Your Own Place

supporting people moving to independence

Rebecca White

By

Week fifteen of business lockdown

It’s been a funny old month…

at Your Own Place. The team has been furloughed, I’ve had some time off and things have gone quiet. So of course that sounds like an easier month than usual – fewer interruptions, time to strategise, no personal crises and time to focus. Whether it’s the perversity of the ‘grass always being greener’ or the seemingly endless array of challenges, it’s been far from an easy month.

Among my leadership network, the same feelings are echoed loudly. I think I’m ok in a crisis. I think I’m rational and fairly calm. Routine bores me and new ideas excite me. As such, as we entered the extraordinary time of lockdown, my brain went into overdrive with ideas and opportunities. Naturally I felt guilty and opportunist about this. But it wasn’t about me – rather about meeting a heartbreaking and overwhelming need in new ways for the new world.

We did well in the first few weeks and months We secured income, friends old and new, ideas and opportunities appeared varied. Potential partners, supporting the same people we strive to support, needed our ideas, our capacity and our positivity. Filled with optimism for things moving quickly, so did we.

Some of those opportunities rumble on, some have stalled and some are simply no longer relevant. As things return to a very odd normal, I feel vindicated in moving quickly and securing a modest amount of income. That income (not including proportionate reserves) runs out at the start of August. I feel vindicated because, as we enter what I regard as phase two of this crisis, the urgency may be less, but the challenges greater. Money is drying up and businesses, local authorities, housing associations and others appear to be turning inward. Turning inward to save their own skins, find their own new normal – and survive.

I can’t possibly know if we will survive. Our prolific social media sometimes gives people the false impression that we’re bigger and more resilient than we are. The fact is we’re a team of fewer than six full-time staff pushed to the limit with our own bills and mortgages to pay and personal challenges.

We are still looking for those new opportunities and for us to be here in twelve months time, they have to be realised.

So I can’t wait for the team to return tomorrow, to resume our work and be reminded of the incredible impact we have, even when it feels like not everyone else values it as much as me.

By

Week fourteen of business lockdown

And we’re seeking new skills

We haven’t even finished our recruitment for an Operational Manager and we’re seeking yet more people with the skills we need. 

Against a backdrop of ongoing turmoil for many, it remains the case that we must strive to be decisive. This is not the same as being certain. Whilst decisions must be clear and have a plan, we may also accept that it was the wrong decision and/or executed poorly. Curious then that we champion the iterative and lean approach in business and yet damn the government for doing this with Track and Trace. Agreed, a great deal of money has been spent and the stakes couldn’t be higher. I just can’t help think we would laud a business for honestly changing tack. Government isn’t a business however, is democratically elected and is tasked with saving lives. 

I digress. Our decision is that we need new people with new skills. To that end next Monday will see a recruitment campaign for more than one Non-Executive Director, including a Chair. In truth these were people we needed before this crisis. Now is however the right time to press forward. This was something that sat with me for a while, not wishing to exploit the current crisis in any way. 

The greater good wins however and this is about the end justifying the means (this never justifies anything incidentally). 

We will be seeking Non-Executive Directors who:

– share our values and approaches – you too will wish to be a part of change that is bigger than you or us. 

– want to give back to their community in an active, equal, participatory and accountable way. No nodding dogs or sleeping ones either!

– bring skills and expertise in (social) entrepreneurship, finance, business, education, digital delivery, scaling, HR, legal, chairing, policy, social equality, local authority, housing & homelessness. 

– are well connected, prepared to utilise those connections actively and pro-actively champion Your Own Place. 

– are prepared to be accountable, step up, challenge and forge great relationships. 

I am so excited by this and can’t wait to join you on this next step.

By

Week thirteen of business lockdown

So I’m back at work. I’ve had two weeks leave and skilfully managed to choose the two worst weeks of weather this summer! Seriously, I needed a break whilst the team break on furlough. Following twelve weeks of very full-on work, I’m not sure I had quite the holiday I needed. More time alone and in my home made switching off difficult. As did the incessant news and analysis that I kid myself I can’t afford to miss.

I have of course found some time to reflect between indoor DIY jobs. Wouldn’t it be brilliant to jump ahead ten years and look back at our individual, collective, sector and political decision-making at this time?

One of the things, with just a little perspective, that has surprised me, has been the speed with which words like ‘pivot’ and ‘Re-start’ started to abound. The glass half half full among us cling to the opportunity for life returning to our businesses and communities. The glass half empty contingent see too many reasons and anxieties and hold back.

Back then at the end of April I felt I knew too little to make big decisions, whilst recognising the psychological and financial reasons for doing so. Making some decisions was probably going to be better than making none at all.

What still surprises me among all the conversations of Re-starting and pivoting is how little talk there is of the health of our people. Not only has the case for employee engagement in the broadest sense never been higher, but doing so with compassion, empathy and honesty is surely non-negotiable. Our lives literally depend on it.