This is my last blog for ADCS, for the time being anyway, with my tenure as Honorary Treasurer coming to an end in September. I’ve learnt so much from being part of the Board of Directors and Council of Reference, though if I’m honest not so much about being a treasurer, thanks in no small part to the incredible capability of Suzanne Chester, ADCS Finance Officer, who does all the real work and deserves all the credit for the sound financial footing of the Association.

What I’ve valued most about this role has been getting a sense of perspective and gaining more understanding of the breadth and scale of children’s services across the country and the dealings with government and various national bodies. The diversity of experiences amongst directors has been quite eye opening, and it’s been humbling to gain an insight into their challenges with changes in political administration and local government reorganisation.

I’ve benefited so much by observing those taking up the Association’s leadership positions of Vice President, President, plus Immediate Past President, and those chairing policy networks (inexplicably there is no immediate past Honorary Treasurer position at the moment). I really admire those directors of children’s services who have taken on these roles and demonstrated incredible leadership qualities and commitment to their roles.

It’s given me the chance to reflect on leadership, my own and that of others, and consider different styles, approaches, and motivations. I suppose there is also a personal dimension about how we connect with each other, the organisations we work in or with, our own sense of identity as leaders, and how we see ourselves. My conclusion is nothing profound, simply an appreciation of difference in leadership perspectives and how that affects motivation, ambition, purpose, and the symbiotic benefits this has for the wider system.

I’ve also reflected recently on how we as individual leaders acknowledge, consider and respond to change. This response may be shaped by the diverse factors that form our different perspectives but is also influenced by how we interact as a group. Thinking back to our recent ADCS annual conference and our discussions about the numerous reforms and changes to national policy, I wonder whether there is a benefit in reflecting on the way in which we respond to uncertainty as a group and how that might be perceived by individuals within and outside of the group.

This made me think about something I read a while ago when learning about systemic practice and specifically the ‘Diffusion of Innovation’ theory (Everett Rogers).  I was reflecting on how different cohorts within a group might respond to opportunity, innovation, and uncertainty in different ways – and how that response to change is a social process, in and of itself, which might deserve further consideration.

My next focus will be providing strategic leadership for the London Regional Care Co-operative (RCC); this is both immensely exciting and significantly daunting in equal measure. I am looking forward to progressing the range of projects and innovations that we’ve set out in our bid. We’ve already begun to recruit to new roles and are putting in place the governance and systems required.

What I’ve enjoyed most about this area of work is the opportunity to challenge my preconceived ideas about care, commissioning, collaboration and partnerships. Perhaps I am overly optimistic, or a bit naïve,  but I see this as a potentially paradigm-shifting opportunity to re-imagine care. I think this provides us with the opportunity to re-draw the line between services we consider as care and services providing support in the community.

Rather than a dichotomy between care and community, I think we need to consider a more flexible and permeable boundary where we use resources across this divide. Changing our approach to how we use our residential workforce, foster carers and edge of care teams might be key to freeing up resources, experience and skill sets to respond more adaptably and preventatively to need.  

Co-operation across boundaries – the line between local authorities, regions and sectors – is also a vital ingredient to success. It’s my view that it will only be through effective cross-regional collaboration that we will reap the true potential benefits of RCCs.