Facilitating Solutions and Ways Forward
Aims
Working with partners, stakeholders and the beneficiaries of research impact by making it easier for them to make change happen.
Overview
Typically, the work I do through the university’s Consultancy Service comes about when an idea, a strategy, a bid or a schedule of actions or activities needs to be developed by an external organisation or agency. If it feels like it might be a one-off contract - which it doesn’t always prove to be – it is often easier for them, or for me, if the contracting and invoicing bypasses the commissioning institution’s often time-consuming procurement framework. And I should say here, that the Consultancy Service have always done an absolutely excellent job in streamlining all of this.
When I’m commissioned by the external organisation, they may find themselves working with a facilitator for the very first time. That means that my first job is to establish precisely how we are going to work together, what they want to achieve, and what the outputs need to look like, before I can begin to think about designing a flexible approach to the delivery of these events or processes.
I have been on UKRI’s Procurement Framework for creative facilitation since it was set up for the first EPSRC Sandpit I did in 2006, and on the N8 Framework since that was put in place five years ago, and it remains the case that I most usually get awarded these contracts because of my improvised approach to this work. If a commissioner is looking for a facilitator with a formulaic approach who will schedule and signal known, timed processes in advance – and they often are – or a commissioner anxious about leaving too much unprogrammed space in a workshop, then I won’t be their person and there are others on the UKRI Framework they can contract with. There’s a degree of bravery required at their end to embrace this distinctive way of working. It evolved over decades of practice and was consolidated at Lancaster through my PHD research with Professors Rachel Cooper and Leon Cruickshank where I developed a scalable framework to deliver outputs within the limitations of resources and time that draws on experience, intuition and focussed action.
To try and make that clearer: experience is the sum of what the facilitator brings to the process of facilitation - everything that is known to them both explicitly and tacitly; intuition guides the creative interventions that will seek to maximise the use of space, group energy, formats and any tools that might be employed. All of this is fuelled by calculations of Risk and Confidence in what might be possible, with action being the manifestation of all of these responses - the sum of every creative response and every intervention in the group process.
These contracts can be about any research area, issue or opportunity, and obviously entail respecting the confidentiality of the content and outputs of the work. Spending time dipping into and out of other research worlds though, inevitably informs how I work with people back at this university, creating a mutually beneficial exchange in both directions.
Results and Outcomes
Tab Content: For Partners and Engagement
The broad range of research areas and strategic requirements I have worked on through the Consultancy Service have included: Blackpool City Council who wanted a visioning strategy and plan for the board of the Winter Gardens Trust with which to support the continued repair and restoration of the iconic grade II* listed Blackpool venue. Coventry University wanted to design a Social Innovation Lab and needed a series of team development events in addition to that: “Working with Dee as a facilitator to support our research bidding has been transformative. Her ability to guide and energise our discussions, foster collaboration, and inspire creative solutions is unrivalled.” Professor Sally Dibb, Research Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University.
The University of Glasgow were focussed initially on legacy mining impacts and sustainable mining futures in the Philippines. Then in May this year, they wanted an industry event to build a proposal for a project to evaluate the environmental impacts of hydro schemes: “Another great session and now we’ve got exactly what we need to focus on for the next stage.” Professor Richard Williams, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences. And for The University of The West of England, this work evolved from an initial Cultural Heritage Workshop for their Centre for Print Research, to now include extensive coaching workshops for AHRC/BBC’s New Generation Thinkers Scheme and for ongoing research capacity and publication confidence building within the centre: “Dee transformed thinking to move our researchers to the next level and gain national recognition.” Professor Carinna Parraman, Director of The Centre for Print Research (CFPR)
I most usually work alone, but for one LU consultancy project I enjoyed working as part of a truly impressive team for a major research project for Arts Council of England. ACE’s focus was on exploring organisational culture and facilitating change within the creative industries in relation to their Investment Principles: “…working with you on the Arts Council investment principles project you gave us a professional underpinning for data eliciting from the stakeholder groups.” Professor Judith Mottram, Lancaster University.
All of my work is underpinned and characterised by supporting the people I work with to equip them to work more effectively with a facilitator in the future, or to do it themselves more confidently or with less support next time. Sometimes this is achieved informally – by stealth almost - and often, as most recently with both https://www.ceh.ac.uk/the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and the Centre for Print Research (CFPR), formally, through specific coaching contracts.
And finally, if you’re a professional services person here at Lancaster thinking of doing consultancy work, you’ll need your line manager to approve it and to determine with you how the allocation of income is apportioned depending on whose time you use to conduct the work in.
Tab Content: For Academics
These projects show the variety and value of consultancy work and the benefits it can bring and the ease of using the consultancy service.
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