Is doing the work, the work? Or is how we do the work, the work?

When you think of what you do for a living, is 'doing' the work the work? Or is 'how' you do the work, really the work?

For me, it’s absolutely the latter.

In my experience, it’s how we do the work (the approach) that tends to lead to more sustainable change and it’s developed around the things that are likely to make the most difference in communities when working to reduce inequalities.  

The power of understanding lived experiences

I’m sure that we can all think of examples of when we’ve observed ‘top-down’ approaches that may have seemed like great ideas in theory or design, but in the reality of lived experience, they’ve actually been pretty bad. 

In recent years, it’s been great to see an increased emphasis on co-production as a way of working within the voluntary sector, public service design etc, but there is a risk that co-production just becomes a process-driven approach.

For our work in seeking change, I’d like to add an additional layer for consideration that brings to life why ‘how we do’ the work needs to go beyond co-production, although this remains incredibly important. 

To me, the ‘how we do the work’ that’s rooted in communities with some of the deepest inequalities, often stemming from systemic issues such as poverty, racism, etc (and the intersectionality of some of these issues), needs to be met with behaviours that embody empathy, understanding, humility, kindness and a real commitment to understanding lived experience and the barriers that this may present to someone’s physical activity journey. 

In my current role as head of programme for Hackney’s Sport England partnership (formerly one of the 12 local delivery pilots – LDPs), I remember an early conversation with a colleague about why people are inactive. 

The emphasis on inactivity being a choice and something that people were simply not prioritising and almost deliberately choosing not to engage with, was very much the focus of the discussion and their view.

During this conversation I was really struck by two things: the heaviness of the judgement being made and how little attempt there had been to actually understand the day-to-day realities of people’s lives.

I suggested that perhaps I could offer a different perspective.

One that came from my own lived experience, from the knowledge and interest in the community that we were working with and from our role in enabling positive change. 

The alternative view was one of busy parents with multiple caring responsibilities, some managing health conditions for themselves or within the family, limited income or working several jobs to make ends meet, plus a strong community network of support, all within the context and impact of reduced opportunities as a result of environmental and systemic causes of inequality.   

I often revisit this conversation and it always reminds me of the different ways we can look at things and how we make choices in the ways we choose to work.

I recently joined Tom Hughes from Move More Sheffield as part of the Sport England ‘Place Change Makers’ podcast series. 

During our episode we had a lively and interesting discussion about what it takes to do this work and the skills, mindsets and behaviours that have been important along the way. 

The series is made up of six episodes and 18 place partners covering a range of topics that are important when taking a place-based whole systems approach.

I recommend everyone to have a listen and find out more.

Relationships – a key for change

Working on the podcast made me think of a paper I read a few years ago.

It was a paper by Julia Unwin CBE called Kindness, emotions and human relationships: the blind spot in public policy. 

To me, the report provides the explanation for the additional layer of the 'how we do what we do' that I mentioned earlier in this blog as needing to be paired with the co-production process.

Julia highlights ways of working that are centred around relationships as a key driver for change around big policy challenges. 

The importance of relationships within places has been a key learning point emerging from the LDPs.

As Julia notes in her report: "Thinking about kindness contributes to an analysis that is far from comfortable."

She also mentions that kindness makes us focus on the relationships rather than the transactions by considering the reality of people’s lives beyond the data and how questioning what we know, beyond our rational capabilities, plus putting ourselves in the other person’s proverbial shoes, are key when trying to understand their motivations, desires and choices.

So my final reflection, and what I hope you are able to take from the conversation between Tom and I, is that alongside all of our practical skills and experience, this work is very much about behaviours and ways of working that start with us as individuals and are rooted in our capacity as humans.