By Becky Wright | 5 min
This week is my work anniversary. I’ve been at the helm at Unions 21 for one year. Like most facing the end of a year and getting ready for a new one, I’ve been musing over what challenges we face and what our agenda will be to assist unions to be relevant organisations with in the UK economy.
2016 saw some great changes at Unions 21. We refocused our work, rebranded and built our supporter base. Key to this was starting the year with strategic review. Any organisation who wants to be relevant must undertake regular reviews of what they’re for and whether the structure is working to achieve this. It’s a vital part of strategic planning. I have been a part of changes on both side of the fence and in both capacities, I rather enjoy the promise and possibilities a good process can bring. When I first declared my intention to potentially overhaul Unions 21 following a review, I was rather amused when my Chair, Sue Ferns remarked to me ‘Well I’m not surprised, I’ve never known you not to review Becky.’ So, after the review, after we’ve had time to put the majority of changes into practice what are my thoughts on this process a year on?
· Put a lot of thought into it. Who needs to be involved, how and why. Be clear about what the review is trying to achieve. You’re going to have to tell a lot of people what you’re doing and how they fit into that process and if you’re not clear, they certainly won’t be and it won’t instil any confidence in the work.
· It’s going to be hard so be prepared for it. You’re going to have to get a lot of people on board, engaged and ready for change they may not want to do. You may have to work harder, smarter and longer for the time it’s underway but the rewards will be worth it.
· Take advice and use the skills of your team (s) and colleagues. No one can undertake a successful review on their own so make sure you listen to others who have done this before and who have good ideas. You need cheerleaders/mentors/people willing to make you tea.
· Stay focussed. It’s easy to get distracted by shiny ideas and new paths but weigh up whether it’s going to really be a good thing in the long run.
· Listen to your constituents, whoever they may be and whether you agree with them or not.
I think of 2017 as the next step in the review, the one that imbeds the changes and tests whether we got the right idea. Already our research agenda is in full swing, we have expanded our individual supporter offer and also started to develop some value added work for our supporters. The political landscape has changed again, so where does that leave us? Firstly, the mindset that needs adopting. I think that we need to be pragmatic optimists. It’s not going to be a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination but we have to plan ahead and see where there is the possibility to make inroads. Unions are going to be needed by workers, employees and the self-employed to make their working lives better. How can Unions 21 go forward in 2017 and help unions to do that?
· Staying rooted in and focused on work that is directly relevant to building unions. It’s going to be easy to try and have a view on everything and anything vaguely related to the world of work but our vision is clear – to enable unions to be relevant organisations with in the UK economy. We are not seeking to reinvent the wheel and recognise that many of our supporters (and non-supporters!) are doing sterling efforts to engage new workers and need a platform to showcase that. Our place in the ‘air war’ is to show how unions can adapt if necessary, build on success and innovate.
· Anticipate and reflect the needs of our supporters. Like any organisation built around support and membership, we are only ever as strong as those engaged with us. To make sure this is the case we stay committed to working on the issues that matter to our supporters.
· Model best practice - be open to any idea if it proves to work and seek to clarify why. This can only happen if unions are willing to share and support each other and so we will continue to build an organisation which is based on collaboration and a shared space.
How will we do that? Our supporters meet regularly with us to give a steer about the day to day work that we are doing. This feeds into our research in each of our three themes – new economies, new workers, good work and innovation and change. We have introduced masterclasses and events like the Women’s Network Breakfast and our March Annual Conference. We are in a constant state of development and I’m a firm believer of two way communication so let us know what you think we should be looking at. We’re open to suggestions!
