Lesson 2: Empower a broad coalition to contribute
Engaging such a diverse coalition meant looking beyond organisational boundaries and bringing people together regardless of their department or organisation.
This required careful curation and Paul was personally very deliberate in creating the right spaces for collaboration and ensuring that the right mix of people were in the right forums. Paul conveyed that he had the authority to empower people beyond government and then demonstrated that by transferring power to them, giving them the authority and platform to make decisions and contributions.
One considerable challenge was that many of the contributors not only came from different backgrounds but also had quite profound and fundamental policy disagreements over the government’s broader approach to refugees.
In multiple forums, Paul and colleagues would surface these disagreements and acknowledge them early on. They would make clear that the focus of the meeting and collaboration more broadly was the Homes for Ukraine Scheme and that while organisations were entitled to disagree with other aspects of government policy, this was not a forum that had any role in resolving those disagreements.
To encourage a culture of generosity and contribution, all of the leaders in the programme were very conscious of the importance of gratitude. When organisations and individuals offered support, the programme made sure they were recognised using a variety of means including thank you letters from ministers, and recognition at meetings. Research was commissioned to understand what would register most with sponsors and other volunteers.
Lesson for NHS
In the health and care sector, there can be a reluctance to use collaborative approaches because of the concern of giving away too much control. Recent reforms and the introduction of Integrated Care Systems have aimed to give the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) an increasing voice in decision making. However, this will take significant changes to behaviours and culture, in order for power dynamics and control to shift.