How is Work it Out different to what we already do?
The difference is that Work It Out is not another employability programme, another service or another referral pathway. It is a framework for creating a community-wide workplace that helps to reach those who feel excluded or left behind and then connects all of the excellent work that is already taking place.
Here are 13 key principles that underpin the whole approach.
1. A Community-Wide Workplace
We create a workplace that everyone can join, rather than another programme people attend.
2. From Service Delivery to Community Connection
We start not by helping people through services but by connecting people through relationships.
3. Everyone Belongs
We bring people together as equal members of one collaborative community, irrespective of their role, background or situation.
4. Building on Strengths Rather than Barriers
We start with what people can do, not what they can't. We build on these strengths and help them create what they want to do.
5. Harvesting the Community's Untapped Talent
We enable individuals to unlock and connect the knowledge, skills and experience that already exist within each person for the benefit of the whole community.
6. Creating Work from Day One
Individuals begin creating meaningful workpieces and making a contribution from the moment they join. They are productive and add value from day one.
7. Creating Workpieces Together
We all focus on creating opportunities collaboratively rather than waiting for them to appear.
8. Small Steps Create Big Change
We encourage consistent daily progress that builds confidence and momentum over time (DO SOMETHING EVERY DAY)
9. Dual Responsibility Creates a Culture of Kindness
Everyone builds their own future while helping others build theirs. It's one big kind workplace.
10. Community Architects Build the Local Infrastructure
The focus is on connecting people across all parts of the community - irrespective of labels, roles or situation.
11. Every Area Builds Its Own Living Community Map
Each area has its own priorities and needs. We help you build a connection map to discover and link individuals and so create workpieces across the community.
12. A Truly Holistic Joined-Up Approach
We bring services, organisations and communities together around people rather than programmes. It's individual-led.
13. Creating Jobs by Creating Momentum
We begin by building confidence, relationships and practical experience so that employment becomes a natural outcome.
Taken together, these principles create something fundamentally different. Rather than adding another programme to an already busy landscape, Work It Out creates the community fabric that brings those excluded into the centre and then connects everything else together.
