Our Journey
Reflections, ideas, and thoughts
Perhaps easy isn’t the point
I don’t think I can do this anymore… This past year for me has been something of a rollercoaster of emotions and eye-openings.
Hiring Lara (5) - A White shirt makes an excellent comms lead
Magic happens when you build trust as part of the hiring process.. even if your applicants have some weird hang ups…
Hiring Lara (4) - Understanding 'Collective Impact' via pastry
Having autonomy doesn't mean 'doing it alone' - sometimes it involves pastry…
Hiring Lara (3) - Listening for Stars in Meaningless Words
Even pantomime villains get a chance to submit good work when the application process has been deeply considered…
Hiring Lara (2) - The First Quest
In which we gleefully burn down the ‘hiring scripture’ and then have a little cry about losing the comfort of certainty in the ashes of the unknown…
The Gateshead Bridgebuilder Diaries: 2. Recruiting Bridgebuilders
If you’re trying to explore new and creative ways to discover what could make life better for people who experience poverty and disadvantage…
The Gateshead Bridgebuilder Diaries: 1. Why do we need bridgebuilders?
The Gateshead Community Bridgebuilder project has been running since early 2020. The work has been muddy and confusing, and we have been...
The Facilitating Bravery Initiative (FBI): seeking disrupter partners
Do you think that ‘the way we’ve always done it’ is good enough? Do you, your colleagues and applicants love your...
The Case for Anti-Leadership
When I became a charity CEO back in January 2010 there was no training manual. I had picked up some of the technical stuff over the...
Deprogramming Dexter
Or 'from weirdo to professional and back again' In school I was seen as ‘Stu the weirdo’. Long hair, earrings, flamboyant clothes...
Sanctuary for the Troublemakers
I joined the Collective Impact Agency (CIA) back in April of this year. As I look back over my first quarter here I’d love to share some...
A word on decentralisation
There’s been a lot of talk from a lot of people (myself included) about how the disruption caused by COVID-19 present us with a window of opportunity…
Is learning a luxury?
In Gateshead, we’re trying to understand how learning happens within organisations working in the field of severe and multiple disadvantage. We’ve interviewed 51 people across 33 different organisations. Our most worrying finding about how learning happens is that often it doesn’t.