Wouldn't it be good if...?

Entrepreneurial approaches to personalisation

Posted by Rob Greenland on 02 Jun 09, last liked on 13 Nov 09
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I work quite a lot in the social care field.  I'm excited by how personalisation, personal budgets and the like could really turn social care on its head.But I'm also starting to worry that we'll not make the most of this great opportunity.  On one side it feels like this is a massive cultural shift for social workers and others involved in this field. Then there's bound to be a lot of resistance to change amongst a lot of people who could really benefit from a more personalised approach - but who don't have the confidence, skills or contacts to make it work for them.
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A few of us are looking to put on an open space event for people who are interested in working in socially entrepreneurial ways to make sense of personalisation.  We don't have the answers - but we want to find other people who share a vision of what could be achieved through being more person-centred - and who are up for a bit of thinking and doing to make it happen.   If you're interested please let me know.

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  • response
    by Raj-Cheema on on 05 Jun 09, at 14:29 PM
    Hi Rob, Great to hear from you. I have been thinking about your blog and thought you might be interested in the work of two our Next Practice projects: Slivers of Time and Speaking Up. Also, you might want to check out the Liberation Partnership who are interested in personalistion as well. Will continue to keep this in mind and let you know if I come across any more interesting work.
  • response
    by john_craig on on 08 Jun 09, at 15:21 PM
    It's interesting that the Anne McGuire, the Cabinet Office Advisor on Third Sector Innovation. I will do my best to make a connection here and let you know how I get on.
  • response
    by Paul Morrish on on 25 Jun 09, at 23:32 PM
    Thanks for the flag Raj, and yes I think we would be interested in an event. We're a provider keen to transfrom ourselves and our work in line wth persoanlisation while retaining our values, and we're learning that our whole focus, unsuprisingly, needs to be far more user-led than we'd initially anticipated.
  • solution
    by Ken Clemens on on 07 Jul 09, at 11:45 AM
    Hi Rob, agree with your comments, especially in relation to older adults who are by far the main recipients of health & social care services, personalisation does provides a real opportunity to address the level of age discrimination inherent in the current system, as through personalisation resources will need to be allocated more equitably across the age range and for a wider range of needs to be acknowledged. Be keen to discuss further your ideas around an event, we currently provide support brokerage for older self funders linked to volunteer mentoring and co-production based services,(also a level of market stimulation via PA registers.) BW Ken
  • response
    by dhandslip on on 10 Jul 09, at 08:24 AM
    Hi Rob, I share your thoughts on the potential to miss an opportunity to make the best of these changes. Particularly being based in a local authority area that is always slow to react. Typically they have made very few practical steps towards adopting personal budgets. I would be very interested in an event, ideally followed up by smaller local events to make build some momentum and practical steps forward. Damien
  • response
    by Raj-Cheema on on 13 Jul 09, at 17:21 PM
    Rob - thought you might be interested in checking out Voice Marketing - have special interest in working with local authorities, care providers, social enterprises and individual budget users...
  • response
    by Anniem on on 17 Jul 09, at 10:04 AM
    I'm really interested in this, especially in light of Valuing Employment Now, the strategy for people with learning difficulties. We're in the early stages of setting up a horticultural social firm, but I think there are loads of other opportunities, especially as older people are likely to want practical services that could be provided very effectively by people with learning difficulties - win win! Happy to meet up and discuss, share ideas, etc . Annie McDowall SHARE Community
  • response
    by AndresRoberts on on 17 Aug 09, at 15:01 PM
    Rob, Hi! Been a while since we spoke - looks like all is well. I've got two hats on here - as Eudemonic and as Eastside and this is of real interest with both of them on. Through Eastside projects we're seeing some fantastic outcomes from personalisation delivered by social enterprise. Equally I am seeing a very deep apathy in change across multiple stakeholders around personalisation. Would love to be involved with any form of event or knowledge sharing on this - please keep me posted and good luck with this! Andres
  • response
    by bobrhodes on on 13 Nov 09, at 11:40 AM
    Hi Rob, My associates at LivesthroughFriends and I are keen to explore solutions with likeminded folk and are part of a number of network addressing/action researching the same quandary. It would be good to get these disparate groups of out-of-the-box thinkers and animateurs together!The nub was identified by, amongst others, John McKnight in "The Careless Society" more than a decade ago - "Our problem is weak communities, made ever more impotent by our strong service systems"; professionals who, in establishing themselves, devalue the competence and major on the 'deficiencies' of citizens, families, and communities; and the commodification of human services. Social entrepreneurship that colludes with the marketization of social services (the use of the term 'care' in this context is misplaced)contradicts a person-centred approach. So as entrepreneurs and animateurs we are obliged to create demand for approaches that commissioners don't have on their wish lists - yet. And we're obliged to find ways of doing it because the contradictory systems and targets, managerial claptrap, dependence on compliance and process, and absence of principled leadership that characterises the machinery of central and local government will not.Kind Regards, Bob

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