If an area becomes ‘asset-based’ in everything it does, how would you know? You would expect to see everyone – public services and charities; citizens and people with power – thinking, speaking and behaving differently. This is the second of three blogs written with the Chair of Think Local, Act Personal, Clenton Farquharson MBE, and available in full here. Last time, we revisited the Asset-Based Area (ABA) model which tried to distil down how an area can become asset-based in everything it does from strategy down to the grassroots, into ten actions, starting with mapping your local assets, and including sharing power with people who are usually excluded, and building a diverse range of community approaches which are now gathered in an online catalogue. Three years after the original thinking, we are developing the ABA model in more detail through the Social Care Innovation network.
In this blog, we want to think about how we would know that an area had become asset-based. What would we measure and how?
Greater Manchester has adopted use of system activity measures collected every quarter, combined with a range of personal outcome measures collected locally across the city region. These include measures already well-established across public services, such as health outcomes, measures of demand and cost, and wellbeing outcomes: recognising that wellbeing – living a good life in a good home and a welcoming community – is intertwined with more clinical outcomes.
Key Human Indicators
Many areas and organisations have Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Perhaps every area needs Key Human Indicators. Are people achieving wellbeing? That usually means that people who need support are able to experience the right balance of independence and connection for them, which will change at different times in their lives. For workers and systems, KHIs will include warmth, kindness (as set out in Julia Unwin’s brilliant report) and dignity. Networks can be more important than bureaucratic service structures. In Shared Lives, friendships are seen as key indicators of wellbeing, so Shared Lives Plus’ national outcomes measuring tool asks participants how many friends they have and whether Shared Lives support is helping them make and sustain those connections, or getting in the way.
Read the rest of this blog on the Social Care Institute for Excellence website, in the Social Care Innovation Network’s minisite.
Escaping the invisible asylum 