are the creative industries actually the destructive industries?

I was invited to be a keynote speaker at a recent RSA/Future Artists/Potico unconference on enterprise and the creative industries, and through discussions and debate with particpants there am beginning to think that the creative industries are actually quite dangerous...

after all, creativity demands that we challange our accepted (and comfortable) norms, expectations, knowledge and wisdom - manifestations of work from within the creative industries often cause upset, shock and dislike and so are often dismissed out of hand and not seen to be of value;

and maybe that's why in the UK we don't embrace the creative industries as well as other nations do (and the associated limitations that we therefore place on our society and economy in doing so) - we keep them on the fringes of acceptability because they are so disruptive and (personally) challenging. But can't such destructive tendancy utimately a good thing?

Why social impact reporting tools and social accounting have all been getting in wrong (until now...)

So – that's quite a grand and likely provocative sweeping statement, and given that I've been involved in impact reporting and social accounting (including the development of tool-kits for 'doing it' ) for over a decade, might be seen to some as a contradiction to what I've always argued as being the benefit of doing it?

For a while now, I've noticed a growing interest and 'appetite' amongst social enterprises and other organisations I've worked with and supported to do some form of impact evaluation – they want to better 'tell their story' and understand the what/where/when/why and who they make a difference to. But as the same time, there's also been a noticeable lack of people actually doing it...

And I'm beginning to wonder if the reason for this might be because all the tool-kits and models for impact reporting that have been developed to date have largely an internal focus on the organisation – either based on their 'type' (co-operative, social firm, …) or thematic trading activity. And this includes SROI – after all, it asks stakeholders about how they feel the organisation has impacted upon them: another internal focus.

And that's fine, but in a wider context of increasing competition for contracts and customers, doesn't easily translate into being able to better offer competitive advantage for the time and cost usually entailed in using them (especially for smaller enterprises).

And that's why I'm quite taken with the latest kid on the block: “LIM” (Local Impact Assessment). It’s taken its starting point as being those broad issues and themes that are most commonly of interest to commissioning bodies when they seek to identify 'added value' when awarding contracts (and explains why measuring these issues are also useful in informing internal management decisions); it's also designed to be able to be easily completed in an afternoon (or morning) and rather than generate a text-heavy report, it produces an attractive 'infographic' (great for marketing purposes).

Given my background in this field, I was also encouraged by how keen the developers of this tool where to make sure they'd 'got it right' when they asked if I'd have a good 'poke around' and see if there were any parts of it that might be enhanced to create even more benefit to the user.

And by way of thanks, they agreed that if anyone wants to 'buy in' to using it, then they'll offer them a discount on the usual price of up to £100 if they mention my name!!

So – impact reporting still comes in lots of flavours and styles; if you're doing it, it’s important to make sure you know what you're hoping to get out of it and what you're able to commit in terms of time, before you start to choose which standard or tool-kit to adopt.

LIM seems to be filling a gap in what's available and seems ideally suited to those perhaps smaller enterprises that want to do this type of review/evaluation but would otherwise struggle to justify the time and cost of doing so.

So what are you waiting for…? - follow this link to find out more!

we need more parties!

last weekend I found myself playing 'single dad', and with rain pouring down, was anxious to find something positive to do with my boys other than another round on the Wii...


thankfully, a local business was celebrating its 10th birthday with free food and cake and drinks - what more could 2 young boys want! And it was also great because it gave me the chance to explain to them why this local firm was giving away free cake - to help them understand that setting up your own business is risky, it takes hard work, and so its important to celebrate the milestones by having a party with your friends (and customers!).

Keeping any business going for 10 years is a fantastic achievement (and if you don't believe me, just see how long those big private firms in the FTSE100 manage to stay in that prestigious list for more than 10 years!)

So - Physio & Therapies in Todmorden: thank you for reminding us all how important it is to celebrate what our hard work achieves, and also for all the cake (think my boys went back for thirds...)

What’s the point of qualifications?

As an advisor I hold various qualifications in respect of what I do (see here for shiny certificates) – but in light of changing standards, awarding bodies, expectations of others, and so on, I recently considered: “what’s the point?”.

For the groups, peoples and communities I support, they certainly aren’t bothered – what’s important to them is the relationship I build with them and my ability to get them where they need and want to be.

However, Commissioning bodies, especially public bodies, are keener to see these pieces of paper. But having been involved in both developing and gaining sector qualifications, and my knowledge of some of my ‘peers’ who also hold them, they’re not a guarantee of true knowledge or ability – only proof that you’ve been taught something.

Why then do I have them? As a freelancer I recognise that they offer me a structure through which I can reflect on my own gained knowledge and experiences, and build on them through being ‘forced’ to consider other theories and models (not all of which turn out to be that useful, but are a good way to reassure me as to why I take the sometimes unorthodox approaches that I do).

So – if the people we support aren’t bothered by qualifications, and they don’t offer commissioning bodies the assurances that they should in terms of the quality of the person, maybe we need to rethink the place and purpose of them in our movement?

end of another affair...

So – it lasted 6 years, we stood by each through good times and uncertain (contract) times, I got them international recognition and extra project incomes, protected them from project and government office auditors, and it now ends…

Some of you will know that my first contract when I became freelance was with a local enterprise agency – and yesterday, that working relationship came to an end.

Naturally it’s a little sad from the sake of my bank account, but more so for the opportunities I had with them, the projects I ended up running, and the sheer variety of people it allowed me to come into contact with and support along their journey of realizing their ambitions of creating their own enterprise. It’s also sad because this split in our relationship is not the result of us falling out with each other, but because the way in which funding to support people wanting to set themselves up in business is changing – business advisors are increasingly seen as a ‘luxury’ that can’t be justified in the context of publicly funded support. And that’s what makes me more concerned – a lot of people I’ve supported over these 6 years through the enterprise agency needed encouragement and motivation, not just a fact sheet or to sit through group presentations; with the loss of the personal business advisor, I fear that many people won’t have the opportunity to have their self-doubt challenged and so not take that first step into realizing their long-held ambitions of changing the world through launching their own enterprise…

That won’t stop me trying to support them – there are still other enterprise support programmes running that I’m involved with (Making Local Food Work, the Co-operative Enterprise Hub, Unltd Connect, ...) but the value of a local business advisor with local knowledge supporting someone who wants to set up a local business is surely a key ingredient of any strong community and economy. And I’ll miss it...

It’s good to talk (and drink, and argue...)

So – this week saw the inaugural co-operative enterprise hub conference. For those of you who don’t know, the co-operative group (you know, one of the worlds’ largest co-ops), funds a national programme to support co-operative businesses to be able to access specialist consultancy and training and stuff and there’s nothing else in Europe like it! (see link here)

Anyways – they held their first national conference in Leeds recently, and I not only had the pleasure of being invited, but also of leading one of the sessions.

As a freelancer, things like conferences are always a difficult choice – I’m not usually paid to attend them, they mean that I can’t be earning money elsewhere and it takes me away from my family – but in this instance, it was pretty much a no-brainer for a change: the opportunity to hang out with my peers (other co-operative enterprise consultants and trainers) for 2 days, share stories, reflect on experiences and ideas and challenge each others’ views and approaches is something that I’ll always jump at the chance of (especially when there’s a conference bar involved...)

So thank you to the enterprise hub for the opportunity to spend 2 days of my life in a most worthwhile way (and to everyone who ran around 'behind the scenes', making sure the rooms were all set up properly and everyone ended up when and where they were supposed to be) – and I'm already looking forward to next year!

time for me to bare all... (again!)

so - its that time of the year when things go a little quiet (2 weeks of bank holidays'll do that!), and I try and reflect on what I've managed to achieve over the last year (professionally speaking...).

For those of you who've followed me for a while, you'll know that my principle tool for doing this is a social accounting approach - and having still not found a model or toolkit for sole traders out there, have used my d-i-y version again, and as before, added an extra indicator - this time around how much business I do with co-ops, social enterprises and charities. After all, if I'm serious about supporting such businesses, I should really be putting my money where my mouth is - right?

So - here there are; for those of you who enjoy statistics, enjoy - for those of you who don't, look away now...