Helston and the Lizard Works (HLW)
A review of the project so far and an outline replication plan.
HLW is a unique back to work community based programme which gives jobseekers the connections and support to take control of their own futures. It recognises that being jobless is not just an individual’s problem but is a community issue and can be helped by a community solution – by local businesses giving their time to inspire and support jobseekers and by community projects allowing jobseekers the chance to get involved and to feel valued by making what may seem smallscale interventions to the life and fabric of their community.
Uniquely the project has been led by Helston Town Council working closely with Jobcentre Plus and other local partners to support jobseekers into work and to upgrade their training and skills base.
It is customer centred and non - judgemental – a “can do” approach showing the power of partnership working.
This paper sets out to highlight and pull together all the learnings from this project (so far) in order that other communities might be able to replicate what has happened/ is happening in this largely rural community in South West Cornwall.
WHAT MAKES THE HLW APPROACH DIFFERENT?
Helston and the Lizard Works was set up to bring something new to the party – or what was the point? It started from a new perspective and was led by a unique partnership between the town council and Jobcentre Plus and others.
We take a look here at the basicsof all that and go on to look at the detail of what has happened – of what it brought to that area and what a similar programme might offer elsewhere. But those details can seem closer to absolutely concrete “do’s and don’ts” whereas the real differences between what happened down south and how things used to work beforemay lie in nuances of approach and in the “personality traits” of the way it actually worked. Let’s look at these; there are effectively three interesting areas of approach….
1)COMPLEMENTING AND ENHANCING
…not overlapping or duplicating or replicating.
This programme is all about adding value to the mainstream by enhancing the work of others, signposting people to it, never replacing or looking for a land grab – therein lie the seeds of disaster, of shutters going up and doors being slammedin faces. So it is all about enhancing the work of others who may have to work under much stricter constraints and perhaps with less knowledge of what’s actually “out there” as they have to focus on what and who is right in front of them.
There is perhaps a military analogy here with the way in which special forces and commando units work with others more intimately familiar with the terrain in order not to step on toes but to deliver jointly something rather unexpected, special and certainly more effective.HLW has resisted the usual.
2)BEING AWARE,ACTIVE, AGILE.
More of those personality traits…
This programme has a remit to be aware of what’s going on out there, to be active in moving the unemployed within that context and agile inits delivery. Back to that military analogy. It’s about bringing flexibility and agility to joining up the dots and that means being aware of where the dots are and quickly being able to join quick lines between them and keep people moving along those lines; signposting between them. So they can experience the next dot, learn from it and spend some time there or have the confidence to move on. HLW needed to build the map, understand the links and even build the roads between places and organizations and opportunities. Aware, active and agile.
3)A SOFTER TOUCH, ANOTHER WAY
Yes, the third personality trait is indeed touchy feely but ina world where no one has the time for much of that stuff that can be crucial. Others might envy the ability and time to do that – like the therapist spending an hour with someone when the best the GP is able to offer is just a fraction of his busy day.
Back to that complementary offer often delivered by working right alongside others working in much the same field. One of the key successes in Helston and the Lizard was the ability of HLW personnel to work alongside those at the Jobcentre and to actually be welcomed in to do that. Without that acceptance and co-operation first base wouldn’t even have been achieved.
SUMMARY
How you do things can be as important as what you do and the ability of “the authorities” to offer both sides of the coin can be invaluable – if you always do what you always did you’ll always get what you always got – as they say.
Within these two pages lie the clues to the DNA of the perfect programme.
A SWOT ANALYSIS of HELSTON and the LIZARD WORKS.
A COMMENTARY ON THE SWOT.
SWOTs are all very well as a snapshot of what’s going on and a review of what’s happened but it is the underlining thinking behind why certain things were put in certain quadrantsof the SWOT map that holds the real knowledge and insights that can help…
a) the existing programme develop of itself and
b) the learnings from the programme be turned into a “Replication Plan” and taken elsewhere for others who want to follow a similar path.
This section is necessarily quite long and quite detailed but it is actually a short cut – it holds within it the understanding and thinking that leads to the insights that follow – learnings for others to use.
The good news is that like all good SWOT analyses there are more strengths than weaknesses and more opportunities than threats – that’s is the way it should be after nearly a year of operation though it doesn’t necessarily always work that way.
STRENGTHS
1)Employers’ interest and commitment.
The start point for anyone looking to replicate something like HLW; without employers’ buy in there will be no employment. Support in this pilot from employers was nothing short of phenomenal – a cornerstone of the project’s success.
2)Increasing joined up-ness.
We spoke earlier of joining up the dots – of being aware of where they are and of finding imaginative ways of linking them for the customer. This took time as it is bound to but as the programme has developed it has increasingly pulled together some strands that might earlier have seemed strange bedfellows. We look later at how this has been achieved and how it might be more swiftly and easily replicated elsewhere.
3)Flexibility…and “speed –dating” as a tool to aid that flexibility.
In many ways the story of the project and the key to the above; the project offers the chance of a flexible overlay of enhanced provision over what may have been there before; if this appeared under weaknesses we would have had a real problem as flexibility lies at the heart of making the offer tick. And one of the tricks of the trade was the use of “speed dating” to bring together those looking for employment and those looking to employ – whether as full time employers or as organizations looking for volunteers. A vibrant room full of the two groups – checking each other out…getting a feel for each other. And typically carried out right in the centre of town with soft touches such as home - made refreshments – welcomed by both sides of the dating equation.
4)A softer touch
Hand in hand with the above and as discussed previously – it may be a personality trait rather than aprescriptive way of doing business but it should lie at the heart of any programme.
5)Keeping people moving
At the core of the project’s remit. People get demotivated and stale and idle if left standing still; they may need a little coaxing even a little cajoling to move on but when they do magical things may happen – this “keeping them on the move” objective was central to the programme. The journey perhaps as important as the final destination – though it can’t , and mustn’t be allowed to, go on forever. Get it right and we are moving people’s heads and hearts and ambition and the skills to reach that.
6)Signposting
Again related to all the foregoing – how to journey round the dots; a gentle way of saying “have you thought about it this way?”, “have you heard about this?”, “why not give it a go?”.
7)Local knowledge at the heart of things
The programme simply doesn’t work without it and it can prove difficult to corral together or at least more time consuming if there isn’t a person/s with their finger on the pulse locally. All the websites in the world and internet connectivity can be found wanting if there isn’t some human glue at the centre of the web.
8)Hitting numbers
Let’s step away from touchy feely fuzziness and into the world of public – or private for that matter – accountability. If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it as someone once famously said and HLW has been regularly monitored and measured and not found wanting. The figures are impressive…
Total engaged …was targeted at 200 and is already at 225
Individuals Into work …targeted at 40 and stands at 101
Into work placements …a target of 15 beaten by a current standing of 80
There are other measured factors but obviously these are the main ones and the ones that some would simply run the tape over to assess the effectiveness of the programme. Fine. But we are more interested in the how and why rather than just the what – the tricks of the trade behind the scores on the doors.
9)The Work Club (place)
An important part of the offer down Helston way has been the regular work club held at the Cricket Club – a place to meet, to gain confidence, to have fun, to learn stuff and to be signposted on to training, volunteering or work. There are various ways of offering such a service but the one inHelston has worked well and could easily be replicated elsewhere; perhaps significantly it has always been same place, same time. Thursdays and Fridays at the cricket club – friendly faces and the security and familiarity of same place. Oddly the cricket club becoming something of an anchor in people’s lives – offering occasional but regular stability to those people who had to be kept on the move.
There is something of a “triangle of success” at work here – a fluid coming together of the threesome of Job Centre/ HLW/Work Club – with the winning customer in the middle of that triangle. They may look more to one triangle partner than the others and there will be a different weighting of influence between the three with every customer - but it is the coming together of those three that is crucial - sharing that customer and not fighting over who’s outcome it is when there is a success.
10)Jobcentre Plus Co-operation.
Can’t put a price on it and imagine the affect had this appeared in another more negative segment of the SWOT. These are the traditional professionals but they are busy, stretched and looked upon sideways by some. They welcomed in HLW right from the start and there has been something of a seamless delivery on the best days – a well - known place offering a less known new form of delivery. It has worked – and probably would be a necessity going in elsewhere.
11)The local town council.
Likewise – the traditional “glue” that might have been expected to hold something like this all together, though that responsibility may have drifted in many places in recent years; not in Helston! Here Helston Town Council were actually instrumental in setting up the whole initiative in the first place and have been centre stage every step of the way and it shows.
12)The steering group.
Again right from the start this group of individuals and representatives stepped up to champion and steer and bring together community and business initiatives in the area – essentially 10 people who knew the area well. By and large it has worked well, meeting on roughly a monthly basis though obviously the nature of individual personalities and management styles can sometimes affect real effectiveness An essential ingredient in any such venture.
13)Community projects
Allied to, and sometimes emanating from, the above interest group an ear to the ground in terms of community projects is essential. Every community these days has a seemingly endless stream of public realm works which need doing against a background of strapped funding; in addition many communities, especially in tourism areas, now arrange regular events – some large scale and spectacular in nature and all need a helping hand/s on a regular basis. HLW set up with the knowledge of over 30 such projects and more have emerged as some have fallen by the wayside. It is such volunteer opportunities working side by side with the business community that can provide a remarkably varied palette of activities to get involved with – something for everything and an opportunity for the project to say to individuals “what do you really want to do?”
14)Local business support
Just as with community projects HLW easily signed up 30 local businesses - big and small from a varied range of business types – these working hand in glove with community projects are the lifeblood of the project. The trick has been to lure them in by appearing not too onerous and not too pushy in the early stages – never asking for too much – they are busy people and in an area like this hardly flush with money. That sensitivity of approach needs to be adopted elsewhere.
15)Communicating success
Essential. Success breeds success – and the likes of the above get reminded of why they stepped up and others who didn’t sit up and take notice; relationships with the local media were built up and suitably resourced and funded right from the start. And success can be numbers or stories – often the narrative about people as powerful as the numbers.
WEAKNESSES.
1)Set – up time/Pace of change.
Setting up things so varied and complex even in a reasonably well defined area takes time and, with the best will in the world, it is weeks not days and even months not weeks; we are talking public and private sector here…and local politics. And we are talking new. So, looking back the pace of everything has been irritatingly, frustratingly slow at times but as we said at the beginning the long list of strengths versus this small tail of weaknesses shows what happens eventually. The cogs click in to place and the project gathers momentum. This can be aimed off for when taking such an initiative elsewhere but those involved should be under no illusions of how long things take.
2)Geography.
Hardly a surprise when it was one of the reasons why the project was put there in the first place – a weakness that has to be overcome – but a weakness or a threat nonetheless. A nice cohesive market town would be much easier to get quick wins in but probably wouldn’t need such a project in the first place. What we have with HLW is a proven back to work model but it is essentially a RURAL MODEL. It will replicate well in communities with a similar rural aspect though might not graft well if imposed onto a more urban community.
3)Retailer step up
Every region of the country has a strong supermarket/superstore infrastructure; even though the dynamics of how we shop are changing quite rapidly every reasonably sized town will continue to have 3 or 4 major food retailers and they are or can be major employers, of a wide range of talents and age groups. Helston is no exception. But, given their often nationally centralised recruitment processes they didn’t seem able to embrace the essential local nature of the project as we might have hoped – there must be a way around this.
4)Large public employers.
Here we think of the likes of major constructors, road builders and the like. As with retailers every area of the country has them and every council spends far more than they would like on such essential works. Big spenders, big employers but perhaps a tad too constrained by Health and Safety and skill requirements to easily make a difference to a project like this; but nevertheless big local players who perhaps could have stepped up more enthusiastically to improve the fabric of the area where they operate. And ultimately operate more sustainably. Not necessarilly a “weakness” – perhaps more of a lost opportunity to rethink for the future or when replicating elsewhere.