A user-led approach to appointing staff

(The following represents Nigel Fenner's personal views, rather than those of Hertfordshire PASS.)

Thanks to funding from the Big Lottery Fund we were able yesterday to interview and appoint 3 apprentices ( - to join 3 'senior' apprentices already in post). This staff team of 6 will manage WorkABILITY, an 'employment preparation' project driven by, and for other disabled young people.

We believe we have made 3 excellent appointments and I feel this was mostly due to the process being largely user-driven.

For example in the letters we sent to those shortlisted for interview we wrote

"Because WorkABILITY tries very hard to be user-driven we want you to think
of 2 questions you expect to be asked in your interview. Please write these
questions on a piece of paper with your name on them and hand (them to us on the
day). We will ask one of your questions of you, and all the other
candidates."

This had all sorts of benefits. Firstly it communicated how strongly committed we are to being user-driven. Secondly it gave the shortlisted candidates opportunity to think about the type of questions they might be asked and at the very least, opportunity to plan answers to their own question, and thirdly it threw up some excellent questions we had not thought of ourselves.

As you can see ALL the questions handed to us were excellent:

• Describe what ideas you have to bring to WorkABILITY?
• Why should we employ you?
• Have you ever had an opportunity to work regularly with young people?
• Do you find it difficult to talk to people who you do not know?
• What difficulties have you had to overcome because of your special needs?
• What kind of person are you?
• What I feel is most important in working as part of a team?
• How would I handle someone coming in asking for help?

These questions, and some others we had prepared ( - linked to the reqirements in the Person Specification - see below) were ALL asked by the 3 Senior Apprentices who themselves are all disabled. These Senior Apprentices, the chair of Hertfordshire PASS who is a wheelchair user, and I made up the Selection Panel.

A further example of the selection process being more 'user-led' than normal was in preparing the person specification ie the list of characteristics (such as knowledge, skills, attitudes, and experiences) we wanted in applicants. Had we been advertising apprenticeships in plumbing or car mechanics, the person specification would largely have writen itself, however because an apprenticeship in employment preparation is considered unique, we had to start from scratch. In addition we did not want to go down the road of stipulating 'the usual criteria' such as qualifications or experience, given disabled young people, often through no fault of their own, have not had the same opportunities to acquire these as other young people.

We therefore started by focussing on the aim of WorkABILITY - as determined originally by its users: 'young people with a learning or physical challenge overcoming barriers to work'. Clearly therefore we wanted applicants for the apprenticeship vacancies to have had experience of attempting to overcome such barriers.

Under attitudes we wanted "applicants who are very strongly committed to use this apprenticeship to progress into full time or more permanent employment ( - with WorkABILITY or with another employer)". We considered this important because we found some talented disabled young people who attended our most recent Summer Job Forum lacking in drive and aspiration to progress into employment. What we wanted therefore were people aspiring to develop rather than to survive ( - a point made by David Armstrong on page 153 of Group Relations, Management and Organization).

We also wanted applicants "to drive WorkABILITY forward as a user-driven project working together as a team......(and who) want to work with other disabled young people to enable (or mentor) them to access work experience opportunities and possible employment".

What we did expect in terms of skills was that applicants could read and write (and that if they did need some help, what this amounted to) and that they could use a computer and possibly some other office based equipment (such as a telephone or photocopier). We also wanted to be reassured they could work 22.5 hours each week (2 days work, and 1 day training).

We asked applicants to demonstrate in their application form they had the above listed experience, attitudes and skills, however we did appreciate an applicant might need some help in doing this. However because of our commitment to being user-driven we asked the following question at the end of the application form:

"The help you might have received: We appreciate you may have needed some
help in understanding the information we have sent you about WorkABILITY and
the apprenticeships, however because we try hard to be user-driven please let us
know what you did yourself in submitting this application, and what help you
received?"

The answers to this question helped us to understand who was the 'driving force' ( - such as the applicant themselves, their mum, or a support worker etc) in the application process which we were later able to check out at interview.

Obviously time will tell whether we made the right appointments, but in using a selection process which we believe was user-led, we are optimistic. Not only was the process extremely satisfying, but throughly professional too.

Boppi's song and Darwin's survival of the fittest

(The following represents Nigel Fenner's personal views, rather than those of Hertfordshire PASS.)

I visited the 'Endless Forms' exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge recently. It explored the impact of Charles Darwin's theories on the artists of the nineteenth century - and it was excellent, and it made me think what 'survival of the fittest' might mean today.

Over millions of years before Darwin, survival of the fittest was achieved by the physically strong combatting disease, the cold, predators and hunger. Those who did it best of all, survived, with the physically weak dying off. However, since Darwin, advances in technology, medicine, science and other areas of our lives, means physical prowess is not now as critical as it was. So what is?

Quite independent from visiting the Darwin exhibition I recently finished reading 'Peter Camenzind', a book written in 1904 by Hermann Hesse ( - who later won the Nobel Prize for Literature). It tells the story of a young man 'trying to discover the nature of his creative talent' through his deep love of nature, the girls he meets (mostly unsuccessfully), his studies at university, writings and travels, his melancholy, and at the end of the book, his relationship with Boppi "a grotesque, deformed figure...a wretched, half crippled hunchback". Things change though when Peter hears Boppi sing resulting in them spending much time together; "if ever I should complete and publish the work that I had begun so long ago , it should contain little of value that I had not learned from Boppi."

In the same way there is much I am learning from the disabled people I work with, and the 'song' they are singing ( - see my 19th August 2009 blog: 'Giants and foxes that 'eat you up' - and the world of work'). This song has been heard too by Steve Lopez, a reporter with the Los Angeles Times who 'discovered' Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless African American man playing the violin exquisitely on the streets of downtown Los Angeles - now made into the film, the Soloist, which I saw last night at the cinema. Lopez says "he (Ayers) knows what life is about. He knows why he exists, and he has found his passion. Most people I know never find their purpose. It means he lives more in a spiritual than a material world".

But not every 'song' is channelled appropriately. For example there is the sad story of Gary McKinnon, a 43 year old who has Asperger's Syndrome, who having hacked into the US military and NASA computers faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted. But he must be hugely talented to have done this....

I'm not sure where this 'song' will take us in our evolution over the next million years, but I feel very strongly it will have much more of an impact than our physical prowess.

The framework that informs managing user-driven work

(The following represents Nigel Fenner's personal views, rather than those of Hertfordshire PASS.)

I am Manager of Hertfordshire PASS 'a user-driven charity using employment to enable disabled people to live independently'. In fulfilling this aim we run WorkABILITY, an employment preparation programme run by, and for disabled young people.

Such user-driven work is not just a simple matter of allowing disabled young people to get on with it alone, as there needs to be some sort of framework within which such work can take place. (This is not peculiar to disabled young people as it applies to all young people growing up).
To appreciate the framework we use, it is necessary to understand the implicit outcome in user-driven work. We want disabled young people to move from being 'just a disabled young person' (often imposed on them by others) to taking up a wide range of 'driving' roles such as facilitator, writer, mentor, planner, strategist, or manager. In the context of WorkABILITY such roles are currently being taken by our 3 apprentices, as they plan and deliver employment preparation for their peers.

Clearly 'role' is important, but it begs the question 'where does a role come from?' In our view a role is always linked to achieving the aim of the project, or meeting, or organisation. Therefore being explicit about the aim enables the participants in the meeting or project to take up an appropriate role to achieve that aim. However, many meetings and projects have implicit aims ( - or none at all) and / or are driven by strong and charismatic individuals, resulting in a vagueness of role. Therefore being clear about the aim of the project, meeting or organisation is vital. (See my 'Being clear about purpose' blog dated 29/7/09.)

In turn this begs the next question 'where does the aim of the project, or meeting, or organisation come from?' There is a danger the aim often emanates from the strong and powerful - and their ideas, thoughts, hunches, opinions or beliefs. Alternatively the aim can grow out of a sharing of relevant lived experiences, which when weaved together reflect the shared story of those involved and what they want to do together. (See my 'Everyday experience at work: vital to disabled young people exploring the world of work' blog dated 30/6/09.)

So in summary, in our user-driven work we focus on three main areas:

• the person and their lived experience
• defining the system (ie meeting, project, organisation) through clarifying its aim, and
• the roles we all take up in achieving this aim.

So when people ask me 'how do you manage a user-driven project?' I answer in terms of ensuring there is an aim, that it is validated by the lived experiences of users, and that roles are being taken up to achieve the aim. Such a framework frees up the 'users' to take up suitable 'driving' roles such as manager, planner, innovator......

(I am grateful to the Grubb Institute of Behavioural Studies who I worked with for 6 years, for introducing me to this 'Person-System-Role' framework and giving me opportunity to hone my skills and understanding with young people in schools, and young offenders in 7 prisons.)

Giants and foxes that 'eat you up' - and the world of work.

(The following represents Nigel Fenner's personal views, rather than those of Hertfordshire PASS.)

We've been running a Job Forum over the summer holidays for young disabled people to explore the barriers to work they face and how these might be overcome. Given it's been holidays we've tried to make the sessions fun, including having a 'media' theme throughout. I want to share experiences we had at two of the sessions.

At one session Mat Fraser joined us; Mat is a well known actor, musician, writer and performance artist. Following the usual dialogue we have at every Job Forum session for visitors, where Mat was asked to share his work story in response to questions from the young disabled people present, we asked what we might focus on for the role play planned for the afternoon. The question I posed to the group 'might we focus on a 'barrier to work' that Mat experienced and shared with us, or might we focus on something else?' appeared straightforward but the answer 'let's do Jack and the Beanstalk', less so, but because we try very hard to be user-driven, we went for it.

What unfolded was a remarkable unplanned piece of Forum Theatre ( - which Mat introduced us to, and led). First we retold the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and explored what modern day metaphors the characters and key props represented in terms of young disabled people searching for work. For example the beans represented qualifications, the beanstalk represented the ladder Jack needed to climb to get a job, the giant - a difficult manager interviewing Jack for a job, Jack's mum - the 'parent trap', the gold - a job, and so on. We then wrote a basic script and those present put themselves forward to act the parts. Mat directed, including periodically stopping the 'action' to ask the audience what might Jack do or say in relation to the predicament he was in, in keeping with the methods of Forum Theatre.

There were many fantastic performances, and excellent insights, however there is only one insight I want to focus on here. Early on in our unpacking of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, the young person who originally made the suggestion to use this story, wanted reassurance that there would be no real giants in our production because they really frightened him, and that our focus was to be on work only. In the context of what we were doing this was key, because I was getting somewhat concerned how, in entering the world of fantasy, we were also going to keep our 'feet on the ground'. I think we succeeded and there was much learning by all.

At our next session, a week later, we planned to use art to communicate the barriers to work we all face and how these are overcome. We had a large lump of clay, watercolours, coloured and patterned tissue paper, wax crayons, old magazines to cut up etc, and after a couple of hours gave opportunity for everybody (staff included) to each describe their creation.

At the time one piece of art grabbed my attention above all the others; it was of a gingerbread man made out of clay, with its creator being unsure why he had made it. So there and then, as a group, we retold the story, and were amazed that it mirrored the struggle many of the young people, in fact most of us, have in becoming independent from our mums and dads. We then talked about what happened to the gingerbread man, having left his mum and dad, and realised he was eaten by the fox. This begged the question 'what does the fox represent in our efforts to get a job?', and it became apparent that for some, the fox represents the job that 'eats you up'. Given the nervousness and lack of confidence of the creator of the gingerbread man, this was no surprise.

At this same session I made a clay model too, however it took a number of weeks before I realised how significant it was.

I started by making a larger-than-life figure set behind an altar on which I ( - represented by a much smaller figure) was making my offerings. This larger-than-life figure represented powerful individuals (managers, teachers etc) in my past I have had to cow-tow to. My experience today was represented by a dynamic figure turned away from the altar, actively pursuing some brightly coloured pieces of tissue paper, representing more fulfilling goals in relation to my work.
I didn't use the word 'giant' to describe my larger-than-life figure at the time but now I realise that is exactly what he is. Maybe I didn't say 'giant' because I felt I was above fairy tales, but now, given the fantastic insights we all had working through Jack and the Beanstalk, and the Gingerbread man I realise how timeless and wise they are - to us all. And the wisdom is not just with the fairy tales but the two young people who introduced them to us all.

(Since this blog was written, the Jack and the Beanstalk session, and the art session have been talked about more often than one might have expected and I'm not sure why, given our focus on overcoming barriers to work. This morning (2nd January 2010) however I came across a slip of paper in a management book I often dip into on which I had written "...... pictures operate as vehicles of human experience" a quote lifted from the chapter 'The Recovery of Meaning'. Given I feel exploring human experience is vital in the work that we do ( - see my 30th June 2009 blog: 'everyday experience at work: vital to disabled young people exploring the world of work') there is clearly a link between our art sessions and overcoming barriers to work. Not sure precisely what this is yet but I can feel another blog in the offing.)

Being clear about purpose

(The following represents Nigel Fenner's personal views, rather than those of Hertfordshire PASS.)

I am becoming more and more convinced that being clear about the purpose of a meeting, or event or organisation is key - if the vulnerable, or disenfranchised, or for that matter anyone taking part, are to take up a meaningful role.

Without clarity of purpose it is no surprise powerful individual(s) exert influence on what is going on. Often this is done with the best of intentions, and the results are often very good, and for all those taking part, there is often relief that someone strong, assertive and charismatic is leading. However in the work that I'm involved in, where we endeavour to build capacity in young disabled people to run their own work preparation programme ( - see http://www.hertspass.com/ ), it is no surprise 'how meetings, events and organisations are run and managed', is up for scrutiny.

Hertfordshire PASS is currently planning for the visit of a high ranking government minister to our offices, who wants to see the apprenticeship scheme we operate with and for young disabled people. The visit has been set up by another charity with a national brief striving to enable more disabled young people to access education.

Whilst the purpose of the visit may appear obvious, in dialogue with this charity, we have identified a number of potential agendas that the visit will not have time to fully cover. We at Hertfordshire PASS believe very strongly the 3 apprentices should have a closed meeting with the minister 'to give opportunity for PASS's apprentices to share their experiences of being an apprentice, and as a result of these experiences explore what might be done to enable more disabled young people to take up apprenticeships'.

Such a purpose obviously restricts what the charity we are working with can contribute to the visit, as well as other partners involved in the apprenticeship scheme, such as the local college. It also limits what Hertfordshire PASS might do to raise its profile more generally in showcasing its other work and staff. With this in mind we are planning a short meeting with the minister to follow the closed meeting with the apprentices, to share our experiences - as organisations - in contributing towards the apprenticeship programme.

Of course none of the above accounts for what the government minister believes the purpose of the visit is. However if we're not clear about the purpose as we understand it, it will be no surprise the government minister will fill the vacuum by taking up the 'strong, assertive and charismatic' role of the powerful we want to avoid.

Finally, I believe that unless the purpose of a meeting, event or organisation is worked on to ensure it is clear, explicit and acted on, it is very difficult for 'disabled people' to shake off this label and take up a different role, such as 'apprentice', and 'shaper' of government policy and practice we hope will occur when the government minister comes visiting.

Everyday experience at work: vital to disabled young people exploring the world of work

(The following represents Nigel Fenner's personal views, rather than those of Hertfordshire PASS.)

I have had two recent experiences of projects failing to appreciate the value of their day-to-day work experience to disabled people. The first experience relates to a management group convening for the first time to deliver a European Social Funded programme providing work related skills and opportunities to people with mental health problems. I asked why such people could not be part of the management group, if for no other reason than to experience a meeting and how it is managed, how people behave, how people get heard, how disagreements are resolved, how progress is made etc. There appeared to be agreement to start with, closely followed by a number of obstacles (such as how big the management group would grow to). The outcome is a users reference group, separate from the management group.

The other experience relates to some early plans to explore how best to develop and train an apprentice bookkeeper. When I suggested that the individual (yet to be appointed) might have a day observing the 3 bookkeepers in the department this was met with scepticism. Their understanding was that the apprentice bookkeeper would be trained first before they would be able to get involved and contribute in the office. Whilst I agreed there was a need for technical training, why couldn't the minute by minute bookkeeping experiences such as dealing with customers on the phone, entering data on the computer and exploring issues together as a team, be made available to an apprentice to observe?

Whenever possible I always open up what I am doing to one or more of our apprentices and following a period of observation I might ask for their first impressions and / or provide a context for what is going on etc - taking no more than a few minutes of my time to do so. Not only does it keep me on my toes in terms of being clear about what I do and why, but it gives insight for the apprentice, into how to take up a role ( - which you can never get through a text book or training).

In addition to making the second by second work experiences of staff available to disabled young people ( - as described above), we also have a scheme where ordinary adults visit us to share their work story in response to questions from a group of disabled young people - who lead the discussion. Afterwards the adults who take part are often unsure whether what they said was of value. To test this out we asked our 3 apprentices, who took part in these discussions, what was the most significant story they could recall from the 10 or so visitors we've had. Firstly they recalled one successful manager who left school with no qualifications, then another visitor who said her biggest barrier to starting out in work was her shyness, and the third visitor who said he went out to get his first job because he didn't want to keep asking his mum for pocket money. These may appear trivial but for young disabled people setting out on the 'work trail' they are invaluable.

So why can't we provide opportunity to young disabled people to observe the day to day experiences we all have? There's a lot more value in them than we think.