Keeping it simple

Does anyone else think there's a lot of mystique around the word "strategy"?

I've just been hired to develop a new strategy for Advance, a women's charity, and we've been agreeing that the end product should be simple and it should be real and it should feel owned by staff and service users.

It shouldn't be distant or overly complex. Maybe it’s the fault of consultants like me that over-complicate strategy development to justify our existence?

A strategy is, quite simply, a plan to make something happen.

Here's a definition from NCVO. More info here.

When I work with charities to develop strategies, I see my role as simply helping staff, leaders, service users, funders to express their opinions about what's working and what's not working, with me helping draw those thoughts together and feeding them back. The next step is steering the team to create their own plans; the simpler, the better.

In fact, ideally, the core themes of a strategy could even fit on one page. I drew one for an organisation I used to work for years ago, now sadly lost.

But I did find this online - it's the sort of thing I mean.

We met with our solicitor last week to discuss making our wills and lasting powers of attorney.

Fun. Times.

Apparently, the average age for making a will is 58. Good to know I'm a year early. Actually it's not our first will. We've needed to make new ones since our civil partnership invalidated our old wills. In 2007 😳.

What has always puzzled me is that even though I'm in my prime will-making era, I've never been directly asked by any charity to consider making a bequest to them - not the many charities I've supported, not the several charities I've worked for, not the charity I walked 100km in 24 hours for, not the charity I raised £25,000 for, not the charity who I've talked to the Chief Executive about my deep personal connection to.

Day of the Week 📆

Every year on or around Kate Bush's birthday (July 30), her fans take part in a Mass Wuther, celebrating unity and foregrounding women's rights. It's awesome.

The Heath bookshop, just up the road from me, staged one. That'll be me next year!

What am I reading? 📚

Enjoying Bob Mortimer's novel, Hotel Avocado. Another great summer holiday read. (I'm still not on holiday - but I have booked a holiday!)

What am I watching? 👀

Being a proud Coventrian, I enjoyed this BBC archive film about Cov car workers. At the time the film was madein 1966, there were 50,000 people working in Coventry's car industry, 13.6% of the then population.

I'm sure my dad will correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think there are any car manufacturers left within the actual city of Coventry these days, unless you count taxis and, sadly, the London EV Company has just announced job cuts. Jaguar Land Rover is just up the road in Solihull, having closed its Browns Lane plant (now the site of the infamously non-unionised Amazon distribution hub)

What am I listening to?👂

I've started listening to the Radio 4 serial about HS2: Derailed. So depressing but well worth a listen to understand how the business cases for infrastructure investment are assessed. The potential benefits for local communities of improved connectivity by removing inter city trains from commuter lines was completely ignored. Astonishing.

Joy-giving things 😍

I know I mentioned the Lionesses last week but I still can't watch Chloe Kelly's Championship winning penalty run-up without smiling. Apparently it's been measured at 110km per hour.

Here's an article about why she does it.

Have a great weekend and thank you for reading.

Lucy x

If it’s your first time reading this newsletter, find out more about me here.

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world, particularly in the workplace.

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ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

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