We’re 4 years old

Well not quite obviously – but I did set up as an Independent Consultant 4 years ago this week. Which also means its 4 years since I left CGL and means its frighteningly close to me being 57. Its been quite a journey – we’ve had and got through a pandemic, gone through numerous Prime Ministers. Spurs still haven’t won a trophy. We are still living under the shadow of a cost of living crisis where we now have more foodbanks than McDonalds – as a life long ‘campaigner’ for social justice and a vegetarian of over 40 years I consider 2 foodbanks and 1 McDonald’s too many – but you get my point.

We’ve got war in Europe and a seemingly inexorable rise of populism and dictatorial government. In the middle of this period we housed a young Ukrainian refugee – she came, felt safe(r), pieced her life back together and returned to work in the Balkans. Whilst my / our world moved at a much slower pace….

Let’s hope that the UK is bucking and setting a trend by voting for the return of a centrist (sensible) government having endured our own fair share of chaos. There is much to address at home – from prisons to infrastructure, health to trade and so much more. I am hoping rather than hopeful that we’ll also see the end of the nonsensical ‘war on woke’ under which the most vulnerable be they in the trans community or asylum seekers have been weaponised for cheap headlines.

I my own world of work – 4 years ago I really had no idea what was going to unfold. I’d had a great career including donkey’s years at CGL. Had a great network, close friends and colleagues and still felt that I / we were making a difference. I also knew it time was time to step aside (for both of us) and that if I only had a decade or so left of work it would be worth challenging myself to do something different, to try and be of use to others and to just learn once again to sit with uncertainty. So armed with not much other than a career back-story, a sense of purpose and clear values and a contact list in my phone – off I went.

There was so much to learn – from setting up a business, building a website, working out what I had to offer and who might take me up on it, how to build and maintain relationships without the comfort blankets of hierarchy and organisational heft, being self-aware enough to say no where I can’t add any real value and who to trust to make me better at work. I also started writing a blog that one or two people seem to read….

Its been such a privilege to have had the opportunity to work with some really inspiring organisations be that: Clinks, CLI, Phoenix Futures, Hep C Trust, With You, SWIM, the Fatherhood Consortium, Recovery Connections as well as East Sussex CC and its treatment providers and 18 Local Authorities in SE. I am grateful to all of you who entrusted us with these projects – and also to my long time collaborators and newer colleagues who have worked alongisde me.

So if you are thinking about going independent – here is my advice…. start to plan for it, really think about what you can offer and who you want to try and work with (and why), be prepared to be lonely and for your self-doubts to be amplified. But also prepare to laugh a lot more, to ride the waves of uncertainty and to deep mine your resilience and optimism. Also make sure you have really considered the balance you want between work and life and where you can gift your time. Being freed from the constraints of orgaisational systems is both liberating and at times frightening. The loss of ‘status’ that comes through hierarchy takes some adjustment and I do at time miss feeling ‘responsible’….. but then I remember that I don’t have to attend a Health and Safety committee, or chair a grievance appeal and assuage the egos of a board member, or be subtley dismissive of a partner organisation. And then – the smiles and the laughter tend to return.

Over the last 4 years I have also had the privilege of holding board positions with Unlock, The Skill Mill and Continue as chair of the Trust for Developing Communities – all of which have challenged my in different ways, as I have become ‘better’ at being a Non-Exec and exercising influence. But the same discipline of knowing when to step aside and realising when you were no longer an asset still applied.

Of course everything rested upon the foundations of a supportive home life with a family also prepared for the ups and downs, the uncertainties and the laughs.

So onwards and upwards – still got some time left and still think I have things to offer.