Since my colleague and I started working with a local authority adult social work team, it’s been inspiring to see the team’s dedication and thoughtful approach to making a difference in their service, particular in relation to self-evaluation as part of Foundations for change. After I joined Iriss in the summer, Ellen and I have facilitated several sessions, slowly building momentum around self-evaluation to guide the team to an area that can be evaluated and lead to improvements. When meeting the team for the first time, I was impressed with the mix of openness and honesty in sharing ideas, as well as a willingness to voice different perspectives. Despite varying roles and seniority, including those in business support and customer service, the team showed a shared respect and playfulness that allowed for candid discussions.
Part of our focus for self-evaluation has been understanding the ‘first point of contact’ and what it truly means to engage with adults seeking social work support for the first time. The ‘first point of contact’ is important, yet it comes with its own set of challenges from the staff’s perspective. In our discussions, we explored compassion, responsiveness, and practicality, especially when handling conversations over the phone and adapting to diverse needs. Several key questions emerged that included; how can staff feel safe and confident in their ability to handle sensitive and challenging conversations, and how can staff feel safe and confident to signpost adults to other services? The questions helped to discuss the delicate balance between ensuring safety and respecting the rights of adults seeking support to make their own choices, even if those choices come with risks. Placing people on waiting lists or increasing oversight due to worries about gaps in follow-up support when signposting outside social work, doesn’t necessarily enhance safety. Our conversations turned to improving aspects of the ‘first point of contact’ and using community support networks more proactively, focusing on re-enablement so that adults have the space to define their own needs, rather than feeling limited by solutions that could restrict their independence.
One of the training programmes I recently attended, a three-day Deep Democracy course with Francesca Pagni, shed light on a practise I’ve used before, check-ins and check-outs, but with new depth. The practise of checking-in at the beginning of a session has allowed us to understand where the adult social work team ‘is at’ and what might influence their engagement in the work. For instance, the group have openly shared experiences of exhaustion, excitement, curiosity, loneliness, challenges in balancing roles amidst staffing absences and the chaotic pace of work.
I learnt through Deep Democracy training, that the check-in process serves as a tool for connection, giving each person an equal opportunity to be heard, regardless of seniority or role. Like the check-in, the check-out encourages each person to share their current feelings and any new insights they’ve gained to consolidate learning and reflections. This moment of reflection allows everyone to process what they might have gained from the session, and links to the self-evaluation work as it can prompt the adult social work team to think critically about how their understanding or perspectives may have shifted. Additionally, the check-in and check-out process can be a valuable tool for working with difference, which is important when collaborating. While the adult social work team are comfortable navigating diverse perspectives, not all teams can be as open, and dynamics can shift over time. One of the principles I learned through Deep Democracy is to pay attention to the "wisdom in the no." In other words, effective group work isn’t about achieving unanimous agreement or pushing everyone to say yes. Instead, it's about being mindful of perspectives that may seem divergent, which often hold valuable insights.
The most challenging aspect of the training was exploring the practice of neutrality, an important concept in Deep Democracy. As someone who typically connects with others by responding enthusiastically to ideas, offering feedback, and expressing excitement as a way of supporting and encouraging people, I’ve found, can sometimes create its own pressures, subtly anchoring me to my own hopes for an individual or group. Learning to listen neutrally without attachment or labelling has been a meaningful insight. This neutrality doesn’t mean disengaging but rather stepping back from our own reactions, be they useful, unhelpful, or somewhere in between.
I found the Deep Democracy way of check-ins, check-outs and neutrality create a space of mutual respect and non-judgement especially in a task-oriented environment where people can overlook one another in pursuit of productivity. These practices also tie into the work with the adult social work team of fostering confidence, connection, and safety, not only in how the team interact with each other but also in how they engage with adults seeking support. I am curious to see how the team might balance empowerment and safety to create space of open listening, non-judgement, and non-attachment so that adults seeking social work or other support have the agency to decide what feels right to them. So, as we continue to work on developing the project, I look forward to applying more Deep Democracy tools to cultivate safety, connection and strengthen the team’s ability to use self-evaluation to develop or improve their area of focus.
We look forward to sharing more progress, so keep your eye out for updates.
