By Becky Wright, Executive Director | 2 min
Introducing Our Union Maturity Model: A Path to Stronger, Future-Ready Unions
Across the last few years, Unions 21 has done increasingly more work directly with unions of all sizes and sectors, supporting them in navigating the challenges of today’s world. Many unions want to improve the way they are doing things but often do not know where to start.
To address this, we’re thrilled to introduce our Union Maturity Model, which we launched at our Trade Union Renewal 2024 event.
What is the Union Maturity Model?
Our Union Maturity Model is designed to help unions evaluate their organisational maturity across five key areas which we think are crucial for the long term success of the union movement.
Emerging sectors and adaptation – How well does the union respond to new industries/sectors/jobs?
Digitalisation and AI – Is the union equipped to integrate digital tools and AI into its operations?
Strengthening collective voice – How effectively is the union building and amplifying its members’ voice?
Internal democracy – Are internal governance structures inclusive and robust?
Building capacity – Does the union have the resources and skills necessary for growth and success?
In each of these areas, we asses a union’s ‘maturity’ or ability to ensure organisational readiness.
Unions may invest time and resources into projects that don’t yield desired results, often without realising that the underlying issue is a lack of organisational readiness. Our model will help identify these gaps and provide a roadmap for improvement.
Levels of Maturity
The model defines five stages of maturity:
Informal
Defined
Integrated
Strategic
Fully Optimised
A Fully Optimised union constantly improves itself, building for tomorrow while delivering today. Wherever a union falls on this scale, our model offers tailored insights to help it grow and adapt.
We hope this helps you to empower your union to be stronger, more adaptable, and ready for the future.
If you have any questions or would like to run this throughout your union, feel free to contact me becky@unions21.org
