(highlight:: Evolution of Strategic Approach
Summary:
The evolution of the organization's strategic approach can be delineated into three key phases: initially as a startup engaging directly with people, then adopting a campaign model to strategically deploy resources, and ultimately transitioning to a systems change model where the focus shifted towards addressing root causes by creating an advocacy team to collaborate on systemic issues.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Yeah, sure. So I mean, in the beginning, as you say, a startup, which was very much exploratory testing the games and resources, then a direct service provider effectively, really, the number Of stuff you had was the direct correlation to the amount of people you engaged, shifting that towards a sort of a campaign model. So key moments in a calendar year where you could then deploy resources and operate a little bit with train the trainer, but deploy resources far greater. And then moving, I guess, more into the systems change model, where shifting towards an advocacy team, a bit of a smaller team that really coordinated a cross sector group to tackle The root causes of why you were doing some of this work in the first place. I would say they were the key sort of strategic ships. Yes.
Speaker 2
And I take it that from what you're saying, that it's this latter phase that is where you're more working on systems, you see yourself more as a systems entrepreneur, I guess, and working With systems. Can you just talk a little bit about maybe just, you know, your change and your thinking a little bit from, you know, as you talked about, direct service provider, and then when you started To get a sense that actually systems were really important.)
- Time 0:11:15
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(highlight:: Increasing Student Voter Registration Using a Face-to-Face v.s. Policy Change Approach
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And our approach would be to have a team of volunteers as many as we can assemble, go to Freshers Week, which is the week when people first arrive at uni, you know, from the fresh students To the year twos to the year frees and onwards. And basically stand under their nose whilst they're trying to sign up to the clubs and the different things and collect the new magnets and the bottle openers and get their tins of red Bull and whatever else was on offer. And we were competing with that noise to get them to spend three minutes with us to register the boat. It just never worked. You got a few, but you never really reached the masses because you relied on face to face conversation. And it just took too long. And so when we were in this systemic change approach to our work, the government had released a bill called Higher Education Act of 2017. And so we used to scour the government bills that were going. We would see the government agenda two weeks before it come out. We had a subscription to a piece of technology which permitted us to do so. And so we looked at this bill and we quickly lodged an amendment because the beautiful thing about a bill or an act is when it's on the parliamentary floor, everything's up for amendment. And so we lodged an amendment around university enrollment. And essentially when a student enrolls at university, they give their name, they deburf and address, exactly the same information as to register to vote. And we got a government pilot in Sheffield and student registration level in one fresher's sign on went from 13% to 76%. And the cost for the local authority per registration dropped from five pounds per student to 12 pence per student. And so with that, we were able to use the different bits of data relevant to the key stakeholder. So we got 35 of the leading conservative councils to back this amendment, not because it was an increase in student registration, but it was a cost-saving because actually the money Spoke more to them. And so it was a fantastic strategic approach to understand which piece of information would generate the most interest from that particular stakeholder that you needed to align on This policy. And it came down to a vote in the chamber and it went through and become national law. It went through by two votes. Gosh, that's a win. That's a success.)
- Time 0:15:18
-

(highlight:: Taking a Scrappy Approach to Social Change: The Advantage of Being on The Periphery
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And I guess I had the privilege of not being political. I didn't have a political education myself. I registered to vote at the age of 27. So the fact that I was always on the periphery meant that there was a tendency to never leave any stone unturned. And I truly believe that the beauty of doing that is you find the gems on the outside, which traditional people that come straight in on the top floor, having the same education, lacking The same cognitive diversity, and lack the agility to move because they're almost waiting for the handbook to tell you how to do so. I was forced to do so on many occasions. I felt like I had a grade A plan that was moving and it didn't move any further because the funder pulled out. Now, those were the crucial times. Oh, do we all go home and pack up and say we had a fantastic time? Or do we go again? That constant resilience to recreate yourself, recreate, re-channel, say what you're doing in a different way to tick the boxes of another funder. It was just a battle. It was grueling. It was grueling.)
- Time 0:24:19
-

(highlight:: Favor Outcomes Over Exposure: The Importance of Keeping Your Ego in Check In Social Change
Transcript:
Speaker 1
It's only natural to sort of really think ah you know the limelight is where I feel most comfortable because I'm finally getting the appreciation I deserve but it's deadly almost to Camp out there because for me personally moving away and letting go of the desire of having the logo everywhere or having my name on the quote or anything like that as soon as I let go of That it is a liberation and absolute freedom to make decisions that are not based on exposure but based on outcome so you know I thank my ego for where we've got to and and there's been some Unbelievable moments but keeping your ego in check and redeveloping your relationship with it so that it's not overpowering and over-consuming is I guess a fine thing to say but I guess The journey is to try and remain committed to that and that's been another part of this work that I've enjoyed not necessarily needing to be the person associated to all the changes even Though if this is the sort of ecosystem you know doesn't allow you to navigate that easily because sometimes the person that shouts the loudest gets the money and sometimes the companies That have got the biggest exposure get the other funders you know we sort of gravitate to it so it's not always the easiest thing to do but the minute you feel like you're aligned with good Quality organizations there's a collective nature to your work then you can permit yourself to sort of not always have to say yes to the television interview or the quote and things Like that and you can make space for others to do it because that's what keeps it collective)
- Time 0:51:15
-

(highlight:: Evolution of Strategic Approach
Summary:
The evolution of the organization's strategic approach can be delineated into three key phases: initially as a startup engaging directly with people, then adopting a campaign model to strategically deploy resources, and ultimately transitioning to a systems change model where the focus shifted towards addressing root causes by creating an advocacy team to collaborate on systemic issues.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Yeah, sure. So I mean, in the beginning, as you say, a startup, which was very much exploratory testing the games and resources, then a direct service provider effectively, really, the number Of stuff you had was the direct correlation to the amount of people you engaged, shifting that towards a sort of a campaign model. So key moments in a calendar year where you could then deploy resources and operate a little bit with train the trainer, but deploy resources far greater. And then moving, I guess, more into the systems change model, where shifting towards an advocacy team, a bit of a smaller team that really coordinated a cross sector group to tackle The root causes of why you were doing some of this work in the first place. I would say they were the key sort of strategic ships. Yes.
Speaker 2
And I take it that from what you're saying, that it's this latter phase that is where you're more working on systems, you see yourself more as a systems entrepreneur, I guess, and working With systems. Can you just talk a little bit about maybe just, you know, your change and your thinking a little bit from, you know, as you talked about, direct service provider, and then when you started To get a sense that actually systems were really important.)
- Time 0:11:15
-

(highlight:: Increasing Student Voter Registration Using a Face-to-Face v.s. Policy Change Approach
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And our approach would be to have a team of volunteers as many as we can assemble, go to Freshers Week, which is the week when people first arrive at uni, you know, from the fresh students To the year twos to the year frees and onwards. And basically stand under their nose whilst they're trying to sign up to the clubs and the different things and collect the new magnets and the bottle openers and get their tins of red Bull and whatever else was on offer. And we were competing with that noise to get them to spend three minutes with us to register the boat. It just never worked. You got a few, but you never really reached the masses because you relied on face to face conversation. And it just took too long. And so when we were in this systemic change approach to our work, the government had released a bill called Higher Education Act of 2017. And so we used to scour the government bills that were going. We would see the government agenda two weeks before it come out. We had a subscription to a piece of technology which permitted us to do so. And so we looked at this bill and we quickly lodged an amendment because the beautiful thing about a bill or an act is when it's on the parliamentary floor, everything's up for amendment. And so we lodged an amendment around university enrollment. And essentially when a student enrolls at university, they give their name, they deburf and address, exactly the same information as to register to vote. And we got a government pilot in Sheffield and student registration level in one fresher's sign on went from 13% to 76%. And the cost for the local authority per registration dropped from five pounds per student to 12 pence per student. And so with that, we were able to use the different bits of data relevant to the key stakeholder. So we got 35 of the leading conservative councils to back this amendment, not because it was an increase in student registration, but it was a cost-saving because actually the money Spoke more to them. And so it was a fantastic strategic approach to understand which piece of information would generate the most interest from that particular stakeholder that you needed to align on This policy. And it came down to a vote in the chamber and it went through and become national law. It went through by two votes. Gosh, that's a win. That's a success.)
- Time 0:15:18
-

(highlight:: Taking a Scrappy Approach to Social Change: The Advantage of Being on The Periphery
Transcript:
Speaker 1
And I guess I had the privilege of not being political. I didn't have a political education myself. I registered to vote at the age of 27. So the fact that I was always on the periphery meant that there was a tendency to never leave any stone unturned. And I truly believe that the beauty of doing that is you find the gems on the outside, which traditional people that come straight in on the top floor, having the same education, lacking The same cognitive diversity, and lack the agility to move because they're almost waiting for the handbook to tell you how to do so. I was forced to do so on many occasions. I felt like I had a grade A plan that was moving and it didn't move any further because the funder pulled out. Now, those were the crucial times. Oh, do we all go home and pack up and say we had a fantastic time? Or do we go again? That constant resilience to recreate yourself, recreate, re-channel, say what you're doing in a different way to tick the boxes of another funder. It was just a battle. It was grueling. It was grueling.)
- Time 0:24:19
-

(highlight:: Favor Outcomes Over Exposure: The Importance of Keeping Your Ego in Check In Social Change
Transcript:
Speaker 1
It's only natural to sort of really think ah you know the limelight is where I feel most comfortable because I'm finally getting the appreciation I deserve but it's deadly almost to Camp out there because for me personally moving away and letting go of the desire of having the logo everywhere or having my name on the quote or anything like that as soon as I let go of That it is a liberation and absolute freedom to make decisions that are not based on exposure but based on outcome so you know I thank my ego for where we've got to and and there's been some Unbelievable moments but keeping your ego in check and redeveloping your relationship with it so that it's not overpowering and over-consuming is I guess a fine thing to say but I guess The journey is to try and remain committed to that and that's been another part of this work that I've enjoyed not necessarily needing to be the person associated to all the changes even Though if this is the sort of ecosystem you know doesn't allow you to navigate that easily because sometimes the person that shouts the loudest gets the money and sometimes the companies That have got the biggest exposure get the other funders you know we sort of gravitate to it so it's not always the easiest thing to do but the minute you feel like you're aligned with good Quality organizations there's a collective nature to your work then you can permit yourself to sort of not always have to say yes to the television interview or the quote and things Like that and you can make space for others to do it because that's what keeps it collective)
- Time 0:51:15
-