The People Theme (Report Extract, 2010)

8/9/2019 The People Theme (Report Extract, 2010)

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Foreward

"MMM's last phase of work identified several strengths in the arts and culturalsector that suggest fertile ground in which to grow the competencies, qualitiesand attributes for thriving in the challenging environment of the 21st Century.

First, the substance of the arts is intimately connected to meaning making -making sense of the buzzing confusion of our world. Second, the sector isgenerally loosely organised and configured with plenty of room for personalpassion and innovation. Third, the observation of leaders in the sectorsuggests that the challenges faced are being met with resilience and innovation- responses that drive sustainable delivery across both public and privatesectors.

The sector is evidencing good and exemplary practice and MMM's researchenables us to share some key insights into the competencies, qualities andattributes that help navigate through these challenging times; how they mightbe developed and how we might better understand the contexts in which theyflourish.

The Cultural Leadership Programme works to nurture, develop and sustainworld-class, dynamic and diverse leaders, equipped to thrive in thischallenging 21st Century and we are delighted to support MMM in theircontinued exploration of this agenda - one which is so relevant to all of uswherever we live and work."

Hilary CartyDirector

The Cultural Leadership Programme


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In a world of risk we can judge dangers and opportunities by using the bestevidence at hand to estimate the probability of a particular outcome. But in a

world of uncertainty, we cant estimate probabilities, because we dont haveany clear basis for making such a judgement. We are surrounded by unknownunknowns.

Thomas Homer Dixon1

When you see dancers moving on balloons, they are trying to keep theirbalance and the whole thing is shifting underneath them all the time. And verygood exercise because it exercises all bits of you. That is how I feel about

trying to do something, that you are always having to be like that.MMM Research respondent

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Thomas Homer Dickson, The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilisation, 20


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1. PROJECT SUMMARY

1.1 Project Context and OutlineThe uncertainty and unpredictability inherent in our messy, complex and constantlychanging 21st century world are challenges that are being felt in the UKs arts and culturalsector at every level and in all aspects of work, placing significant new stresses both on

individuals and organisations.

Much is being written about the crisis point we stand at: a point between an old world anda new, a time of radical transformation, and a time in which we see the associated creationand destruction of models and meaning. But what does this current social and culturallandscape mean for us aspeople? What fundamental challenges does it hold? And what new

ways of operating is it asking of us?

What is certain is the uncertainty: the need for all of us to have a significantly highertolerance for, and management of, ambiguity, complexity and the associated risks2.

In developing an understanding of the competencies, qualities and attributes (CQAs)needed to meet these challenges and the contexts in which they flourish, MMMs PeopleTheme research seeks to help the UKs arts and cultural sector to thrive by adapting tochanging conditions and making great work happen in a way that is life-friendly to peopleand planet.

Through an online survey and interviews with arts professionals holding many differentkinds of roles (both artistic and managerial), the research team discovered whichcompetencies respondents saw as important to getting great results in their work and theextent to which they perceived themselves to possess those competencies. They also gainedknowledge of the personal, professional and wider world contexts that influence how CQAs

are drawn upon to good effect. These findings are indicative of the arts and cultural sectoras a whole.

The policy and practice implications for the sector are profound: the competencies wherethe sample showed significant weakness highlight vital areas of focus for professional andleadership development and are summarised in more detail in the Findings andConclusions section below.

More detail on the research can be found in the full research report which available onMMMs website www.missionmodelsmoney.org.uk

1.2 Project FocusIn this context of uncertainty and complexity, the research focused on identifying apotential set of competencies, qualities and attributes (CQAs) best suited to this 21st

century operating environment and investigating their presence in the UKs professionalarts and cultural sector.

Of particular interest to the research team were the following questions: What were

these CQAs? How could they be developed? What conditions help theirflourishing2

The recognition that new ways of working are needed to meet the challenges of complex situations are notnew: the limitations of Newtonian influenced management theory has been talked about as long ago as the1950s with seminal texts such as The science of "muddling through by C.E. Lindblom. Why they have notbeen widely adopted is a question widely debated


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and what implications might this understanding have for creative practitioners andorganisations? Perhaps most importantly, could answers to these questions help people tothrive, not only within the arts and cultural sector but also beyond?

1.3 Project PurposeIn looking at what CQAs are best suited to these times, the research team had two goals:

Firstly they wanted to allow respondents to identify themselves againstthese CQAs. In sodoing, people would be given a vocabulary to validate this increasingly important, way of

being, leading and thriving.

Secondly, they wanted to look at the conditions that allow people to use these CQAs to besteffect. Understanding this would enable identification of the kinds of operatingenvironments needed within which people might best develop these CQAs.

The ultimate purpose of undertaking the research was to develop a model for creativepractitioners and organisations to apply within their own circumstances. The model wouldhelp them to both further develop their own CQAs, and also to influence their contexts so asthe CQAs would become more enabling both to themselves and to others. The modellingstage would be undertaken into a second phase (resources permitting), which would focuson testing how the CQAs could be developed and how contexts could be influenced to createenabling conditions.

1.4 A Note on Terms: Thriving, Competencies, Qualities and AttributesMMMs research seeks to contribute to the knowledge we need for a future in which we allcan thrive. With this motivation in mind, and for the purposes of creating clarity of meaning

whilst undertaking the research, the team developed a definition of thriving as a way ofbeing/doing that integrates the key concepts of relevance, resilience and ethical practice:

ThrivingAdapting to changing conditions in a life-friendly way to people and planet in order tomaintain the function of making great work happen.

It is only when all 3 dimensions of relevance, resilience and ethical practice overlap thatthriving in uncertainty is truly realised.

Research Questions

1. Understanding competencies, qualities and attributes (CQAs)

a) What CQAs are needed for thriving in uncertainty?b) How can these CQAs be developed in people?

2. Understanding contexts

a) What contexts enable these CQAs to flourish and be used togood effect?

b) How can personal and work contexts be influenced to co-create these enabling conditions?


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Figure 1

The research team developed a model (Figure 1 above) to illustrate their view that thrivingfor an individual is not a fixed state: it is an emergent property of the complex interaction ofCQAs and influencing factors in a specific situation; the result of making great workhappen refers to any aspect of working life; life-friendly is a term used to mean having a

benign impact on quality of life.

In management theory, Competency is understood as a capability that goes beyondknowledge skills and abilities into values, motivation and characteristics and should lead tosuperior performance in the 21st century environment. However, many of those involved inthe research in the early stages had a much more limited understanding of the term and hadnegative responses to it as a dry impersonal managerial concept. To counter this, theresearch team included the terms qualities and attributes, which they felt emphasised theholistic breadth of ways of being and doing they were investigating,

The research team distilled seventy-eight such CQAs and organized them into twelveclusters:

The People Theme CQA clusters

Making sense of changing conditions

Learning

Reality checking

Flexibility to adaptFinding ways forward

Making things happen

Managing relationships

Leadership

Clear Communication

Resilience

Self awareness

Ethical practice


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This list is not proposed as definitive. The aim was not to create absolutes, but to describethe types of competencies needed to manage uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity. Themain focus in choosing the CQAs was not on specific professional skills or subject specialistknow-how, but on ways ofbeing and doing that help us in a fast changing, complex anduncertain world.

2. BACKGROUND

2.1 History of the researchThe genesis of The People Theme research arose in the last phase of MMMs work. Its 2007report Towards a healthy arts and cultural ecology3concluded that in common with otherparts of the world where not-for-profit organisations are a primary delivery vehicle forcultural experience, this sector in the UK was facing major structural changes brought on bytechnological advances, global interconnectedness and shifting consumer behaviour.

Organisations must adapt to evolving technologies and the different ways the public are

engaging and participating with arts and culture, the competition for leisure time and theimpact of reduced exposure to arts in the education system or risk finding themselvesmarginalised.

Navigating this change is no easy matter. Thousands of not-for-profit organisations criticalto both the historical and contemporary cultural canon are over-extended and under-capitalised.

Often with high fixed costs and inflexible business models many are highly dependent onannual public sector grants to survive as patterns in attendance and earned and fundraisedincome from the private sector change and/or reduce.

This scenario, whilst allowing survival, offers very little scope for fundamentaltransformation into more responsive, adaptive, resilient mission-led businesses deliveringcultural excellence to an even wider general public.

The ability to evolve has never been so essential. More and more people across societies arerecognising that the enormous challenges facing humanity and the world today are theresult of a way of thinking whose times have passed. Most people are beginning to recognisethat the side effects of our industrial growth society are unsustainable, both for us and ourplanet and that we can no longer afford to protect the ways of the past. Instead, we need to

join in creating a different future: one that allows adaptation to changing conditions in a

life-friendly way to both people and the planet.

Harnessing the restorative and regenerative power of arts and culture in buildinghumanitys psychological resilience and designing the transition to a more sustainable

world is, in MMMs view, an imperative. In order to achieve this, arts and culturalorganisations and the individuals who work in them urgently need to build their ownresilience and design themselves for transition.

Results from MMMs action research, summarised in Towards a Healthy Arts and CulturalEcology showed a pitifully inadequate infrastructure for the development of people in thesector and a range of concerning issues that needed to be taken into account and addressed

as part of the route to achieving greater resilience.3

Towards a Healthy Ecology of Arts & Culture, MMM, 2007


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Firstly, the skills needed for effective arts leadership today were both complex, numerousand nigh on intimidating: They include board development and management, programmedesign and administration, strategic planning and financial modeling, public relations andadvocacy, marketing and branding, education, property development, commercial licensing,capital formation and fundraising, as well as a talent for diplomatically balancing theinterests of diverse constituencies and responding to the changing regulatoryenvironment.4

Secondly, the fragmented nature of the sector and the predominance of small organisationsmean that training budgets are generally low, if they exist at all and that whilst the culturalleadership training initiatives such as the Clore Leadership Programme and the CulturalLeadership Programme were highly valued, ring-fencing bigger internal budgets to supportpeople development was a matter of urgency.

Thirdly, efforts need to be made to make pay more competitive with other sectors. Pay wasconsidered to be the elephant in the room which no one discusses. We work in a creativesector: we now need creative solutions to help break out of the financial straitjacket that

constrains it.

Fourthly, there has been a growing movement away from traditional institutional settingstowards more flexible forms of operation with a resulting increased number of freelancers,facilitators, producers and networkers as a result. However, much professionaldevelopment support continues to be focused on management of traditional non-profit organisations. Developing greater understanding of the professional developmentneeds of individuals choosing to work in more networked, fragile, fluid environments andchanneling greater resources into this group would help develop these creativeadhocracies.

In tackling these issues, MMM and others are recognising that transforming the sector byhelping individuals learn how to thrive in challenging conditions requires an understandingof the ways of being and doing that enable people to make accurate sense of the changesaround them, to adapt and learn, to think critically and creatively, and to work with othersto find positive ways forward to get great results.

With all this information and understanding in mind MMM undertook to raise thenecessary resources to conduct further research on what was termed The People Theme.

2.2 Positioning of The People Theme ResearchGreat minds have been exploring this space since the 1950s. However over the last three

years - and particularly in the year since MMM began The People Theme there has been asignificant interest in the area, with many other players turning their focus to these issuesand seeking to find new ways to translate the literature into practical application andunderstanding.

One might look at the excellent work by Demos with the RSC on collaboration anddistributed leadership5; The Work Foundations publication outlining a people-centredapproach to leadership using strong empirical research, entitled Exceeding Expectations6;The Young Foundations research into youth leadership Taking the Lead: Youth Leadership

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Towards a Healthy Ecology of Arts & Culture, MMM, 2007

5http://www.demos.co.uk/projects/rscensembleworking

6http://www.theworkfoundation.com/research/publications/publicationdetail.aspx?oItemId=232&parentPageID=102&Pu

bType


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in Theory and Practice7; or NEFs excellent publication on the working week 21 Hoursaddressing urgent and inter-related problems, centred on issues of wellbeing8. It is clearthat all of this research interest and activity gives the People Theme a new relevance.

In this context, we believe what is different about MMMs approach is: the use of a valuesbased definition of thriving as an ambition of the research; the attention to the contextwithin which people work as crucial to any behavioural understanding; and finally, thefocus on the arts and cultural sector as a place to both observe and develop this higherresilience for complexity and risk.

2.3 Research PartnershipThe research was enabled through a broad partnership of individuals and organisations.The Cultural Leadership Programme, Scottish Arts Council and Arts Council England allsupplied both financial and intellectual resources to the project. The design of the researchhas benefited from feedback from a multidisciplinary group focussed around the Institute ofCreative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths College London, and from a peergroup of arts and cultural practitioners and professionals, and from systems andorganisational learning practitioners.

3. PROCESS

3.1 MethodologyThe People Theme research process involved desktop research, quantitative and qualitativeapproaches and analysis. It began in January 2009 and concluded in March 2010. Themethods involved were:

3.1.1 Review of literature on the topic of 21st century competencies. Thisinformed our list of key CQAs, a wide range of intrapersonal and interpersonalCQAs and ways of making meaning and responding to the external world acrosscognitive, social and emotional intelligences. They relate to self awareness andemotional resilience; sense-making, learning and reality checking; adapting,finding ways forward and making things happen; and managing relationships,communication and leadership.

3.1.2 Semi-structured interviews with 8 professionals from the creativesector to test the relevance of the list of CQAs and find out what else theinterviewees thought were important; and to check the clarity of ourcommunication and understanding of terms used.

3.1.3 Online exploratory survey to examine the revised list of CQAs andgather information on personal and work contexts and other influencing factors.The survey was piloted with 10 arts professionals. As an exploratory survey itsought to gather data in much greater breadth than a survey that would be usedto test known factors, perhaps meaning it was less likely to be completed by largenumbers of people, than a shorter and simpler survey. Indeed, we received 254complete responses, slightly lower than our target of 300. Respondents could alsochoose to receive personalised reports showing how their responses to possessionof CQAs compared to the mode. This also included their Satisfaction With Life9

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http://www.youngfoundation.org/youth-today/news/taking-lead-youth-leadership-theory-and-practice

8http://www.neweconomics.org/publications

9The Satisfaction with Life Scale by Ed Diener is widely acknowledged in the field of Positive Psychology to be the

most commonly used tool for measuring happiness. We believed this would provide a wider group of comparators for

our data and ensure it was externally recognised


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score with accompanying explanation. The survey data was analysed using SPSSand Excel

3.1.4 Interviews with 28 selected survey respondents to explore in more detailthe use of CQAs, and the influencing factors and contexts in situations ofcomplexity, change and uncertainty. These situations were chosen byinterviewees as personally challenging but that were navigated to successfuloutcomes. The focus of this aspect of the methodology was on modellingexcellence.

3.2 Scope and LimitationsThe main research report10 presents the key findings to date.

As already indicated, further research is required to understand howCQAs can bedeveloped in people and how contexts can be influenced to create enabling conditions.Resources permitting, this next phase would involve piloting a programme of practicalinterventions to develop CQAs and influence personal and work contexts with a smallnumber of individuals as action research subjects. As more in-depth understanding abouthow these CQAs and enabling conditions can be developed in real situations can be gained,

the model can be developed and refined to maximise its robustness and relevance for use inpersonal, professional and organisational development.

The People Theme research was not designed to tell us definitively whether the arts andcultural sector is different to other sectors in terms of these CQAs.

Finally, MMM felt that the arts and cultural sector was a fruitful place to look due to itsinherent relationship with uncertainty. This relationship with uncertainty was not only interms of the current operating environment (overextended and undercapitalised and facingreduced public and private funding as a result of the 2008 global financial collapse) but wasalso based on a belief that much of the work of artists and creative people is about finding

and embracing the unknown, through different disciplines, rigours and processes:

4. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

The People Theme research has generated new awareness and understanding not onlyabout the types of CQAs needed in the arts and cultural sector for it to thrive in conditionsof ever-increasing complexity, change and uncertainty; but also the personal, work and

wider world contexts that enable these CQAs to flourish and be used to good effect.

It has provided not just evidence of relevance of the research focus, but also a sharedvocabulary for talking about these ways of being and doing. People involved at variousstages of the research, spoke of the resonance that the CQAs had and the associated powerthey felt through being able to name them. This sense of identification, understanding andempowerment not only brings legitimacy to this as a way of thinking about our experiencesin a changing world, but also offers potential for a way forward for the sector. Below weoffer highlights from the insight. These are not exhaustive but they offer both tasters andprovocations from the research, which we look forward to jointly building upon.

4.1 Research findings The research team believe that the arts and cultural sector has all the CQAs it needs

for thriving within it, but it does not always access them or use them to good effect.10

See www.missionmodelsmoney.org.uk


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Unsurprisingly, people within the sector draw on CQAs in different combinations indifferent situations, and the ability to do this well is influenced by a variety of factorsnot entirely within their control.

The list of CQAs strongly resonated with the majority of respondents. Not only werethey seen as relevant, but in general the sample felt that they at least possessed andin some cases excelled in these CQAs. MMM believes that this might allow a degreeof optimism in how the sector might thrive.

The sample as a whole also has positive results for well-being in relation to state ofmental and physical health, satisfaction with life, experience of flow11 at work,feeling in ones element12 and engaging in free play13. Those with the highestperceived possession of the CQAs in our sample also have a significantly higherincidence of well being.

CQAs that scored highly in comparison to the overall response to other CQAs

In looking at these higher scoring CQAs the research team found that:

There is a high incidence in perceived possession ofpassion and commitment

Motivating oneself, taking responsibility for self and ones role in whats happening,and using ones initiative are connected to a sense of agency which might indicate astrong emotional maturity in the sector.

Appreciating the value of diversity is closely associated with being open to newperspectives & ideas, playing with ideas, thinking & doing things differently14. Thissuggests the sector capacity to tackle new problems with new thinking.15

Recognising patterns & making connections between things plays a fundamentalrole in sense making. It is crucial to recognise connectivity in times of turbulence andchange.

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By flow we mean times when one is totally engaged, loses track of time, is highly alert and deeply focussed. See

Mihly Cskszentmihlyi 1996

12A person is in their element when the things they love doing and the things they are good at come together. See Ken

Robinson 1009

13This is where you use your imagination in an unstructured way with no specific outcome in mind

14 SPSS cross tab/correlation shows that a very high proportion of those who answered very much like me to diversityare also very much like these other CQAs.

15Scott E. Page 2007 The Difference

Recognising patterns and makingconnections between things

Appreciating value of diversity Being passionate and committed to

the things one gets involved with

Motivating oneself Taking responsibility for oneself and

for ones role in whats happening Using ones initiative


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CQAs that scored less strongly in comparison to the overall response to other CQAs

In looking at these lower scoring CQAs the research team found that:

The closely interrelated CQAs ofhandling conflict, challenging others in supportiveways, willing to hold others to account, and drawing ones own boundaries and rulesof engagementare relative weaknesses in our sample. If these are also relative

weaknesses for the sector generally then this could be very concerning.

Given that the sample is showing strength in recognising patterns, we believe therewould be advantages in developing support structures and confidence to move fromidentifying those patterns to being confident with Emergent strategy and spontaneous

decision-making, which was worryingly seen in the research as a relative weakness.

We were also concerned - and surprised - at the relatively low results for telling storiesthat are compelling to others. Being able or equipped to sell the work of the arts andcultural sector externally as well as sell a vision internally is absolutely key togenerating support and buy-in.

Whilst actively caring for nature & the environmentseems not to be as relevant tomany in our sample, MMM would argue that we have a responsibility to ensure thatethical practice is central to our working lives. It may require us to not only have greatersensitivity to these issues, but also to think more laterally about how to find the

connections with this CQA within our artistic and creative practice.16

We see knowing when to move on more broadly than succession, for example movingfrom each stage of the learning cycle and we believe it to need critical attention.17

4.2 Emerging ThemesThe research team believes that confidence is the major factor affecting peoples ability todraw on the CQAs to good effect; it was cited unprompted by a third of survey respondentsas an influencing factor. In interpreting the data they we found it may play a role in various

ways:

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Sustainable Ability Research

17See Kolb, D. (1984).Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development.

Taking time to reflect Accepting oneself

Handling conflict

Challenging others in supportiveways

Willingness to hold others to account Drawing ones own boundaries &

terms of engagement

Knowing when to move on Reachingwin-win solutions

Helping others feel comfortable withchange

Telling compelling stories Coping with ambiguity Working with emergent strategy Spontaneous decision-making

Working at the level of detail

Actively caring for nature & theenvironment

Communicating using web 2.0 /social media


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If the real task of cultural leadership is to help evolve our culture 19, for creativepractitioners and organisations to be able to fulfill this role, more and different kinds ofsupport for people development are needed. Never has that task been more urgent.

Recognising that MMMs research thus far presents data from only a snapshot in time andthat further research needs to be undertaken both in order to develop larger and morecomparative datasets, MMM makes the following practical propositions:

4.3.1 Changes in Concepts and DefinitionsPolicy and strategy across the arts and cultural ecology must: recognises the limited nature of the concept of skills and adopt MMMs more holistic

concept of CQAs adopt MMMs definition for thriving

4.3.2 Changes in Approach Policy-making around people development in the sector must take an asset-based

approach which builds on the arts and cultural communities capacities and assets Existing leadership development initiatives in the sector must consider how their

approaches might help address the identified relative weaknesses The importance of context in enabling CQAs to flourish must be better recognised

across the sector resulting in more emphasis being placed on creating enablingenvironments in which the CQAs can develop

4.3.3 Further researchFurther research will be undertaken which will:

Enable the production of a model or models that help equip people working in thearts and cultural sector to thrive, describing

o How the CQAs can be developed in people

o How the contexts people operate in can be influenced to create conditions thatenable these CQAs to be used to make great work happen in win-win ways

Understand the full implications of MMMs definition of thriving on creativepractitioners and organisations and propose ways of ensuring that creative practicein the sector is not threatening to the planet

Develop comparisons with other sectors which might enable greater understandingas to whether the art and cultural sector is in any way unique in growing ordeveloping people with 21st century CQAs

Finally MMM sees this moment of cultural under-confidence in the sector as anunsurprising and unavoidable consequence of turbulence and change, but would like to see

attention being paid to the development of CQAs around the importance of applyingtechniques of emergent strategy and decision-making to this reality. We believe this would

build upon the innate aptitude of the sector towards pattern-making and creativeconnectivity in turbulent times, but transform this into a more structured and impactfulleadership capacity.

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Rising to the Occasion, Graham Leicester 2007


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The changes in which we will be called upon to participate in the future willbe both deeply personal and inherently systemic.

Peter Senge20

I am very thrilled about the result but the journey was ugly. You have got tolook at the hard moments. The hard moments when you are telling a wholecompany that we are going to change. You are telling the artistic director that

his time has run out. But that is not so unusual, that happens sometimes. So itwas taking people on a very difficult journey, which you knew was going to bedifficult from day one, but you never quite know what the difficulties are onthe route.

MMM Research respondent

Designed byGP WolffePublished in 2010 byMMM

www.missionmodelsmoney.org.uk

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The Necessary Revolution, Peter Senge et al 2008


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Documents

The People Theme (Report Extract, 2010)