This episode is with Adele Taylor, the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial Services at Slough Borough Council.

Those of you who know your local government onions will be aware that Slough has been in some financial difficultly. Adele joined the council earlier this year with a remit to get the finances back under control and to rebuild confidence and trust with local residents. 

I think its fair to say that Adele is attracted to a crisis situation and feels her skill set is well suited to it – I completely agree. She is also a finance director who really gets the importance of culture and relationships particularly when the priority is re-establishing trust both within and with people outside the council. 

We talk about how aware local residents are of their council’s financial situation and the impact it has on those who rely on services, especially when terms like “bankruptcy” are used freely (and incorrectly). Adele also understands the need to communicate the financial situation in understandable terms both within the council to staff and members, but also to the wider public. 

We also talk about the value of diversity within the public services workforce and the huge value people with different perspectives and abilities bring to an area like finance, which is sometimes regarded as quite dry and purely objective. 

And finally, if you are looking for a bit of inspiration as to why a career in local government is the right thing – Adele gives a powerful rallying call to people to say “come and work in a council and have an meaningful career. Look at the amazing things we do!”.

Local Government Turnaround With Adele Taylor

This episode is with leading health and care expert Nigel Edwards. Nigel recently stepped down as the chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust, a leading health think tank, after a wide-ranging career in the sector, which included a stint at NHS Confederation. 

This episode is very timely. Health and care services are adapting to a new structure at the same time as being under huge pressure and Nigel brings fantastic insight into what is currently happening within the system and what might change. We talk about the emphasis on “place” and “neighbourhoods” and the ambition for local services to be more co-ordinated, driven by local priorities and ultimately more focused on keeping people healthy and out of hospital. We ask the question – are leaders able to make time to build the relationships which are needed to enable this type of high trust working.

We take a deep dive into children’s health and discuss the ambitious plans Integrated Care Boards have for children’s health and the fact that the NSH cannot possibly achieve them without working very closely with councils and other partners. We ask, what enabling leadership and conditions need to be in place to achieve these ambitions for children? 

None of these changes will have any effect unless the change permeates down to middle management and front line staff. We challenge the notion of the “frozen middle” or “permafrost” which is a criticism sometimes aimed at public sector middle managers and look at the potential of regional working and ask what the right level is for different activities. 

Enjoy it!

Reforming Healthcare with Nigel Edwards - Radical Reformers Podcast

This episode is with Elly De Decker, the Chief Executive of the Bromley by Bow Centre, a nationally renowned community centre in East London. 

Before this, Elly was the England Director of the National Lottery Community Fund, a huge job controlling a budget of £400m. Elly describes her decision to move from this highly visible national role to an ultra-local community-focused one. 
 
We talk about the support the Bromley By Bow centre provides, which ranges from health and wellbeing services, employment and skills support through to adult social care. The most impactful thing about the centre is the physical environment and culture which creates an “oasis” for local people to come to and get the help they need. 
 
The centre works closely with the NHS as well as council adult social care and public health services which gives Elly great insight into what’s working in the current system and what isn’t. We talk about the importance of the wider social determinants of health and how these are not yet prioritised by the formal system despite the impact they have on preventing demand for expensive NHS interventions.
 
Elly and I discuss about how leaders will often talk the talk on better collaboration - but often this doesn’t filter down to day-to-day activities and therefore organisations and services remain siloed and people seeking support see no real difference. 
 
A key element of effective collaboration has to be better data sharing which allows partners to target their support in the best possible way and to also track their impact. Unfortunately, this remains a difficult issue and is often left in the too difficult pile. 
 
Having said all this, Elly is remarkably optimistic and positive. Her mantra is “assume it’s possible!” and I think you will be inspired by this conversation.

The Wider Determinants Of Health With Elly De Decker - Radical Reformers Podcast

This episode is with Sam Plum, the inaugural Chief Executive of the new Westmorland and Furness Council. This council was created when Cumbria County Council split into two – so Westmorland and Furness has half the old County Council and the three districts, which used to sit in that geographical footprint.

This #RadicalReformers episode is part of the February "Place Leadership" theme of our #PrioritisingPublicServices campaign.

Sam gives her perspective on the different stages of implementing the change, starting with a period where the focus is on settling and stabilising. However, Sam has never lost sight of the forward vision and ensuring that the benefits of reorganisation are achieved for the people of Westmorland and Furness. Sam has some very clear ideas of what she wants to achieve in the long term, focusing on the three E's of equity, economy, and environment.

One of the really striking things for me in this conversation is how Sam sees herself as a “place” leader, not just the leader of an organisation. She is ready to focus on wider benefits rather than just those which directly impact the council. I think there are huge lessons to be drawn from this conversation for place leaders and council leaders everywhere.

Enjoy it!

Place Leadership With Sam Plum - Radical Reformers Podcast

This episode is with Sam Allen, the Chief Executive of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System. 

This system covers a huge geography with 3.6m people living in both urban and rural settings in 14(!) different council areas. As you can imagine, getting this up and running was a real challenge and Sam explains how she has led that work and engaged with partners across the region. 

Sam understands really effective public services needs to be centred around the person and she has a very clear understanding of her role as a system leader focusing on the strategic things which are best done at scale while empowering places and neighbourhoods to do the really important locally focused work. 

A big segment of our conversation is on children’s health. We discuss how no one part of the system (NHS, councils, third sector) can hope to improve outcomes acting on their own. Genuine collaboration must be enabled from the system level all the way down to places and neighbourhoods. 

We also talk about women’s health and the importance of raising awareness and understanding particularly in the workplace. 

It’s a fantastic conversation and I hope you enjoy it.

System Leadership For Healthy Children And Families With Sam Allen - Radical Reformers Podcast

This episode is with Rob Walsh, the long standing Chief Executive of Northeast Lincolnshire Council. Rob has been Chief Exec of Northeast Lincolnshire for 10 years now which, in an era of quite high turnover for top local government jobs, is quite some achievement! 

Rob tells the story of how Northeast Lincolnshire is an area which has seen decline in the fishing industry - but is now embracing a new era of possibility around the decarbonisation and renewable energy market. Northeast Lincolnshire is a fantastic case study for Place Leadership: It was the first time to receive a Town Deal back in 2018; It has a long-standing section 75 agreement, which is essentially a way of pooling funding and resources between councils and the health system; and they are also part of proposal for a Greater Lincolnshire Mayoral Combined Authority. 

On top of that, within Northeast Lincolnshire itself, there's quite a lot of co-terminosity between some of the key anchor institutions, the council, and some of the key health providers, who are largely social enterprises. 

Rob is a very humble and quietly inspiring leader. And in my opinion, there is something quite special happening in Northeast Lincolnshire. I think they are quietly becoming a forerunner for what other areas in the country could aspire to.

Stronger Economies And Stronger Communities With Rob Walsh - Radical Reformers Podcast

This episode is with Sarah Thomas, the Chief Executive of the Fostering Network, the UK’s leading fostering charity and membership organisation. The network provides training, support and advice to everyone involved in the fostering journey. 

This episode is part of Mutual Ventures' 2024 #PrioritisingPublicServices campaign.

Sarah has an incredible and very relevant backstory, which involved going from homeless at 16 to being a Chief Executive at 40, which is incredible. Her passion for supporting vulnerable children and parents comes across strongly, along with some completely understandable frustration at how parts of the system work. 

You won't find many people with as much knowledge about the UK fostering and children's social care system so we really get into how system is performing, what's going well and what some of the challenges are. 

Sarah and I also unpack why the system isn't improving outcomes for children and young people, and what she thinks needs to happen to make a difference. We then move on to talk about one of the big questions troubling leaders across all public services i.e. how do you move towards prevention and away from crisis response? Especially at a time when council services don't have a lot of money. They certainly don't have much in the way of reserves. Within this context, how do you make that flip towards prevention? 

We also discuss how to tackle the stigma of seeking support as a parent, and also have a detailed discussion on children's residential care and why that market isn't working. And it certainly isn't!

Homeless To CEO With The Fostering Network's Sarah Thomas

5.2.24 | T1BG for Mutuals @ Hart Bar

Tracklist

Justice - Incognito
Jain - Makeba
Born at Midnite - Y o Y (PPJ Remix)
박혜진 Park Hye Jin - ABC
The Believers - Who Dares To Believe In Me
Delicious Inc. - Eau de Chantè (For Men)
DJ Mystro Love - Money (DJ Spen & Soulfuledge Remix)
Young Thug & Metro Boomin - Warrior
City Girls - Twerkulator
Cajmere - Percolator
Jack Marlow - Old' On
Yaeji - raingurl
Shermanology - Boyz N Da Club
Austin Marc - put your back in it
DJMC - vai luv u
Beyoncé - Freakum Dress (Nora Zion x Burna Bootleg)
Amerie - 1 Thing (Jeftuz Remix)
KHIA - My Neck, My Back (demuk edit)
FS Green - Go To Work ft Dave Nunes
LSDXOXO - Burn The Witch
DJ Swisha - Losing Ur Mind
Chris Lake - I Want You (DJ Sliink Remix)
Anabelle Kline - Crazy In The Deli (Ice Spice x Doechii)
Tinashe - Nasty (Josh Jams Remix)
LSDXOXO - Death Rattle
4am Kru, McDonald, Jannetta - Pianos Raining Down
ScHoolboy Q - THank God For Me
ScHoolboy Q - Yeern 101
Cash Cobain - Rump ft Chow Lee
Hurricane Chris - Halle Berry (She's Fine)
Sexyy Red - Get It Sexyy
Sarah Farina - Get It Gurl
GRIMEY - h00dbyeuphoria ? (kendrick/carti mashup)

"Mutuals" DJ Set @ Hart Bar [5.2.24]

This episode is with Dr. Linda Harris, the Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer of Spectrum Community Health a Wakefield based social enterprise, which delivers services covering a wide range of areas including prison health, sexual health and substance misuse. 

Linda describes Spectrum’s services and their incredible growth journey from an organisation of just 100 people to more than 800. We talk about the challenges and opportunities of managing a large organisation of primary care professionals, many of whom are GPs, who we know can be quite independently minded! We also talk about what Linda calls jail craft, which is all of the various precautions and processes you have to follow when you're delivering health care in a secure environment. 

Delivering these types of services on a day to day basis, Linda understandably has a tremendous interest in the wider social determinants of health and we get into a discussion about health neglect, and social issues and how a person's situation can deteriorate over time. We also talk about some of the measures that can be put in place to try and prevent this very damaging and cumulative harm being done.

Fighting Health Neglect With Dr. Linda Harris

Big Bird Mix I

This episode is with Lesley Dixon. Lesley is the chief executive of PSS, a Liverpool based charity delivering adult social care services and wider support to vulnerable people in Liverpool and across the country.

Lesley is an inspiring leader who has been at the helm of PSS for nearly 15 years, which is a very long tenure in today’s age of chopping and changing jobs. We talk about how you can find a role that you really want to stick at and how it’s also important to make a quick decision if you know an organisation definitely isn’t for you.

We discuss the work of PSS and in particular the Shared Lives scheme, which facilitates community care for vulnerable people (which PSS actually invented in the late 70s!).

A large chunk of the discussion is about what makes for good commissioning and how we’d like to see a greater focus on outcomes rather than inputs and outputs and for there also to be more flexibility in the Commissioner provider relationship. Lesley would also like to see a shift in the emphasis towards preventative services and we talk about how that might happen. It is very difficult for the public sector to account for that type of early investment (something I covered with Rob Whiteman in an earlier episode).

And finally, Lesley wanted to talk about how you leave an organisation well, especially after being there for a long time. It’s a fascinating conversation and I hope you enjoy it.

Commissioning For Better Outcomes With Lesley Dixon

This episode is a bit special. It's the first time we have had two guests on at the same time. They are Charlie Pickles from the Reform Think Tank and Jack Shaw from Labour Together. You might recognise those names. Both Charlie and Jack have been on the podcast in their own right and had their own episode. 

Given that we've just had an election with a change of government, we wanted to get these two policy experts back in to talk about what a Labour government might mean in terms of public service reform. We cover a wide range of topics including the new central government missions and how they will be delivered, what the new government might mean for devolution and the relationship between central government. One thing is for sure – a lot more collaboration will be needed between public services at all levels. 

Both Charlie and Jack are so insightful and enthusiastic about genuine public service reform, which is what we hope you are all here to listen to!

Labour's Policy Agenda With Charlotte Pickles And Jack Shaw

This episode is with Simon Beeton, the Chief Executive of Navigo Health and Social Care CIC, a mental health and wellbeing provider in Northeast Lincolnshire. Navigo have been named in the Sunday Times top 100 not-for-profit organisations to work five years in a row! So there will be lessons to learn for everyone.
 
Simon has been on quite a journey. We talk about his transition from long standing Finance Director to Chief Executive and the challenges of moving to this broader, more strategic role.
 
We discuss Navigo's impressive entrepreneurial activity, such as their purchase and running of a garden centre and restaurant. Public service entrepreneurialism is important in terms of giving individuals the space to be creative and also being entrepreneurial at an organisational level. Simon provides some good examples of how Navigo is creating the space to beg forgiveness rather than ask permission…

The main section of the conversation is around £radical" place leadership and place working. Simon and I talk about how the local organisations in Northeast Lincolnshire want to work more effectively together, and how it's so important (in the words of NE Lincs Council Chief Executive, Rob Walsh) to put place above organisation.

The Mutual Ventures team are lucky to be doing some innovative work with Northeast Lincolnshire on developing a more Radical Place Leadership approach and we talk about that and what the ultimate goals  are.

Radical Place Leadership With Simon Beeton - Radical Reformers Podcast

39 Minutes & 45 Seconds of straight jam skate music

Enjoy

JSK8 Mix I - BigBird

Who?

In this episode of Radical Reformers, I am joined by Theresa Leavy, former Executive Director for Children (DCS) at Dorset Council and Interim Director of Children’s services at Cheshire East Council. 

In this wonderfully honest and open discussion, Theresa takes us through her career from an 18 year old in charge of a group of kids in residential care, all the way through to leading Dorset's improvement journey over the last four years.

It's a leadership master class where Theresa talks about the importance of connecting as a person with your work, the importance of delivering high support and high challenge as well as the true meaning of being kind.  

My favourite bit of the whole conversation is how leaders need to show vulnerability. I think this is something which is really lacking. 

Enjoy it!

High support and high challenge with Theresa Leavy

Radical Reformers returns! In this latest episode, I talk to Emmanuel Akpan Inwang, Founder and Director of Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust.

Emmanuel's career journey is truly inspiring. He began as a teacher in Birmingham where he witnessed first-hand the challenges faced by looked-after children. This experience ignited a passion for improving the lives of those children and ultimately to the establishment of the Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust.

The Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust is dedicated to providing exceptional residential care experiences for looked-after children. Emmanuel's journey to founding this organisation included extensive research and a transformative trip to Europe, where he visited children's homes in Germany and Denmark. He observed the positive outcomes of social pedagogy practices in these countries and was inspired to implement similar approaches in the UK. 

I love that The Trust focuses on creating stable, nurturing environments that are close to home and prioritise long-term relationships and holistic care for children.

it's an inspiring listen and very relevant given the Government's focus on improving children's care homes in England.

Reinventing Children's Care Homes With Emmanuel Akpan Inwang

Its Big Bird fuck what you heard listen to these words

New tracks tagged #mutuals