In January 2017, we were delighted to welcome Local Vision colleagues to the final meeting of the 2016/17 Local Vision Learning Network. This meeting focused on Asset Based Community Development, and what this really meant in practice.

To begin the day, participants had chance to feed back on their experience of the network, identify the patterns in the work which were emerging and what they wanted to feed back into the national systems leadership picture.

As part of the meeting, Cormac Russell, of Asset Based Community Development, spoke to the group to explore the relationship between public and voluntary/community sector organisations, and the communities we work with.

Speaking about this relationship, he stated that it’s vital that we change the question about how we work for, or do things to, our communities, to a focus on how we bring added value to our communities in order that they can support and strengthen themselves. It followed that the citizen had to be at the heart of this work, seen as the primary inventor in order for change to last. The proper and most productive role of the system, and of organisations of any kind working within it, was to create the space for this change and protect it.

Following on from Cormac’s presentation, the group heard from Andrea Kemp, Chief Executive of the Community Sports Trust and leading on the Derbyshire Local Vision work, about her experience of how you made this happen in practice. Andrea also spoke about their experience in setting up a community interest company and the journey the team had been on through the Local Vision work.

She told the group that a key driver was a collective belief in the benefits of what they were doing, based on a shared ambition and using systems approaches. They had seen a dramatic uptake in the amount of people involved in physical activity locally, and were now working with the Leadership Centre to look at ways to capture the increase in quality of life associated with the work.

Andrea went on to say that one of the main benefits of creating the community interest company has been that they were better able to react to opportunities. In addition, she had observed that being a CIC had changed behaviours within the group, so that they behaved much less like a traditional public service provider, and met outside of local authority offices.

The final session of the day gave Local Vision colleagues the chance to consult with one another on the common themes of work and progress they were finding in places. As well as drawing out learning on how the Local Vision work looks when based in real work, it gave participants a chance to develop the relationships with one another which the Network had proceed so successful in doing over the last year.

The meeting ended with the Leadership Centre, Allison Trimble and Bernie Brooks thanking participants for their input, energy and dedication to making the Network what it was in being able to support colleagues in the systems leadership work in places.

You can find out more about the Systems Leadership work the Leadership Centre is involved with here, as well as learning more about national Systems Leadership initiatives on the Systems Leadership Hub.

If you have any questions regarding the work, or would like to be involved in future Learning Networks, please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.