Building & sustaining a successful culture

This section contains materials on how to enable best practice to thrive – by addressing organisational culture, behaviours and values, meaningfully engaging with children, young people and families and the wider communities that you serve, and working in an inclusive and empowering way with others across the children’s workforce - in order to deliver better outcomes for children, young people and families.

ADCS Building a workforce that works for all children

The children’s workforce is varied and comprises multiple professions, employers and services, from teachers, sports coaches, social workers, family support workers and school nurses to police officers. Some of these roles are part of the ‘wider’ children’s workforce, which often provides non-statutory support and intervenes at a much earlier stage, yet there is little appreciation of the important role that members of the wider workforce play in improving outcomes of children and families. Read time: 20 minutes

Leadership imbalance - Black and Asian leaders missing in action

A think piece by Meera Spillett, Designer of the Black and Asian Leadership Initiative and former DCS. The reality across children’s services in England and Wales is that despite an increasing Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) population both using and working in children’s services and the public sector as a whole, it is still possible to count on one hand the number of directors of children’s services who are Black. Read time: 15 minutes

What My Sled Dogs Taught Me About Planning for the Unknown

Working with them in the wilderness means negotiating countless shifting variables. Sounds a lot like the world we’re living in. This is an article from the NY Times published in September 2020. Read time: 3 minutes

Sacred Activism and Ubuntu

Which leadership theories and models do you use as their frame of reference? Are they all white, Western and predominantly male-gendered? What conversations have you had with your staff and your communities about their frames of reference, in order to seek out and understand other models? ‘Sacred activism through seva and khidmat’ might give you some food for thought from South Asia. Ubuntu is an African centric approach to educational system leadership. Read time: 45 minutes each

Cultural Competence

This paper suggests that there exists a uniting concept, that when effectively applied, can become a powerful tool for whole organisational and individual change, potentially creating the context for increased equity in the workplace and ultimately leading to improved service provision for diverse communities. Read time: 45 minutes

How to be a professional troublemaker

Disrupting the status quo can be scary, but sometimes it's necessary to make the world a fairer place. Reclaiming what it means to be a troublemaker, author Luvvie Ajayi Jones shares three questions to ask yourself when tackling fear and standing up for what you believe in -- and urges all of us to speak up in ways that honor ourselves and others. Watch time: 13 minutes

Leading in Colour: The Fierce Urgency of NOW

Leading in Colour – the fierce urgency of NOW’ is aimed at white leaders across the public sector, and in particular, at Chief Executives, Council Leaders, Partnership Boards and their teams.

It’s designed to be both an urgent call for action and a helpful resource to support you to become and stay an inclusive, culturally competent leader in a fairer workplace, as well as an active contributor towards creating fairer communities. It provides the context, the inescapable evidence and the tools to help you initiate deep-rooted and sustained change for colleagues and for communities.

You can download this by clicking here.

Hearing the voice of care experienced people

Alison O’Sullivan, Chair of trustees for National Children’s Bureau and former ADCS President talks about lessons from the Care Experience and Our Care Our Say reports and the Care Experience Pledge.

What works in engaging Pakistani and Army families in Family Support? Rapid Review and Culturally attuned family support in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Offering some insights into the learning about how to ensure culturally appropriate services are offered to different communities.

Coaching for Leaders in a Childrens Services Context

A specially commissioned think-piece exploring the benefits of coaching approaches within the children’s services sector – supporting the individual and organisational business case for the impact of coaching and how it can contribute to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.

Back to the Repository Home page

Repository Home