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Axis of Influence series

Voice

a part or all

“If this was America you’d be paying a fortune for the information and know-how that’s contained here. This model is indispensable for any organisation serious about making an impact”.
(comment from ‘Voice’ facilitator training)

‘Voice’ is a framework which helps community groups and networks to assess and improve the influence they have on agencies and partnerships. The ‘two axes in ‘Voice’ plot existing capacity to influence against how influential members of the group feels it is. It can be used to: assess and monitor community influence, prompt discussion and debate within groups and help plan how to become more influential.

By the end of June 2011,we had trained up 238 people to be Voice facilitators and we commissioned Navarro Consultancy to undertake some research into how those people are working with Voice  and what happens as a result. We will post information about this as it is revealed!

We were also delighted to present a workshop on Voice at the Community Development International Conference in Lisbon, July 2011 where 22 people from countries including Portugal, New Zealand, USA and Poland joined us

Here you can download:

  • 2 page information leaflet providing the general gist
  • Handy Guide – Part 1 of the Voice Resource Pack - this provides the basics of Voice so you can have a go with it. If you want to do more, or use it in different ways, then we strongly advise that you get in touch with us to discuss how – we have been developing some useful resources.
  • Toolkit to aid facilitation of Voice

Articles:

changes offers a specific course to help local people with facilitation skills who are already working with groups to learn how to work with Voice. We call this ‘Voice facilitator training’ and we are the only providers in the country. The course is complemented by a comprehensive resource pack and networking opportunities. Voice facilitator courses are generally commissioned, although occasionally they are available for individuals to access as ‘public’ courses. Notification about all courses is made through our networking site - all you have to do is sign up.

changes endorses the following people to deliver this course: Jill Bedford, Sue Gorbing, Sal Hampson, Alison Navarro and Saffi Price 

changes can also support your work with groups.
For more information about Voice including stories and updates, join our networking site

We have been working with both Voice and echo together – to help Town, Parish, Borough, City and County Councillors to see where they sit in this ‘world’ of influence at a time when things are rapidly changing and their roles become more complex with the advent of Localism.

echo

echo is a framework for public agencies to use to consider how open they are to community influence, in relation to their potential to respond to that influence. It has been tested across the West Midlands with Local Strategic Partnerships, Commissioning Boards, Children’s Trust, Local Authority Departments and  Primary Care Trusts. People who have worked with it to date have said things like this…

  • It is an easy toolkit, could be useful across the County to help consistency and to talk to the non-converted
  • It could help with the Community Engagement Strategy development thought process
  • It could provide us with a baseline of where we are – and an action plan
  • It made me think differently – more deeply into what outcomes could be
  • It turns the intangible into the tangible
  • I can see how we could usefully apply this to help the organisation move forward in terms of equality and diversity
  • There has to be recognition of good practice in the organisation, echo can help us to locate this and learn from it
  • Within an LSP context it is important – funding reductions will make it hard for the LA to respond so we are going to have to work more in partnership

By the end of June 2011,we had trained up 115 people to be echo facilitators and we commissioned Navarro Consultancy to undertake some research into how those people are working with echo  and what happens as a result. We will post information about this as it is revealed!

Here you can download:

changes offers a specific course to help people working in agencies who have skills and experience of facilitating discussions to work with echo. We call this ‘echo facilitator training’ and we are the only providers in the country of this course. The course is complemented by a comprehensive resource pack and networking opportunities.

changes endorses the following people to deliver this course: Jill Bedford, Sue Gorbing, Sal Hampson and Alison Navarro

changes can also support your work with agencies

For more information about echo including stories and updates, join our networking site

DUO

DUO is a practical framework which has been designed to support voluntary sector infrastructure organisations  to influence and be influenced in a way that is empowering both to themselves and to their members.

Whilst supporting people to work with Voice and echo, it was brought to our attention that there are people who work for infrastructure organisations which have a dual role: needing to listen to their own members at the same time as influencing public agencies. This presented a somewhat different picture

Based on the belief that a specific framework informed by Voice and echo could be helpful for these organisations, South West Forum and changes teamed up to explore what this might look like. We completed the inital research at the end of June 2011 and have since been developing a resource pack to help people to work with DUO and there are conversations going on about whether this could be a downloadable resource or if it requires supported learning through training, like we do with Voice and echo – watch this space!

Whichever way it goes, it is clear that DUO can be used in different ways:

  • For people on their own – to think through how their infrastructure organisation operates in terms of influence
  • Alongside colleagues in your own infrastructure organisation
  • With colleagues in a different infrastructure organisation

We should have plenty more to say about this soon but in the meantime, here is one of our clients

“We now have a variety of trained facilitators in Voice. We also now have three trained facilitators in DUO which we are to roll out for the first time in early August with a Parish Council.  The new DUO package gives us here at Community First and Wessex Community Action everything we have been looking for - In the past we have recognised that many of the groups we work with have a role in both providing a ‘voice’ as well as being ‘open to influence’ and we have therefore needed to find a way to support both areas.  To meet this need we have used exercises from both Voice and echo and tried to use the Axis as well as we can.  Whilst this has worked ok, it has not necessarily been integrated enough.  The DUO programme is great because it is one programme and feels like one programme and therefore we anticipate it will be very successful in future in terms of achieving outcomes. We are very much looking forward to delivering it for the first time and will keep you all posted”. Karen Winchcombe, Community First Wiltshire

Dynamo

Coming soon – ‘Dynamo’. Currently being tested and tweaked, Dynamo is another new framework, based on Voice and echo and designed for use by individuals who do not feel influential within their own organisations. It works for people focusing on particular agendas, for example climate change or equality and diversity issues and has potential for wider use. We started developing on this one a couple of years ago – working with ‘Climate Change Agents’ (people – largely already based in public sector organisations - who had been attributed climate change targets as part of their job roles and felt that colleagues within the organisation were not hearing them).

The initial research, development & subsequent dissemination was fascinating and the benefits to some were hugely rewarding

“One of the strongest outcomes for me has been a re-discovery of my certainty. So not being knocked by dismissal or disinterest – simply recognising I am probably speaking to the wrong person, in the wrong way, at the wrong time. I keep Dynamo in my top drawer. I have referred to it over the course of the year. In September I officially took on a new role. So then I again re-visited it to see how I could best approach it.”
(Manager, Birmingham City Council)

We have now teamed up with a few colleagues to progress Dynamo and it is currently being tested.We will keep you informed about how it is going.

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