We have fallen out of touch and out of trust with each other. In his book Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam charts the degradation of social capital in the US, within and between groups. He shows that this loss of social capital has long term consequences for addressing social issues, economic productivity and our wider health and wellbeing. In the UK, this degradation has been compounded by years of austerity which has stoked a culture of scarcity and competition between organisations. This scarcity has corroded the ties that bind us. A recent UK survey showed that people yearn for a closer, more connected society.
For the good life people dream of to become a reality we need to collaborate, none of us alone can do this but all of us have a piece of the answer. Trust and relationships are the life blood of these long-term collaborations. Our first priority has been to build a collaborative, relational, abundant culture. Inspired by social and community leader, David Robinson, we have used relationships as our first design and operating principle.
We have been astounded by the appetite for these new relational and trusting spaces. All of our recent public events have been oversubscribed, and we have had 865 attendees at our events since November 2022 (including repeat attendees). These spaces have created “Better relationships, energy, belief, confidence.” and we have been told that this new relational way of working has “changed everything” and ensuring that local leaders are “best placed for our own ‘luck’ to arrive”.
You can read about all of the principles and the approach in this essay