Duncan O'Leary
Duncan works on projects looking at public services, skills and work.
at 3:39pm
on Friday, 5th August 2005
During the discussion, one thing which I thought came out particularly strongly was the challenge of overcoming � or aligning � the value systems embedded in the work of different professionals involved with children and young people. One participant made the point by describing the values that various professions often hold dear, saying �with the police it might be �integrity, trust, and respect for authority� � whilst schools talk in terms of �learning� and social services in terms of �health and well-being��.
This point that �joining up' services, in practice, isn�t simply a technical exercise seemed to resonate quite strongly with some of the points that we make in the paper � in particular that one of the skills that leaders in children�s services may require most of all is emotional intelligence. This means things like:
- Understanding negative reactions to change � and valuing them in many cases.
- Pacing change at a speed that people can cope with.
- Accepting that governance structures aren�t objective facts, but are lived out through people�s personal perceptions and emotional responses.
- Avoiding our natural inclinations to look to leaders for all the answers when confronted with complex problems.
Somebody else added though, that perhaps the problem comes when we talk too specifically about what we want to achieve (say, for example, �a culture of respect�) without talking about the kind of people that services should be looking to create. So perhaps instead of valuing �respect� or �learning�, we should be starting sentences with �individuals that are�� and finishing them off with things like �comfortable around others and able to relate them in a positive way�. This seemed to me to be intuitively true, but I�d love to have had more time to explore it � it certainly puts the government�s five outcomes for children�s services in a positive light.
Anyone have any thoughts�?
During the discussion, one thing which I thought came out particularly strongly was the challenge of overcoming � or aligning � the value systems embedded in the work of different professionals involved with children and young people. One participant made the point by describing the values that various professions often hold dear, saying �with the police it might be �integrity, trust, and respect for authority� � whilst schools talk in terms of �learning� and social services in terms of �health and well-being��.
This point that �joining up' services, in practice, isn�t simply a technical exercise seemed to resonate quite strongly with some of the points that we make in the paper � in particular that one of the skills that leaders in children�s services may require most of all is emotional intelligence. This means things like:
- Understanding negative reactions to change � and valuing them in many cases.
- Pacing change at a speed that people can cope with.
- Accepting that governance structures aren�t objective facts, but are lived out through people�s personal perceptions and emotional responses.
- Avoiding our natural inclinations to look to leaders for all the answers when confronted with complex problems.
Somebody else added though, that perhaps the problem comes when we talk too specifically about what we want to achieve (say, for example, �a culture of respect�) without talking about the kind of people that services should be looking to create. So perhaps instead of valuing �respect� or �learning�, we should be starting sentences with �individuals that are�� and finishing them off with things like �comfortable around others and able to relate them in a positive way�. This seemed to me to be intuitively true, but I�d love to have had more time to explore it � it certainly puts the government�s five outcomes for children�s services in a positive light.
Anyone have any thoughts�?
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