent communities could produce remarkable results too.  This is about fulfilling human potential – everywhere.

Promoting work and enterprise and strengthening the economic base of an area – and so connecting the supply and demand sides for labour – will be central to reversing decline.

Yawn…..This is not about providing employment fodder…..

Effective regeneration:

  • relies absolutely on the active participation and engagement of local people and communities, and not on just the articulate and organised, but on the broad majority of residents and groups traditionally excluded from consultation exercises
  • creates lasting solutions by giving local people the power to control their destinies, create enterprises, channel investment and income, and to involve local people in social enterprises, mutuals, and co-operative ventures
  • tackles the underlying causes, rather than the symptoms of decline. Regeneration strategies will need to tackle market failures that act as barriers to economic growth and employment as a means to reversing decline. Evidence shows that those in employment are happier, healthier, and less likely to be involved in crime; conversely poor health can prevent people getting into work
  • targets investment at the appropriate spatial level, with effective co-ordination between neighbourhood, local, sub-regional and regional levels, as well as between national agencies
  • takes account of the fact that successful regeneration will require private sector investment, for example in delivering new homes and in creating jobs.

Giving them a reason to choose you…

by

In a world of vanilla businesses one way to develop a loyal customer base is to give them something to remember you by.

A reason to choose you.

Ideally a reason that costs nothing.

South West Airlines get this.  Here is the proof:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiVcnJ5iLqs]

Is It Cuckoo Time Yet?

by

cuckoo

Is it weird how we hate magpies but love the first cuckoo of Spring?  Perhaps it is because the cuckoo perpetrates evil out of sight, all the time making re-assuring calls, while the magpies are just so brazen in their squawking murder and destruction.

In my experience many enterprise capital investment projects are a lot like cuckoos.  Beautiful eggs are laid in the carefully constructed nests of loving parents.  Shiny new enterprise centres owned and managed by the community for the community.

But it soon becomes apparent that these fledglings have tremendous appetites for cash.  That two person reception desk costs a lot to staff.  Then we have hosts, caretakers and security to pay for.  There are rates, insurances, fuel bills and marketing costs.

There are the costs of low occupancy and repairs.

Suddenly the loving parents are run ragged just trying to get enough cash to keep the beast alive.  “Forget the social purpose – we just have to pay the bills.”

The revenue streams that were written into the business plan from leases on community cafes and gyms, from rent paying tenants and the conference trade just don’t materialise as forecast.

Equipment gets stolen or broken and there is just not the cash to replace it.  The shine starts to come off.

Money that could be spent elsewhere gets gobbled up by a project that is “too politically important, too symbolic”, to be allowed to fail.  Other projects die so that the ‘special one’ can survive for another year.

And what of the original cuckoo – the funders that helped lay the egg?  “Well you must understand – there is only so much we can do. The ‘business plan’ assured us it would be viable by now.  No we can’t offer any more funding.  Perhaps it can be sold?”

Now ALL fledglings go through periods when they cause their parents grief.

  • Will this ugly duckling ever become a beautiful swan?
  • Will it survive its maiden flight?
  • Will it ever learn how to sustain itself without becoming  a capricious scavenger like the magpie?

The sad truth is that some of them never do.

Because from the very beginning they were cuckoos.

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird
She sings as she flies
She brings us glad tidings
And tells us no lies

She sucks all sweet flowers
To make her voice clear
She never sings cuckoo
Till summer is near

She flies the hills over
She flies the world about
She flies back to the mountain
She mourns for her love

The cuckoo she’s a pretty bird
She sings as she flies
She brings us glad tidings
And tells us no lies