|
nef works to show the value of vision in making positive change and to develop and promote ways for communities and organizations to create it.
why vision matters
Lack of vision is often a missing link in social change. nef develops and promotes a number of methods that enable communities and organisations to create a vision for their future that is shared, vivid and actionable.
All change incurs Resistance. This can only be overcome by a combination of:
-
Dissatisfaction with where we are now.
-
Vision of where we want to get.
-
First steps that take us from here to there
So basically, to make positive change, you need;
D + V + F to outweigh R. V, the vision of where we all want to be together, is often the missing part of the equation.
imagine
Six years ago, nef produced a book called 'Participation Works! 21 methods of community participation for the 21st century'. Even today we still get enquiries regarding the publication because it provides one of the best overviews of how to turn the rhetoric around participation into reality.
Since then, we have found ourselves using one of these twenty-one methods more than all the others. This method is called Imagine and is our adaptation to UK circumstances of an American approach called Appreciative Inquiry. Imagine uses questions that focus people's attention on success and encourages them to tell stories from their own experience of what works. By seeing what works and exploring why, it is possible to imagine and construct further success, ensuring that a vision of the future is created with a firm basis in reality.
Imagine is fun and energising
Telling stories about when things have worked, and exploring the learning from this experience is a change from the problem-focussed approach many of us are used to. One participant in a recent Imagine project remarked about the appreciative approach, "When we get together we normally don't talk like this - it was very refreshing."
Imagine is highly participative
People within the organisation or community develop and choose the appreciative questions, hold the conversations, and use the stories to develop their preferred future. This means that the process is "done by" rather than "done to". A participant speaking at the end of the Imagine visioning process for Ryedale's Community Plan said "People know that their input has been valued, which has made it more enjoyable".
Imagine is good for linking people who don't normally meet
By using an appreciative approach to questioning, Imagine conversations encourage people to seek out and understand the common ground as opposed to encouraging them to defend territories. This helps the transfer of knowledge and simultaneously builds relationships.
Imagine works equally well for organisations as community groups
Two years ago nef worked with a carers support organisation in Hertfordshire to shape their 6-year strategy plan. We used Imagine to involve representatives from all of their stakeholder groups to contribute to building a shared vision on which to base that strategy. The final Vision statement was agreed at an AGM, and the organisation has already achieved one of its aims in significantly raising its profile by leading a similar Imagine process to engage patients in shaping the delivery of hospital discharge services across the county.
Imagine represents a positive approach to community engagement
There would be an advantage in embedding Imagine into the way an organisation works as a way of reaching out beyond the boundaries of an immediate partnership.Imagine fits very well with government guidance on community strategies (E.g. That they must 'allow local communities to articulate their aspirations, needs and priorities') as a way to engage positively with the wider community.
Some examples of nef's imagine consultancies:
Four Squares Housing Estate, Bermondsey 2002
This project for Southwark Building Design Services (SBDS) was to find out what improvements were desired by the residents of the Four Squares Housing Estate in Bermondsey. We used the appreciative approach of Imagine, but not the specific technique. In this case, we did not use conversations. Instead we asked residents to take photographs of features from other estates and buildings that they wanted for themselves. The architects then incorporated these pictures into images of what the estate could look like with the changes made. This provided material for an open day where a wider group of residents discussed and commented on the possibilities. As a result, a good case was made for making improvements to the garages and security aspects of the estate, and money was made available to begin work in 2003. Comments to us from the SBDS staff and Southwark Housing were that the process changed the way they would think about consultation and public meetings.
Community Strategy for Ryedale, North Yorkshire 2002-2003
Involving the many different sections of a widely spread rural community in a visioning process provided a real challenge for Ryedale District Council’s Community Strategy team. nef made it possible by facilitating a core group of 12 community and voluntary-sector workers using the Imagine method. They developed and used Imagine questions in conversations and in workshops out and about, gathering stories and images of what people value about the region in order to shape a shared vision for Ryedale’s future. These stories became the raw material for the vision upon which the 10 Year Community Plan is now based. Ryedale District Council is taking this visioning process forward through its website: www.imagine-ryedale.org.uk
Watford and Three Rivers Primary Care Trust 2003
In 2002 nef facilitated an Imagine process to shape the 6-year operational plan for Carers in Hertfordshire, a support organisation for families caring for sick or elderly relatives at home. They immediately set about achieving one aspect of the resulting vision, which was to raise the profile of the organisation within the county. With support from nef they co-lead a countywide Imagine process with the Watford and Three Rivers Primary Care Trust to involve a cross section of health service providers and users (including patients and doctors) to shape hospital discharge services. An example of how the appreciative approach had become embedded in the organisation is reflected in the name they chose for the project. Instead of “hospital discharge” they changed the project’s perspective by choosing to call it “Coming Home”.
|
