What we need:

Connecting & exchanging
• A networker
• Connecting people, communities, resources
• Trading to get things done
• Judging people’s value on merit and contribution (not financial value)
• Seeing the whole picture – “nothing in isolation”
• Sharing and connecting resources

Open, honest and reflective problem-solving
• Enabling: Unblocking the blockages and knowing when to step back
• Doing things differently and knowing when to stop doing something that isn’t working
• Knowing what I’m good at and what others are better at
• Open and authentic communication

Collaborative
• Continuous learning & exchange: Finding ways to keep talking about what works and doesn’t work
• Knowing when to agree to disagree and how to collaborate even when times are tough
• Taking shared responsibility: problem-solving together, not fixing

Positive, action-oriented creativity
• ‘Can-do’ and ‘will-do’ mindset
• Turns every problem into a challenge to be solved
• Staying positive, even when times are tough

Continually striving for better
• Open to change
• Commitment to the constant journey towards ‘better’
• Continuous learning and openness to new ways of doing, thinking, knowing and seeing
• Willingness to experiment and to learn from failure – “suck it and see”

Humanity and (com)passion
• Connecting cultural, social and emotional value
• Empathy – as an attitude and a skill to be developed
• Balancing emotion and intellect
• Entering situations and relationships as a ‘person’ not with a ‘professional’ mask
• Maintaining ethical grounding and integrity

Valuing insights, experiences and expertise from all people equally
• Story-telling – commitment to the value of people’s stories in building relationships and networks, while respecting people’s cultural and social backgrounds and conventions
• Promoting insights of lived experience
• Everyone has something to offer – “we are all experts”
• Non-hierarchical approach

Finding the “shared” and the “mutual”

• Having the desire and willingness to seek out a shared language across the system
• Sharing risk: making “the deal”
• Working in mutual partnership in an ecosystem in which all have something to contribute and to gain
• People can and will do things for themselves given the space, time, support and drive – it’s not my role to let them

Four Core Functions:

1. Relationships and Networks
• Link expertise across the borough – “everyone has something to offer”
• Identify, locate, connect and encourage pioneers
• Bring pioneers together to promote collaboration and build ‘safe spaces’ for co-produced innovation
• Build a ‘buddying’ system in which people from different backgrounds are connected to support each other on the co-production journey

2. Rewards, recognitions and incentives
• Set learning rather than performance goals and recognise achievement of these
• Recognise and reward ‘baby steps’ of change
• Provide accreditation for ‘hidden’ assets/talents
• Publicly praise failure that valuably teaches
• Recognise and incentivise those who gather and tell stories

3. Knowledge and Skills Development
• ‘Alternative training’ – create platforms for people who use services (and carers) to ‘train’ professional staff
• Provide informal, low-key platforms for people who have used services to come and share their stories with professionals to build empathy and humanity
• Provide skills ‘training’ – communication, negotiation, story-telling etc – but thinking about harnessing community resources to deliver and using co-production methodologies
• Provide opportunities for people to come and share and practice their skills e.g. through prototyping exercises

4. Tools and Resources
• Support building and communication of shared language around co-production vision
• Create and share story-gathering and telling tools and platforms

Next steps:
- Refine and agree single taxonomy to simplify competencies
- Distill into a workforce competencies framework
- Identify current platforms to leverage desired activities
- Design and test new platforms to grow new competencies
- Work with Alliance providers to build into workforce strategy