“Death by 1000 Cuts” Reflective Poem

We asked our PTS Qualification students to express “What ‘System Change’ means to me”. Some interesting reflections from PTS Coach Shauna came via this moving poem we are sharing on #WorldPoetryDay.

 

A death by 1000 cuts. The government carelessly holds the knife and hides the murder, does anyone care or were they just a number?

A cut to benefits,

A slash to welfare.

A stab to community investment,

A puncture to public services.

How do we deal with the people who are wounded? Those who are injured by decisions made without their voices included.

We blame those who are bleeding rather than the ones holding the knife, influenced by a deficit system that should be scrutinised.

We hand out plasters rather than treating the injury, an unsustainable system which has led to a lack of sympathy.

People being stretchered through each system which reopens their wounds, adding in salt with the language they use.

Risk assessments resurfacing old scars rather than allowing people to heal. Everyone has a past, what’s the big deal?

People being attacked with assessment, tick boxes, and sanctions. Their experiences reduced to KPI’s for a funder’s satisfaction.

There are people looking for help but falling through the cracks, being told they don’t have the resources to get back.

The battle of the ‘us vs them’ narrative rather than working collaboratively and listening. It’s time to undo systematic conditioning.

Austerity related deaths, suicide rates, and poverty continue to rise. We need compassion as people try their best to survive.

This is just a small insight to see, a part of what system change means to me.

 

by Shauna Hemphill

 

Change a System

“There’s a System to Run a System” Reflective Poem

This #WorldPoetryDay we are delighted to share an insightful poem written by one of our PTS Qualification students in response to our Module 1 Challenge to express “What ‘System Change’ means to me”. Thank you to Sharron for sharing these moving thoughts with us.

 

There’s systems to run a system

To keep the cog wheels turning

And enlightened few yearning

For a different system, a better way

For system users to have a say

And take back control of their situation

To stop being labelled as a victim

The system has many labels and boxes

Very few options, more deficits and losses;

A loss of identity, a loss of trust

A loss of empowerment because “you must…”

 

I dream of a system that has no system

Where the cogs which are turning actually capture the yearning

Of those once trapped, and desperate to be free

Where the person before us is all we see

Where their voice is the only one we hear

And the path to their success is the one we cheer

Not the one we tick off on an assessment sheet

Or what we tell them they must do at the scheduled meet.

 

There’s systems to run systems

But no-one runs me

I am the change if I choose to be

I am the enlightened, free to create

Free to modify the systems I have grown to hate

I’ll be ridiculed and silenced and argued against

Story of my life, systems are not strength based

But my strength lies in showing compassion

Building relationships makes things happen.

If we understand what lies beneath

Those systems will slowly begin to creak

Power doesn’t lie in the hands of those systems

It comes from words and the impact they give us

So I will shout my words ever so loudly

And argue my case with confidence, and proudly

Because the systems that keep the cogs ever turning

Have less people applauding and more who are learning

That those systems don’t work and the system is broken

No truer words will ever be spoken.

The dream for me will be my reality

And systems within systems will be the fallicy.

There’s systems to run a system

But no one runs me

I’m enlightened, I’m awake

Time to be me.

 

by Sharron Harries

Change Typewriter

“Let’s Offer People What We Would Want” says Mayday Trust CEO

In his latest blog, CEO of Mayday Trust Alex Fox explores the PTS (Person-led, Transitional and Strength-based) Response and suggests that it “shouldn’t be revolutionary to suggest that support for people who are going through the toughest times, like being homeless” should mirror other elective and more positive coaching experiences often reserved for athletes or those looking to push forward in their executive careers.  Those models, like the PTS response pioneered by Mayday Trust, can “help us to identify what we want to work on and what our goals are” allowing us to “see our strengths as well as our problems clearly, and to find our potential” suggests Alex:

“Large and growing numbers of us choose support when we are going through tough times because we expect it to be a positive experience which may have painful moments but will ultimately help us grow. There can even be a status attached to being able to afford and valuing yourself enough to seek ‘executive coaching’ or a personal trainer.”

Having been in post at Mayday for 2 months Alex reflected on his listening and learning during that period saying:

“I’ve heard countless stories from our coaches about people making changes through working with someone who has the freedom to think like a sports coach rather than a support worker. It always starts with people building trust: “You are the first person who has actually listened to me in years”. And it progresses to potential and achievements – big or small – that enable someone “to feel like a human being again”. Much of it has been with people who are homeless, but we’re also using the approach with young adults and with people with long term health conditions, as part of a social prescribing programme. It’s not rocket science, but it is complex, nuanced work with a huge body of resources and learning behind it, and a strong community of practice and support structure including clinical supervision.”

 

Alex’s blog follows the release of a report by the New Economics Foundation that suggests the PTS Response is offering people a significant improvement in their well being, self-esteem and a feeling that they are able to build more meaningful relationships with their coach to support their development.

You can read Alex’s full post here.

 

 

 

 

Lynn Mumford

Reflections From a Change Maker

Lynn Mumford reflects on 8 years working at Mayday Trust to create systems change and how we truly work in a PTS way.

Brokering Opportunities

Samantha Abram, PTS Coach at The Brick, explores Brokering opportunities and what it looks like when the term is brought to life through the Person-led, Transitional and Strength-based (PTS) Response.

I was asked what ‘brokering opportunities’ means. This sparked an interesting conversation among PTS Coaches old and new, and prompted me to re-evaluate what brokering has meant to me, as a PTS Coach, the individuals I work with and the realities of brokering as part of the Person-led Transitional Strength-based (PTS) Response.

As always, when it comes to Coaching, there are no ‘fixed’ procedure or process (we have principles and guidance), as each PTS Coach will find their own way of working, influenced by every individual they work with. From my perspective and experience, I would summarise brokering opportunities as:

A person being offered an opportunity to choose to do or act differently because they are presented with ‘choice’ that allows them to remove themselves from the confines of their current situation or self-perceived ‘limits’. The choice presents them with an opportunity to access a meaningful experience. The opportunity is entirely associated with the person’s interests, goals and ambitions and the PTS Coach has no part in deciding what, when or why that is their chosen ‘meaningful’ experience.

There is nothing ‘typical’ about the opportunities that I have brokered as a PTS Coach or the choices people make; it is truly about their dreams and aspirations. The one common factor to highlight is that every time a person chooses to participate in what they connect with, an internal process happens, a spark is ignited that reconnects the person to a part of themselves or connects them with what speaks to them on a fundamental level.

The PTS Response works for people because change becomes sustainable and real when the person chooses the changes they want to make. Brokered opportunities result in people fulfilling their passions because they connect deeply with an experience that reminded them that they are more than their circumstances or how they may feel perceived by broken systems.

time to do something

Talking the talk and walking the walk

Why do so many charities talk confidently about radical change, but so few really try to achieve it?

Alex Fox OBE shares his thoughts on radical change as he takes on his new role of CEO at Mayday Trust.

I’ve spent over ten years working with people who are brave and radical in their own lives. Our members at Shared Lives Plus share their own homes and family lives with people to offer and seek support. Over 15,000 people now live good lives as a result, instead of risking being lost within a social care and health system that does not always feel human, caring and respectful. We have built a UK network and organisation which thinks like they do, demonstrating the kind of social change we call for in the way that we work, and in who gets to do that work.

Over the years, I’ve admired Mayday’s work and heard Pat McArdle speak about the radical path that Mayday has taken. Now that Pat has retired from Mayday, I know that I won’t be able to replace or replicate her unique vision and inspirational style, but I hope to have learned from it.

Mayday is an organisation that changed radically because it listened to what people were saying about what Mayday and other organisations were doing, and was prepared to hear some very uncomfortable messages. The support that people were getting when they went through tough times like being homeless, trying to recover from substance misuse, or leaving prison, wasn’t working for lots of people, and it may even have been inadvertently keeping them locked into those tough times and the services and systems built around them. I wrote a book about some of the things I’ve learned from the people involved in Shared Lives, Homeshare and now Family by Family, with the subtitle ‘Escaping the invisible asylum’, because I believe that even though we talk about ‘community’ services, ‘empowerment’, focusing on ‘outcomes’ and so on, the culture and thought-processes which led us to build asylums, workhouses and other institutions is still deeply ingrained in many of our public services.

In Pat’s final blog for Mayday, she writes that there has not been the radical ‘revolution’ in homelessness support she once dreamed of. But there has been change, and there is no doubt in my mind that Mayday has played a role in that change. Not just dreaming of doing things differently, if only there was enough time, enough money or any of the other things we’ll never have enough of, but showing how to do things differently despite those multiple challenges. In other words, putting the idea of a person-led and strength-based response,  which is at the heart of Mayday’s mission, into the way the whole organisation works. Through the New System Alliance, Mayday and its partners are just starting to model that person-led response to drive change and inform an entirely new system. Like many of the people it supports, the organisation has had to come so far already, just in order to take the first step on a brand new journey towards being the hugely impactful organisation and movement for change that I know we can be.

Pat also says something in her final blog which resonates with me deeply: “My time at Mayday has taught me that my view is one of many and the direction to challenge the failing homeless system needs to be led by people who are experiencing it, who are often trapped within it and who want to act.” One challenge for us in the journey to come will be to be as ambitious as allies, as we are as leaders. If we can realise the ambition to impact thousands of lives, with the humility to stay led by people, we will have achieved something truly radical.

Just say no!

Those of a certain age may have memories of the Grange Hill ‘Just say no’ campaign that came out in the 80’s to encourage the youth of the day to just say no to drugs. It was a clear message, sounded simple and made saying no the cool thing to do.

Little did I know how hard it would be to say no to my peers, to funding, to PR opportunities and generally to a traditionally structured work-life a good few decades later!

There’s so much talk these days about being mission-driven or mission-focused. It’s almost taken for granted that in our sector, this drives everything we do. But when your mission is (and I quote Mayday’s mission) ‘to model a Person-led, Transitional and Strength-based (PTS) Response alongside people going through tough times whilst attracting others to change the current deficit-based systems’, this isn’t as easy as it seems.

I remember the Board meeting where our Trustees gave us the clear direction that we were not to exist for existence’s sake and that we would only do work/ accept opportunities that kept us 100% true to our mission. I also remember the long meeting that followed where we unpicked what this would mean in reality. Cue a whole load of uncomfortable and difficult ‘no thank you’s.’

I heard someone say recently that ‘integrity doesn’t win you contracts’ and thought how true this is. But when winning contracts or accepting certain funding or PR opportunities, which require the showcasing of people’s trauma and mean drifting from your mission and sacrificing the fidelity of your work, tough decisions have to be made. This stance results in hard negotiations, handing back work, losing income, staff being TUPE’d or made redundant, people transitioning to other providers and living in a constant state of uncertainty. The human and financial cost of integrity is real and one we always acknowledge and honour.

Respectfully saying ‘thanks, but no thanks’ doesn’t always feel simple, nor does it feel cool.  

We have heard through our ongoing Wisdom Inquiries, most recently Wisdom from the System with the New System Alliance, the raw and unfiltered feelings of people who are stuck in current support systems and services and those who work within them. It’s not an easy read and having the bravery to listen to what is being said and recognise that we have been (and sometimes still are) part of the problem is something that can either keep you up at night, compel you to ignore it or drive you forward. To know that by saying no to the norm, modelling the difference and carving a new path, you are honouring the voices and experiences of people having the toughest of times and moving toward a better system that works for people makes it much easier to bear the brunt. 

I have come to realise that leading systems change through influencing based on what we uncover through our PTS work at the grassroots, is not an easy job, nor one for the faint-hearted. Taking risks that others can’t, choosing to be small and agile over growth, being willing to be unpopular, challenging what is thought of as sector best practice, standing by the voices of people who have felt voiceless and angry requires a whole new level of nuanced understanding and resilience. Both organisationally and personally. 

But upon reflection, saying no to what didn’t fit our mission, actually opened up a whole new world of ‘yeses!’ 

Saying no to delivering traditional deficit-based work meant saying yes to the evolution of a person-led and strength-based response (the PTS) so that people have a more dignified experience and can transition out of their tough times more sustainably.

Saying no to organisational growth for the sake of it or as the expected thing to do meant saying yes to working with like-minded partners to jointly model the PTS and the mission to bring about change in new areas across the UK.

Saying no to deficit-based contracts meant saying yes to working with ‘enlightened’ commissioners and testing the PTS in partnership to inform a new person-led way of commissioning.

Saying no to providing supported housing* and the income that came with it meant saying yes to becoming a small, focused and agile group of social activists all working to shine a light on what works.

Saying no to pouring energy into bringing down the old system meant saying yes to attempting to model a new person-led system alongside a UK wide movement of amazing and passionate people who believe that paradigm shift is possible.

The era of saying no and moving away from the system has brought so much learning as we have been innovative and attractive to funders wanting to test and grow with us. But we’re embarking on a new era, where the reality of trying to survive in this new world longer term is a stark one. The uncertainty of change and the vulnerability of operating outside of the system is ever-present.

This has also led to the daunting reality of what financial stability means when your way of working isn’t prescriptive and continues to evolve and change from one month to the next. There is both a stark reality and real discomfort in putting a price tag on change and where the outcome and path aren’t rigidly set, it can feel like a hard sell. 

Funding innovation only lasts for so long and traditional charitable means of generating income don’t seem to fit when you’re no longer a traditional charity. Working within and outside of a system whilst trying to evolve a new person-led system is a juggle and seeking funding from a system that you are ultimately moving away from can feel counterproductive and difficult to comprehend. Our approach to funding is having to further shift toward new investment opportunities and individuals that allow us to retain our flexibility and authenticity. 

I’m often approached by sector leaders and practitioners asking how they too can transform their organisations as Mayday has and I’ve come to realise that we have been in a unique position to be able to do this. The radical organisational transformation that Mayday has been through may not be easily replicable, palatable or even possible for many organisations who are ultimately trying to bring about systems change as well as survive in a difficult world and within a system that is still a long way from changing! 

But what we have created and what we can provide is something that others can use to point to as an example of what is possible. We have been able to take the risks, be brave and openly and honestly shared the warts and all learning so that others can save, at least some of the pain, of going it alone and starting from scratch.

So maybe saying no is cool after all! It’s certainly, never simple, and it’s amazing to have the conditions, culture and support to show what’s possible when we stand by what we believe in and go where the good energy is! 

I know there will be many more tough decisions and new opportunities to come, and there is no quick win with this scale of systemic change; but with the mission and voices of people guiding everything we do, alongside the support of our amazing allies, we might just get there and be able to continue to take the risks so you don’t have to!

The slowest, who does not lose sight of their mission, is still more rapid than the one who is wondering without one.

Written by Lynn Mumford, Director of Development and Strategic Partnerships at Mayday. Read more like this?

*In 2020 Mayday said ‘no’ to supported housing – find out why here 

For us to keep sharing opinions and voices that may not always be popular or heard we need your help: 

Supported and temporary accommodation will not end rough sleeping by 2024

Why?

You can’t end rough sleeping with a temporary solution. Even during an international pandemic when the doors to hotels and other forms of accommodation were opened, some people still feared the system that was supposed to help them so much that they chose to remain on the streets.

Supported and temporary accommodation doesn’t cut the negative cycle of people returning to the streets and services. In 2020/21 at the height of the pandemic and the ‘Everyone in Campaign’, London saw more people returning to rough sleeping than it had seen in the last four years. This equated to nearly four people every single day, returning from services and systems that had failed them – this figure shockingly makes up a third of the total. (Greater London Authority (GLA), Rough Sleeping in London, Chain Annual Report, Greater London, April 2020 – March 2021)

“I do know a few people that didn’t want to go inside. Being on the street is a desperate thing, it’s not a choice.” 

Sam, rough sleeping on Oxford Street, Wisdom from the Pandemic

Council responses to a freedom of information request by the charity Shelter suggest only 23% of those helped through the ‘Everyone in Campaign’ had moved into settled accommodation – somewhere they could stay for at least six months – as of February. Shelter termed settled accommodation as accommodation where people had a right to be. So rightly, forms of temporary accommodation such as supported accommodation, hostels and those staying with friends or family were not included. (Shelter 2021, Everyone In: Where are they now?)

Everyone In was a phenomenal response to an international health crisis, it was not a sustainable response to a national rough sleeping crisis.

Mayday Trust’s latest listening enquiry, Wisdom from the Pandemic (carried out in London during July and August in 2020), clearly demonstrates that, for some, the COVID response resulted in a fresh start, an opportunity for people to move on with their lives. However, for others it was another example of the system failing; people being pushed into large hostels and shared accommodation, people expressing feelings of being out of control, scared and isolated.

“COVID has brought my life together and I’ve been handed help that I never got before…. I’m 68 years old and have been on the streets 5 years.” 

Kareen, outside the Portrait Gallery, Wisdom from the Pandemic

“Living in a hostel is no life. It doesn’t help me with my depression. The atmosphere feels like a graveyard in there.”

Gemma, outside Joe and the Juice on Oxford Street, Wisdom from the Pandemic

“I’m being told I have to go to a hostel; I really don’t want to go. I know I will relapse. Everyone there takes drugs. I’m trying to stay sober but they are forcing me to go.”

Richard, begging on Victoria Street, Wisdom from the Pandemic

Negative experiences of living in temporary accommodation, such as hostels, are supported by a report carried out by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), which found that people living in insecure accommodation experienced worse or diminishing positive outcomes when compared to those with secure accommodation, who were given the opportunity to live independently.

Respect and dignity are protected under the Human Rights Act 1998 and are absolute necessities for supporting people through tough times

So, what should we be doing?

Dignity and respect should not be a luxury afforded to those that society deems worthy. Counter to this, those going through the toughest of times benefit most from being treated as people, rather than problems.

The answer to ending rough sleeping is not more money, but to think of ways to reduce service intervention and service dependence. Further investment into an already expensive system that isn’t working, into hostels and supported accommodation that people do not want to live in doesn’t make sense.  This is why we must move away from commissioning into siloes for problems and into commissioning for people. If you have met a ‘rough sleeper’, you have met one ‘rough sleeper’, each person wants and needs something different, we must develop a system that affords the same choice, autonomy and access that you and I expect for ourselves.

“I’ve become more independent in a way of I can do more things for myself rather than other people doing them. I feel happy with my family environment.”

Interviewee working alongside a PTS Coach, NEF Report 2021

The report by NEF includes an in-depth analysis of what happens when you respond to people going through tough times such as homelessness in an entirely different way using the Person-led, Transitional and Strength-based (PTS) Response.  Choice underpins this. Instead of being forced down set pathways, people were able to choose the support they wanted at a time that worked for them. The focus was placed on people’s strengths, passions and interests, rather than problems. People were encouraged, rather than ‘fixed’.

The research from NEF shows a correlation between being treated with dignity and respect and a person taking positive actions. When an environment was created where people had choice and control over their lives people reported that they felt encouraged to achieve their goals. Still, importantly they did not feel pressure to make changes faster than they were ready to. Furthermore, in direct comparison to other services, respondents described their PTS Coach as speaking to them, “like a human being” and meeting them “where they were” (physically, as well as mentally), rather than having to jump through hoops to get something done. As a result of this, people were able to progress positively with their lives in a sustainable and independent way.

“The way he encouraged me then is still with me now. And I still intend to get on the courses I had planned. He’s given me the determination to do it and the belief in myself that I will get this sorted.”

Interviewee working alongside a PTS Coach, NEF Report 2021

“They don’t judge you on your past. It’s about what you are now and where you want to go forward.”

Interviewee working alongside a PTS Coach, NEF Report 2021

The media and wider societal perception of homelessness, as well as the relationships between people accessing support and those offering the support, are also key to positive change. Mayday’s Wisdom from the Pandemic heard that many people felt that they were seen as subhuman, a problem or weak, when people found out they were rough sleeping.

“It was as if we weren’t human. Homeless people are not seen as human and no one cares about us.”

Mo, Trafalgar Square, Wisdom from the Pandemic

“Before we weren’t important, left outside. Then all of a sudden we’re in. It’s only because they thought we might make them sick. As long as they’re ok.”

Faye, Embankment Station, Wisdom from the Pandemic

When the focus is put on building a positive relationship with people, something which is often seen as a luxury in the current Social Care system, positive change can flourish. During interviews carried out by NEF, people working alongside a PTS Coach described their relationship as trusting, empowering, supportive and non-judgmental. Respondents explained they felt heard, and the relationship had a good impact on their well-being and confidence. The data backs this up, those that positively engaged with a PTS Coach improved their life satisfaction scores to that of the national average, up from before they worked alongside a PTS Coach.

“I’m not so moody all the time. I can do more stuff because I’m more confident and happier.”

Interviewee working alongside a PTS Coach, NEF Report 2021

“I like me a bit more. I’m a bit kinder to myself. I don’t blame myself when it isn’t necessary.”

Interviewee working alongside a PTS Coach, NEF Report 2021

“I have full responsibility for my life now.”

Interviewee working alongside a PTS Coach, NEF Report 2021

A practical response to the Housing Crisis

What action can we take?

Finally, we must consider housing, we cannot escape the fact that there is insufficient, genuinely affordable housing available to people that need it. A medium-term option could be to improve access to private rented accommodation. Shelter stated for a briefing in this very Hall in 2019:

“Firstly, the government must immediately lift the freeze on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and restore rates to at least the bottom 30th percentile of the market. Secondly, the government must invest in significantly more social housing.”

The government listened two years ago and did restore rates. However, they have immediately frozen again and people are now having to live with the negative consequences of this with limited accommodation options and landlords being forced to evict tenants as their LHA doesn’t cover the cost of rent. People going through tough times continue to experience these challenges, so why are we not removing the benefit cap, removing shared room allowances and making the LHA fit for local purpose.

“I don’t get violent no more. I don’t get angry. I don’t get put in them situations now I have my own flat. I’m not aggressive I’m happy. I have safety. I have a secure home. I only let in who I chose to let in.”

Interviewee working alongside a PTS Coach, NEF Report 2021

The standard of living accommodation, rogue practices of landlords and inappropriate living solutions are yet more barriers that people going through tough times have to overcome. What would happen if we strengthened laws around the prosecution of rogue landlords, putting a stop to continuous reoffending and allowed people to freely choose where they live? Perhaps people would have a better experience and would be able to move forward with their lives.

“They gave me a room in a hotel. It was miles away. I was lonely, everyone I know is here. I didn’t know what was going on, how long I was going to be there, so I came back here.”

T, Westminster Tube Station, Wisdom from the Pandemic

“They’re talking about moving me on to private rented but I don’t want that, I want a studio council flat. You hear bad stories about private, it’s expensive and there’s no stability. If a landlord decides to sell you have to leave. I want a council flat for the stability.”

Ivano, Waterloo Bridge, Wisdom from the Pandemic

So what next?

We must see a commitment from this government to explore new ways of commissioning services, pushing local authorities to respond to their communities and their constituents and no longer commissioning services based on what funding stream they can apply for or what problems they wish to fix. People going through tough times must be able to decide what support they want and need and the state has to be ready to respond.

All public references should be linked, but if you spot anything please let us know.

Watch the Westminster Hall Debate on Rough Sleeping (Wednesday 8th September 2021) here 

Change

I recently hit the milestone of 10 years at Mayday and I have come to accept that there may not be the ‘homeless revolution’ I had once envisioned. That’s fine. My time at Mayday has taught me that my view is one of many and the direction to challenge the failing homeless system needs to be led by people who are experiencing it, who are often trapped within it and who want to act.

We may be lacking a revolution, but I’m happy to have seen the start of a gradual acceptance in the sector that current systems are not working for people and might be a contributing factor to why so many people remain in services for so long. However, I do question whether the sector and the public recognises the true extent to which this is real, but the fact that a tiny door has opened to allow for greater awareness and maybe even change, can only be good news.

On that positive note and to coincide with the theme of change, it is time for me to officially share that I will be stepping down as CEO of Mayday in August. It’s no secret that Mayday has been through some big changes since I took on the role in 2011. I don’t feel the term ‘organisational transformation’ does the years of uncomfortable realisations, challenges and learning, justice.

I’m leaving an organisation that is courageous, passionate and embraces opportunities to learn. An organisation that is led by its mission and the people it works alongside. I do not doubt that this collective of activists will continue to go against the grain, challenge the status quo and strive for a system that works for people going through tough times.

For me, I have no intention of giving up on my activism, so this isn’t a goodbye, more of a see you later!

x Pat

Legs on a Snake

Many years ago, when I was a lot younger and had more hair, I remember being told an old Chinese proverb, and as I sit here today in my comfy thinking chair, reflecting on the current state of systems designed to support those going through tough times, I am reminded of that story….

The master of a martial arts school, realising that his life was growing short, decided it was time to decide which one of his two best students would become his successor and take over the school after he was gone. Both of his students had their own strengths and flaws so who to choose was exceedingly tricky. In the end, the master decided on a simple competition to decide the outcome. He led his students down to the beach and after offering each of them a sharpened stick, outlined the test.

 “The test is simple, you will each draw an animal in the sand and the first one to finish and have their animal identified by me, will win.”

 The two students immediately picked up their sticks and started to draw in the sand feverishly. The first student quickly drew an ‘S’ shape and stepped backed, feeling pleased with himself at how easy and obvious the test was. But after looking over and seeing his rival frantically still drawing, brow furrowed in concentration, he started to panic.

 ‘What if I am wrong?’ Thought the first student, ‘what if my snake is too simple and won’t be recognised for what it is?’

 Fear gripped him and he cursed himself for being a fool. Nothing this important could possibly be decided by something as simple as a squiggle in the sand. With this, he picked up his stick again and started to draw legs on his snake. After starting the third leg, the second student stepped back, stating he had finished. The master walked over and after studying the drawing, correctly guessed the animal and proclaimed the second student the winner and his immediate successor.

 After the competition, the master asked the dejected student to walk with him along the beach. After a short distance the master asked the student why he had lost. The student replied that he had been too slow in finishing his lizard. The master paused and explained that he had not lost because he had been too slow but because he had added parts that did not need to be there. The master went on to say that he recognised the drawing was a snake as soon as it had been scratched in the sand, but the fact the student had believed it to be too obvious and simple an answer is why he had failed.

Now, that is a mighty fine story and for those of you at the back who may have been skim reading (I will hold back my indignation!), the analogy “adding legs to a snake” simply means that you are doing unnecessary work that is actually ruining your result.

At this moment in time, this is where we find ourselves. Gaming for resources, measuring outcomes, ticking boxes, putting people in boxes, data sets, case studies, reports, anything and everything we can to ‘prove’ what works best. All of it, ‘legs on a snake’.

By now we have firmly established that those going through tough times are the best people to figure out what they feel works best for them. We are just here to walk alongside them and provide that space, that safe bubble where they can engage in conversation and recognise how they can best go about making it happen.  Unfortunately, the system is not geared up for this. You simply cannot walk alongside someone and that be it. There has to be a final destination, an outcome, something that can be measured. Like monopoly, if you don’t pass ‘GO’ you don’t collect the money and unfortunately, that seems to be the true measure of ‘success’.

As the news depressingly reminded me just last week, we have been in austerity for nearly a decade, and with the prospect of another recession as well as the financial fallout of the current pandemic, I fear that this snake will soon turn into a millipede.

Written by Richard Boylan, PTS Coach in Northamptonshire. Read more like this?

For us to keep sharing opinions and voices that may not always be popular or heard we need your help: