Putting the 'Critical' into Learning and Leadership for Reclaiming Co-production Practices - A Brief Think Piece

[Mr Hament Patel]

Putting the ‘Critical’ into Learning and Leadership for Reclaiming Co-production Practices – A Brief Think Piece

 

The argument presented is that the idea of co-production in its present form has a long journey to make in order to seriously be able to address the challenges of our times.  The positive potential of such idea is undermined at three levels: critical learning is not hardwired into the process; leadership mirrors hierarchical models that have been widely discredited, and finally, there is lack of long term community building.

 

Much has been written about the notion of co-production by many writers affiliated to different policy tanks and Foundations such as NESTA, NEF and the Health Foundation, among others. The focus has been very much on explaining what it is and also the potential it offers different stakeholder groups to inform, influence and shape decisions that will result in better quality services and quality of life for communities. Claims such as power sharing, working to achieve equality, recognizing assets of people, shared decision-making are frequently made and whilst being all very laudable goals that no one would disagree with, present a singular problem for co-production, is that invariably current reality is not matched by the rhetoric.  This cognitive dissonance, if not dealt with through critical learning, re-imagined leadership and a stronger community ethos, will either spell the end sooner or later, of co-production, or such idea will become just another policy-practice fad.  This raises three questions:

 

What is different about Critical Learning and why vital for Co-production?

 

Critical learning has at its basis principles and values embedded in grass-root lived experiences and perspectives of people which can e.g. have a meaningful and serious contribution to make to questioning public services or decisions that will affect their lives, by being able to challenge those more powerful and existing power structures. This can happen through particular individual and collective knowledge they bring as their agency. Such education is less managerially technical and banking based and more facilitative, and ongoing where everyone is challenging each-other to achieve more equality in terms of resulting actions that are shared, including power. The links this has to the claims of co-production is highly relevant, particularly for cultivating power sharing, shared agendas and decision-making.

 

What are some of the Leadership Challenges from Critical Learning for Supporting Co-production Change Practices?

 

In terms of organizations and people, discussion could e.g. include exploring the role of non-hierarchical processes or flattened hierarchical power structures to enable reciprocal working between diverse groups and people to make a difference through meaningful negotiated longer-term outcomes as opposed to performative short term outputs and tasks. This could also help better focus groups and people’s attention on producing better working relationships by agreeing and also building on together such processes and structures in ways that also hold each-other to account and engender trust, through agreed individual and collective actions (i.e. Words truly match Deeds). 

 

This also opens up possibilities for honest and on-going learning spaces where all groups and people engaged with each-other are more likely to also share examples of things which have not worked as opposed to just best or good practices. Furthermore, people and groups like professionals, providers, service users, citizens or communities etc. may also feel more receptive and willing to re-visit and review decisions that will affect them in ways that transgress individual or group’s political agenda or egos.

 

While this approach to leadership is more liberating it also raises a number of unresolved questions for people and groups operating in different community-based and other institutional settings. For example the balance between formal and informal relationships and working, and also embracing cultural change in how things are done among other issues like control and prioritization of agreed resource envelopes, being but a few of many other questions.

 

The third question is: Where is the Community in all of this?

 

Beyond a short term intervention into the community, where an expert-led approach seeks to compete with the more mundane demands of community life, co-production has not articulated a wider vision of sustainability.  The Community Sector Coalition’s (CSC) vision of coalition building using community development approaches provides added value here.  Unless co-production can align with wider social movements for long term change the chances of longer term sustainability are slim indeed 

 

Critical Learning and Liberating Leadership for Developing Co-production Practices through Building Community-based Coalitions

 

In response to the above both OCP Ltd and CSC are at the early stages of discussion of a proposal to explore with a housing association, involving piloting through a demonstration project the idea of community-based coalition building and leadership for critical learning in supporting and developing meaningful co-production practices.

 

Key to our proposal is to develop long term sustainable community engagement including structures for challenging, changing and improving local services, involving a six iterative step-based approach which includes linking evaluation, review and mutual learning. There are also a number of principles underpinning such work one of which is people being able to improve the quality of their and their communities lives by feeling they can take action to exert influence on decisions which effect their lives.

OCP Ltd is also involved in related separate work around co-productive learning together for better health project with a consortium funded by Health Education England (London). The project entails using performance theatre as an arts based approach to help health communities and service users challenge, change and shape services and professional practices and associated decision-making, including inform teaching, learning and research.

 

In addition to posting your comments, should you wish to discuss further the above please get in touch with Hament Patel of OCP Ltd at [e-mail] and Matt Scott of CSC at [e-mail].

[Ruth Dineen]

Hi Hament

Such an important issue (and one I have been avoiding!)...

I'd love to know more about the OPC/CSC initiative - please do keep me in the loop in this.  My email address is [e-mail]

Would probably be worth chatting to Hazel Stuteley (Exeter Uni Health Empowerment Leverage Project). Her C2 Connecting Communities initiative has proved to be a model of community-led co-pro transformation over 18-years. She tackled the leadership aspect head on from day 1.

Will have a further think about all this, along with colleagues in Wales, and get back to you.

Thanks for the prompt!

Ruth