Coventry, Captured: A Convening of Convenors

The room was full to bursting with many different concerns and issues – grassroots community networks like Camerados and the Local Area Coordination Network, national coalitions like Belong and Better Way, networks of lived experience leaders like Sound Delivery and networks who bridge academia and the wider world like Exeter’s Green Futures Network or the Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness. In our midst there were many different theories of change – some of us pursuing culture change, others policy shifts, others community organising or power shifts, others behaviour change, and many more.

Amongst this variety, 2 things bound us together: 

1. First the belief that big transformational change won’t come from a single organisation or intervention, but through strong, connected networks which intersect within and beyond themselves.

2.Second, a curiosity about and belief in the potential of a world in which relationships are the first mile, not just the extra one, in society, communities and (of course!) our networks and coalitions. 

We explored these shared interests through a fairly unstructured agenda with lots of open space, breakout groups and free discussion. The whole thing was a huge team effort and we’re grateful to everyone for bringing their skills and experiences to the facilitation. Our time together was often messy and always interesting and inspiring (to us at least!), and captured below are some of the many themes that emerged from our time together. 

On ‘the net’ and ‘the work’

In the words of one participant “we can get too hung up on ‘the work’ and in doing so we don’t pay enough attention to ‘the net’”. Relationships are the work when it comes to network building. After all, “the process you use to get the future determines the future you get”.

On the enduring soul of a network

Weaving across the net and the work is the soul of the network: the vision, the mission, the heart that binds members together and shapes the work that we do. The soul of a network isn’t only for the here and now. It comes from our history as a network, it shifts and changes over time, and it will endure in the people and relationships involved with a network, whether or not the network itself remains. As network builders and conveners, we need to be alive to this.

On the shifting context of networks 

We started our time together by attempting to find some shared language about the tough, beautiful, often confusing work of each others’ networks. We found common ground in the fact that there are always different narratives and accounts within and beyond a network about what a network is for, who it’s serving and what its purpose is. And we found solidarity in the challenge of trying to truly understand our networks. 

We all identified ways in which our networks are constantly changing and morphing. At one moment it can seem clear that the network is finding meaning in the relationships and solidarity between members, and at another moment it is clear there are members who are hankering for more collective and concerted action. On the one hand a funder can be funding either one of these purposes, whilst its members are there for a different or adjacent purpose. 

On strategic enablers 

But if the context is shifting continuously, the “strategic enablers” are constant and consistent across different issues. This means that we can learn from experience and, especially, learn from one another. These strategic enablers facilitators have at their disposal include the quality of leadership, the provision of training, the provision of peer support support spaces and the use of co production techniques.

On ceding control

We only realise the real value of networks when we understand that we don’t need to know everyone or to control everything.  Being clear about the essentials – the  shared values and principles that hold us together – and then trusting one another is what makes a thriving network, rather than a soulless institution.

On holding the end in mind  

Networks don’t have to last forever, in fact in many cases they probably shouldn’t. They are agents of change, and agents of change are always on the move, adapting to a changing world.  We need to have purpose and direction whilst leaving space for emergence and holding no preset ambitions for immortality. Just as this is true for organisations, so too is it true for individual relationships. Sudden, unplanned endings are usually unhelpful but well managed change is healthy and natural. 

On representation 

Many attendees were used to being accompanied to events like this by at least 1 member of their network. This is as much about distributing leadership within a network, as much as ensuring authenticity and integrity in the representation of a network. And yet it was acknowledged that facilitators can benefit from occasional moments to reflect and build on their own practice and that surely only helps them in their leadership more broadly. 

On our shared challenges and opportunities in pursuit of a relationship-centred future

For those of you who have been part of The Relationships Projects work over the past 4 years these will probably come as no surprise. 

• How can we find ways to measure the impact of relationship-centred work within and beyond our networks in ways that are meaningful to us and our network, as much as to the people who might fund or enable our work? 
• How can we marry the work of the networks and efforts of those who are doing the important work of leveraging immediate policy or political change at scale, with those who are engaged in the crucial work at the grassroots and in the more emergent spaces? 
• What are the ways in which we can build networks that are open and inclusive? Network participation often requires people to find spare time in a week or a month to engage, and this inevitably leads to weakened diversity or representation at particular events or in the network overall. This dynamic can also create a self-perpetuating bias – a network’s members multiply to mirror the people and perspectives involved from the beginning. How can we design and organise our networks differently, better and more inclusively? 
• How can we marry the need for short term tactics to influence relational practice and narratives now in ways aligned to immediate political opportunities as an example, with the need to build longer term, more emergent and more sustained approaches to building the narratives and practice needed in the long run?