Our 4th meeting of the London outcomes contracting peer network welcomed a mixture of providers, foundation and grant funders, local government commissioners and academic researchers. A diverse stakeholder group which is facilitating insightful and wide-ranging discussions in our meetings.
The theme of our session was culture and specifically the different cultural mindsets that are introduced in SIBs due to the partnership of public, private and third sector organisations. These notes were written by Lucy Pennie, Commissioning Lead of Social Investment at the London Borough of Sutton.
Thank-you to Ruth Dixon for sharing the findings of her paper on cultural differences and how they can impact public / private / third sector social outcome partnerships. I found myself instantly identifying with one “type” as a Local Authority commissioner, but then also reflecting on the different cultural identity behaviours displayed by staff within my own organisation. Our discussion highlighted that some of the characteristics traditionally held by one organisation type were now being witnessed within other types of organisation. Perhaps those organisational identities are starting to blur as a result of our changing working or market environment, or through the increasing work we do in partnership. Recognising the impact of these cultural world-views on activities such as performance management can certainly be a helpful way of understanding and addressing some of the challenges that we can face in outcomes based contracting and complex partnerships.
We then had the opportunity to showcase the work that youth employability charity, Think Forward, are doing to sustain and develop their outcomes focused programme of work. The intensive up-front effort that is required by all parties to establish social impact bond programmes or their equivalent are well documented. Think Forward are acutely aware of the work that is needed to set up these programmes and are driving conversations to facilitate access and break down these barriers for delivery organisations, particularly for smaller organisations.
Finally, we completed our “life after SIB” series with the West London Zone, an organisation which provides targeted opportunities and support to young people and their families in West London. It is clear that a lot can be learnt about project sustainability from this programme. A collective impact bond whose partnership work with both community delivery partners and public and private sector funding partners has been driven by a focus on whole child outcomes. This programme’s extensive partnership working no doubt requires significant and continued investment of resources, but has ensured its sustainability despite mounting pressure on children and young people’s budgets. Is it a SIB, a social outcomes contract or something different? Does it matter because it seems to be working.