Changing Systems Together
What can we learn from youth work that could inform our approach to working with local area partnerships?
In embracing “systems change” as an organisation, The Children’s Society (TCS) have also consciously embraced the complexity and uncertainty that comes with it; or at the very least we are trying to. It’s exciting but it’s also a bit scary at times; how do we know we are going in the right direction? And when are we “doing” systems change and not just talking about it?
For many of us, recognising what a “broken system” was and understanding what systems needed to change was the easier part of this transition to working differently. Working in an organisation focused on disrupting cycles of “multiple disadvantage” affecting children and young people from a variety of backgrounds- it felt intuitive to begin to recognise structures or challenges holding these cycles in place.
What has been more challenging to pin down has been our description of how we walk through this complex landscape towards the “systemic changes” we want to see. We know we need to work harder at translating what all this means for working with young people; for ourselves and for our partners who share the same values.
We’ve moved on from the notion that positive change in a young person’s life exists solely in the need for the young person to change; we know it’s the barriers around young people and families that may need to change if we’re going to truly break “cycles” of harm or disadvantage. These extra-familial challenges are the more pressing concern; and are the more daunting prospects for us to challenge and change.
In my own experience as a practitioner, it has always more often been those structural conditions which needed to change than any young person I’ve supported. The experience of being given permission to explore these systems, and being more equipped to do so by The Children’s Society has been a huge enabler to confronting the massive challenges young people face.
Do we follow principles or processes?
In many ways, “being” systemic is about holding principles in mind that reflect the context in which we work, much like working with young people.
For example, we appreciate that for young people, the “problems” we might be trying to address with them are complicated and aren’t simple to overcome. This could be the same approach to how we engage with systems, and the partnerships within them, through collaborative approaches. The same way we wouldn’t rock up to our first interaction with a young person and tell them to change and change now; we have to be sensitive to the situation people within systems find themselves in.
When we want to work with systems and in a “systemic” way, we see value in treating the systems with the same levels of care and attention as we adopt when working with young people. Systems include people, systems are people.
Above are a collection of principled approaches to youth work- some of which have emerged in response to complex challenges created by exploitation, others which have emerged in response to novel challenges created by the impact of coronavirus. “Youth Work” can happen in lots of different ways, and there isn’t a one size fits all approach to it- but there are very similar overlapping principles that guide these approaches.
Perhaps then it doesn’t always have to be new and novel to be different; but it does have to be intentional in order to feel like you are working towards sustainable systems change.
Principles have provided the foundations for lots of examples of where innovations in social care have emerged; particularly in shaping how we should or could respond to cycles of harm like exploitation.
On reflection, it might be that we’re better prepared for working towards systemic change than we might first have thought; and this comes through how we collaborate with young people through youth work.
“Doing with and not to”
A key principle of youth work is that we are not “doing to” a young person but rather working with; and this is something which can be transposed into a systems change approach by ensuring we are always intentionally collaborating with our partners when addressing these challenges.
Collaboration can be hard, and can create the feelings of poor safety and negativity without proper attention to enabling the right environment. Some of this thinking was reflected in Adam Groves’ learning around how collaboration changed during the Coronavirus epidemic and changes to how we were working.
The same guiding stars deemed essential to collaboration, for creating psychological safety, togetherness and empowerment are inherent to both working with young people and with enabling members of a local area partnership (or “system” in this context) to feel more able to work towards creating positive change.
So what is there from our “practice” with young people that we could share to inform how we can work “systemically”?
The following ways of working or “principles’” are drawn from the youth work principles referred to earlier; and drawn from the conversations and collective experience, insight and reflection across different teams and colleagues within The Children’s Society.
All of whom have shared with me or reflected on what they have found helpful in working with partnerships on systems change programmes. Some of my colleagues will also be sharing the ways they are “doing” systems change and enabling partnerships to work collaboratively.
Here is what we think is essential to both youth work and partnership work embarking on systems change journeys:
Empowering & Present
For us to support a young person effectively, we need to think about how interactions and activities are asset based and focus on the positive aspects of that young person’s life; providing the kind of support that helps them feel empowered. In contrast to deficit based working which focuses on the need or problem, being asset based helps us to frame and focus on hopes and aspirations within challenging contexts.
Similarly then, to support a partnership to change systems you have to help partners recognise they have the power to do so; and be present in that “system” (such as meeting and forming relationships with the partners in that system). This creates the opportunity to collaborate with those partners and not unintentionally manipulate them. Getting out and into the system is a helpful way to understand its strengths better.
An example of this in practice might be to focus on what can be amplified across a partnership as its existing strengths. A question we often ask of partners when discussing changes they would like to make is “do you think there are areas or examples where you might already be doing this?”.
Accountable & Respectful
Remaining accountable to young people is a core foundation of any youth work approach: we don’t want to make false promises to them, and we need to be respectful about the fact that when we support them we are entering their space.
Once we “enter” a system and work with partners to influence systems or change them, we have to acknowledge we’ve become part of that system; and that our actions have consequences in how that system works. Therefore we need to demonstrate accountability to it.
We also have to respect our partners’ experiences and not make assumptions about their influence on the system; as what we are aiming to do is respect the variety of contexts of experience within that partnership and how it all fits together to create a system.
An example of this in our practice from our Tackling Child Exploitation programme, is building in an explicit focus to any project we run to “scope” the environment and context that any local area who applies for support is working within in. Learning and understanding where these barriers and challenges come from and explicitly avoiding apportioning blame to partners we engage.
Centred on the people in that System
It’s an important principle of youth work to remember who you are doing that work for and why; which may seem obvious but can easily be lost sight of. We are talking about a human’s experience and emotions at the centre of our decision making and interactions.
Thinking about changing systems can make it feel like we’re tinkering with parts, machines or processes and we can forget that at the heart of this change are relationships, people and emotions too.
From case recording to report writing, right through to asking difficult questions and holding ambiguity and tension; holding onto the person at the centre of our approach to work is an important principle not to lose sight of.
An example of this from practice would be in holding the space to reflect on how change goals/ change projects we support will impact on the people within that partnership; whether they are the people in the room or the people outside of it who may experience the consequences of systemic change.
Reflective & Aware of Complexity
A principle of youth work centres on the impact of things like trauma and structural inequality on a young person’s experiences; and subsequently means we need to reflect on how much freedom or capacity that young person has to make an informed choice — particularly when we reflect on how we interpret young people’s behaviours in relation to forms of child exploitation.
A complex system can be very difficult to predict (and subsequently change), but it is usually governed by simple rules. We have to consider how the landscape around a system constrains its ability to move and adapt.
Therefore, reflection on the complexity around the systems we are trying to influence is an important consideration to hold on to and remember.
In order to speed up change sometimes we have to slow down to pause and reflect. An example in practice being in how we scale the pace of change we ask of partners we are working alongside; whilst we are still thinking about this ourselves and what this looks like- we are asking partners to think about change in incremental steps.
In practice, we are thinking about this like a journey of change, helping partners to go from acknowledging challenges and supporting through to the point where partnerships feel resilient enough to continue addressing these systemic challenges without our direct input.
Equal & Inclusive
A principle of youth work, similar to empowerment and accountability, lies in making the actions, activities and “work” you do both equal and inclusive. Giving power to the voice of the child as well as listening to it; and allowing it to influence the direction of work you embark on.
Similarly, letting the partners in the systems we are trying to influence have that equal say in the direction we take gives authenticity and assurance that we are including their experiences and sharing the power to shape the solutions to the challenges they share with us.
In practice- this looks like asking and challenging partnerships to think about who and how they could include new members and non-traditional partners into their core groups when thinking about systems change. One often missed “partner” is the voice of lived experience- how might they fit into a more equal and inclusive partnership?
An example being involving young people directly in the activities focused on service design and policy or process change. For instance, if we are thinking about how we could influence change around school exclusions policy; we are asking our partners to work collaboratively with young people in order to know what a good outcome of change would or should be.
You don’t want to make changes at the systems’ expense, you want to take the system with you on the journey of change.
Safe & Sustainable
Finally, a principle of youth work lies within ensuring that you are working in a way that reflects the reality of the fact that you will only be supporting that young person for a finite amount of time. The challenges a young person might face don’t simply disappear once we “close a record”; or reach the end of a set number of sessions.
Whilst you may have to recognise the external restraints that limit the time you have with a young person or a system; for both the challenges will remain with or without you present. Therefore, consciously working to or reflecting on how the changes you make or want to influence are sustainable and aren’t dependable on you are important principles to bear in mind for creating better futures.
In practice, similar to how we plan for the complexity of systems change, we are also asking and facilitating space in our work with different partnerships to think about this from the perspective of what small changes they could make could influence the longer term outcomes they identify. Making the focus on continual development as opposed to focusing systems change on specific products or recourses has enabled partners to think about the future and move away from short term action planning.
This makes sense both for young people and for systems- we want them both to have a better future!
Thinking about the Future
The Children’s Society has recently unveiled its strategic ambition to overturn the damaging decline in children’s wellbeing; focusing on setting a path for long lasting growth
Our reflection on these principles, and the power of hope, give us the ambition to leave the system in a better condition than we first found it through positive collaboration with the partners within it. In the same manner that we hope that “setting a path” for growth improves the wellbeing of the young people we support.
Our “role” in this system has been described as being a “catalyst” for positive change and disruption; something which we aspire to in both work with young people and with partners- you can learn more about the impact of “catalysing” positive change and how we are working from our recent Prevention Programme Evaluation report.
Systems Change is big and complex, but it’s not solely about scale. It’s about impact and working towards this together. Sometimes the most helpful thing you can to change the system is to help join the dots.
For me, Systems Change “doing” is about explicitly pointing to and thinking about how you embed principles and considerations in the same way as we challenge ourselves to authentically support young people. I can’t do youth work for that young person; I can only do it with them and the same goes for Systems.
Special Thanks to Gemma Drake, Ellen Fruijtier, Chloe Nelson, Amanda Hughes, Ellie Fairgrieve & Nerys Anthony for all their sound advice and reflections on this post.
