Influencing, developing and assessing relationships:

How policy can improve public service delivery

Dr Michael Schluter and John Ashcroft

Strategy Unit 3 March 2009

30 yrs work on relationshipsDifferent approaches to land reform in East AfricaPeace building in South Africa, Rwanda and SudanDebt and finance: Credit Action, Citylife employment bonds and Relational Investment FundsRelational Justice and prison auditsPartnership and collaboration in health and social careWell-beingAudit tools developed with KPMG and Team FocusDevelopment of relational organisations in UK, Australia, US, Singapore and South Africa

The problem

The importance of relationships is now widely recognised (though problems in practice)

Debates about wellbeing, social capital, sustainability, managing complex systems, behavioural economics, emotional intelligence and risk management refer to relationships

But we still need better mechanisms for detailed assessment and evaluation of relationships, and models of how to influence them.

Today’s discussion

Introducing an approach to understanding the factors that influence relationships

Illustrating how this can help in policy making, implementation and evaluation

Why this matters

Relationships inform policy goals– Across sectors e.g. personal well-being– Within sectors e.g. criminal justice

And are key to achieving them– Transforming lives– Reducing risks– Increasing efficiency– Competitive advantage– Enabling co-production

The basic approach

Create environments that make it more or less likely that effective relationships will develop

Analysis of the factors that influence relationships helps anticipate impact

These factors can be assessed

And facilitate constructive discussion about how to improve them

The missing link

External and internal influences

Functional outcomes and emotional experience

?

Where applied: which relationships

Policy is concerned with many types of relationship:

Professions to: own professions, other professions, service users, partner agencies, commissioners

Within extended families and communities

Between groups: e.g. ethnic, income, generations

Providers of capital, directors and regulators; employer-employee; customers

Types of policy intervention

Not changing relationships directly, but influencing them

Motivation– Incentives– Social norms

Opportunity– Place– Time– Institutional mechanisms

Support– Empowering the conduct of relationships– Finance as buffer against or source of stress– Education and advice

Drilling down into the relationships

Domains of Relationship

Relational Proximity

Relational Goals

Communication

Time

Information / knowledge

Power

Purpose

Directness: reducing the extent to which presence

is mediated or filtered

Continuity: managing the gaps between

interactions

Multiplexity: improving the breadth and quality of

information

Parity: the fair use of power

Commonality: building shared purpose

Connectedness

Meaning and belonging

Being known & mutual

understanding

Mutual respect

Unity

that are important require the preconditions of

in order to bridge the gaps so we can achieve and experience the benefits of these

Outcomes and

Clarity and completeness of communication

Momentum and growth

Reading situations and responding to

needs

Participation and investment

Motivation and synergy

Drilling down into the relationships

Domains of Relationship

Relational Proximity

Relational Goals

Communication

Time

Information / knowledge

Power

Purpose

Directness: reducing the extent to which presence

is mediated or filtered

Continuity: managing the gaps between

interactions

Multiplexity: improving the breadth and quality of

information

Parity: the fair use of power

Commonality: building shared purpose

Connectedness

Meaning and belonging

Being known & mutual

understanding

Mutual respect

Unity

that are important require the preconditions of

in order to bridge the gaps so we can achieve and experience the benefits of these

Outcomes and

Clarity and completeness of communication

Momentum and growth

Reading situations and responding to

needs

Participation and investment

Motivation and synergy

Directness: reducing the extent to which presence is

mediated or filteredContinuity: managing the gaps between interactions

Multiplexity: improving the breadth and quality of

informationParity: the fair use of

powerCommonality: building

shared purpose

Aligning purpose

Scope, depth and stability of alignmentFive reasons why:– Ethics: ‘purpose is your moral DNA’– Needs: ‘my brain made me do it’– Identity: ‘true to myself’– Targets: ‘to keep my job’– The herd: ‘everyone else does it’

Policy implications

Perverse incentives (e.g. hospital and ambulance trust)Integration through greater local funding and accountability of services

Communication

Time

Information / knowledge

Power

Purpose

Directness: reducing the extent to which presence

is mediated or filtered

Continuity: managing the gaps between

interactions

Multiplexity: improving the breadth and quality of

information

Parity: the fair use of power

Commonality: building shared purpose

Connectedness

Meaning and belonging

Being known & mutual

understanding

Mutual respect

Unity

Clarity and completeness of communication

Momentum and growth

Reading situations and responding to

needs

Participation and investment

Motivation and synergy

Adult social care

What influences the ability of relatives to be physically present?

Communication

Time

Information / knowledge

Power

Purpose

Directness: reducing the extent to which presence

is mediated or filtered

Continuity: managing the gaps between

interactions

Multiplexity: improving the breadth and quality of

information

Parity: the fair use of power

Commonality: building shared purpose

Connectedness

Meaning and belonging

Being known & mutual

understanding

Mutual respect

Unity

Clarity and completeness of communication

Momentum and growth

Reading situations and responding to

needs

Participation and investment

Motivation and synergy

Adult social care

What risks are increased, or momentum lost, due to high staff turnover?

Communication

Time

Information / knowledge

Power

Purpose

Directness: reducing the extent to which presence

is mediated or filtered

Continuity: managing the gaps between

interactions

Multiplexity: improving the breadth and quality of

information

Parity: the fair use of power

Commonality: building shared purpose

Connectedness

Meaning and belonging

Being known & mutual

understanding

Mutual respect

Unity

Clarity and completeness of communication

Momentum and growth

Reading situations and responding to

needs

Participation and investment

Motivation and synergy

Adult social care

How is sufficient breadth of knowledge for informed

personalisation best gained?

Communication

Time

Information / knowledge

Power

Purpose

Directness: reducing the extent to which presence

is mediated or filtered

Continuity: managing the gaps between

interactions

Multiplexity: improving the breadth and quality of

information

Parity: the fair use of power

Commonality: building shared purpose

Connectedness

Meaning and belonging

Being known & mutual

understanding

Mutual respect

Unity

Clarity and completeness of communication

Momentum and growth

Reading situations and responding to

needs

Participation and investment

Motivation and synergy

Adult social care

Is power used fairly in commissioning services?

Communication

Time

Information / knowledge

Power

Purpose

Directness: reducing the extent to which presence

is mediated or filtered

Continuity: managing the gaps between

interactions

Multiplexity: improving the breadth and quality of

information

Parity: the fair use of power

Commonality: building shared purpose

Connectedness

Meaning and belonging

Being known & mutual

understanding

Mutual respect

Unity

Clarity and completeness of communication

Momentum and growth

Reading situations and responding to

needs

Participation and investment

Motivation and synergy

Adult social care

Are commissioners and providers aligned around service

user needs?

Outcomes

Relational

Trust

Risk

Accountability

Participation

Financial

Productivity of time

Reducing demand pressures

Co-production

The Relational Network of Care for Victoria Climbié

Victoria Climbié

Ealing Council Referral and Assessment Team, Social Services

Ealing Childcare Team, Social Services

Ealing Housing

Brent Social Services

Central Middlesex Hospital

North Middlesex Hospital Haringey liaison

health visitor

Social Work, Haringey Child Protection Adviser, and hospital link worker Haringey

Police

Derived from evidence submitted to the Public Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié, 2002

How might better analysis of relationship help you in

Policy design?

Implementation?

Evaluation and impact assessment?

Contact us

Relationships Foundation3 Hooper Street CambridgeCB1 2NZ

John Ashcroft: 01223 341279 j.ashcroft@relationshipsfoundation.org

Michael Schluter: 01223 341264 m.schluter@relationshipsfoundation.org