Supporting the people we serve – Community Event Insights Pack and Recording

This Project Lift Communities Digital event ran on 10th February 2022 as part of 2021-2022 Digital Community Events Series. About the Event This was a ‘getting practical’ event, where we explored putting the voice of the people we serve at the heart of our leadership. We know how important it is to listen to people using health and social care services. But how can we take this a step further, and actually put people’s voices at the heart of our leadership practice and help to make the necessary changes to how we do things? And how can we go from just hearing people, to truly understanding their story? In this session we explored what it really means to raise the voices of the people we work with, the challenges that can arise, and how we can overcome them together. In this session we welcomed:

• Fraser Gilmore – Executive Director & Head of Care, Opinion Scotland
• SallyAnn Kelly – Chief Executive, Aberlour Children’s Charity

With a focus on storytelling and reflections, our speakers shared their experiences of leading by example and what it means to understand and respond to different behaviour as leaders. Collectively, we explored what this means for us, in our own workplaces and in our day-to-day roles. We asked questions like:

• How do we elevate people’s voices to people in power/decision makers?
• How do we truly make sure people’s voices and opinions are represented and not the aspirations of the organisation?
• How do we enable a culture that supports people to share their experience?

We also offered related resources to inspire the conversation:

• Care Opinion
• Asking “what matters to you?” can make a real difference to health and care
• Thing 19: What is citizen leadership and how can I promote it?

The insights pack from the event is open to all and we encourage you to use this to start a conversation about caring for our colleagues in your team, community or network – see the DIY event guide in the pack and contact us at hello@leadingtochange.scot if you would like to talk this through.