{"id":1612,"date":"2015-11-20T10:21:13","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T10:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/?p=1612"},"modified":"2018-01-24T11:04:46","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T11:04:46","slug":"giving-up-power-vs-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/giving-up-power-vs-accountability\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving up power vs. accountability"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this post, Chris Bruce (Improvement Hub<\/a>) reflects on the processes used by Iriss to gain a partner in this project. He presents an interesting perspective that was consistent with some members of the Critical Friend group, although direct contrast to others. Further reflections from the Iriss team are presented in a future post.<\/i><\/p>\n

______<\/p>\n

In the Pioneer Enabling Collaborative Leadership work<\/a>, we have been thinking again about Johari\u2019s window<\/a>. \u00a0This is a helpful model for thinking about feedback, and learning about ourselves from the perspectives of others. \u00a0With its emphasis on the known and the unknown facets of ourselves, the model seeks to promote a way of being that maximises our own potential. \u00a0The idea is that the more we can come to know ourselves, and minimise the \u201cunknown\u201d elements \u2013 the more effective and powerful we will be.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Image \u00a9 alan chapman 2003<\/p>\n

IRISS\u2019 brave \u201cbig idea\u201d led us as a group of critical friends to reflect together on the right use of power in exercising IRISS\u2019 responsibilities. \u00a0The organisation seeks to promote innovation and the use of evidence towards the public good of \u201cimproving personal outcomes that matter to people\u201d. \u00a0We found that ultimate purpose a helpful touchstone in supporting IRISS to think about what it should do and how it should do it.<\/p>\n

I think that through these discussions every one of us [the Critical Friends group] has come to recognise how we habitually deploy our powers without realising we are doing so \u2013 and so often reinforce the status quo as we do this. \u00a0In that vein, the IRISS team initially issued an invitation to partnerships to put forward proposals for work with IRISS \u2013 which would then be judged by the IRISS Team with a winner declared in due course. \u00a0I guess the assumption was that IRISS would come up with an appropriate and transparent set of criteria for making the selection. \u00a0Perhaps a fine example of Good Practice \u2013 under our current paradigms.<\/p>\n

But the frame provided by the report of the Christie Commission, and the Self Directed Support legislation, and the focus on improving personal outcomes embedded in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) Act, gave us pause for thought. \u00a0If we sought to promote co-production, genuinely seeing and recognising what each partner brought to the table, what gave one party the right to judge the others? \u00a0So the (much more challenging) path of jointly deciding who should work with IRISS was chosen (and is written about elsewhere on this site).<\/p>\n

Of course these processes mirror the work with people and their families that health and care workers do every day \u2013 trying to balance the wishes and wants of people, families, professionals, and agencies, to agree a plan that best suits everyone, makes use of everyone\u2019s assets, builds communities and avoids unnecessary dependency on services. \u00a0That practise of collaboration \u2013 which we can only achieve through good conversations \u2013 is mirrored in the conversations the IRISS team has had with the partnerships.<\/p>\n

It is only by practising what we preach \u2013 enacting our policies \u2013 adopting an appropriate way of being \u2013 that we can best use our selves to add to the public good. \u00a0Our unknown selves have great potential for good \u2013 our known selves can be challenged and built on if we deliberately suspend our habitual behaviours and try new habits. \u00a0IRISS have modelled this approach in this first phase of the Big Idea. \u00a0The approach has drawn in all of the interested parties, sought their input as equal thinking partners, and been brought to an initial conclusion, all by mutual consent. \u00a0It has been painful at times, with raw emotion in the room and afterwards. \u00a0People have discovered things about themselves that they didn\u2019t know before.<\/p>\n

We can be confident that this will have a significant impact on what comes next, as a certain tone has been set from the beginning.<\/p>\n

We also believe that one or two of the partnerships not selected to work with IRISS will progress their proposals \u201canyway\u201d and I have no doubt that IRISS will want to help and follow developments as far as resources allow. I think we can say at this stage that a longer process, deliberately attempting to include all interested partners, has led to greater learning, a good output, and some positive spin-offs. \u00a0What\u2019s not to like?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this post, Chris Bruce (Improvement Hub) reflects on the processes used by Iriss to gain a partner in this project. He presents an interesting perspective that was consistent with some members of the Critical Friend group, although direct contrast to others. Further reflections from the Iriss team are presented in a future post. ______ … Continue reading Giving up power vs. accountability<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":1613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"categories":[16721],"tags":[16791,16793,8881,6193,16792,11593],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/thebigidea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}