Residential 2- Summary
On 29th and 30th November the Autumn 2106 cohort of Firstline Leaders attended their second
residential at the York Marriot hotel.
Firstline Residential Day 1
Day 1 of the residential focussed on Ethical Leadership which was led by Jeremy Greenwood. This
included many elements such as Change Conversation, Ethics in Context, Skills and Values and
thinking about reflexivity in relation to ethical dilemmas.
Change Conversation
The first element of the day was discussing what a Change Conversation is and how they could
incorporate it in their daily lives. Firstline Leaders discussed what is changing in their ideas and
behaviours in relation to Leadership. The aim of this session was to tell their story of change and
for them to explore their changing beliefs. Jeremy highlighted how it is important to reflect on
conversations and understand that they do make a difference in everyday situations, which is why
at start of each PDS and LDS, they will take 5 minutes to reflect on this.
Core questions that were asked throughout the session were;
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What are some of your thoughts about the last Residential? What has come into your
awareness in regard to any of the subjects we explored?
Have you noticed yourself doing anything differently? How did it go?
What are you learning about yourself, and your own style of Leadership?
Firstline leaders found this session very helpful as it helped them take a step back and think. Some
recalled how at the time of participating they found it challenging but when reflecting back, they
found it most useful and used it all the time, particularly the reflexivity, as it allowed them to see
situations more holistically.
Ethics
Jeremy and the FLLs then went on to explore what ethics were. The general definition given was
that Ethics refers to a branch of Philosophy that concerns itself with how we conduct ourselves in
relationships or a system of moral principles that guide human conduct. Firstline leaders then
discussed how Ethics were used in the context of their work. All leaders reflected how social work
arose out of an ethical understanding of human need. FLL’s spoke in groups on how ethics is a key
part of leadership and were asked to think about ethics through the lens of power. They then went
on to discuss how part of leadership is being able to address issues such as the misuse of power.
Other questions that were discussed amongst groups, was what they think about the relationship
between ethics and power.
Following on from this was an exercise of “Speed Dating”, where in FLL’s were sitting opposite
each other and in two minutes, they had to discover 3 ways that they were similar and three ways
that they were different from their partner. Key values which were talked about was the difference
and similarity in gender, ethnicity, beliefs and experiences.
Ethics, Power and Difference
There was some discussion around Firstline Leaders perhaps not speaking up about situations
they felt should be different, due to the individual expressing opinions being “the boss” and
technically therefore “knowing better”. They shared their feelings around whether they feel it is
unethical not to speak up in these situations.
Other people brought up the idea of difference (i.e. gender, race, age and experience) and
discussed how these attributes, both in themselves and others, had perhaps stopped them
speaking up in the past when it came issues that needed to be explored.
The Use of Humour
The FLLs had an interesting discussion about the idea of ‘gallows humour’. FLLs on the whole
agreed that it was used as an, often necessary, coping mechanism but some had experienced
backlash from colleagues around using certain words about service users in front of others. They
explored the appropriateness of this and thought about how they might feel if a professional was
talking about them and their family in this way.
Skills, Ethics and background
The day ended with thinking further around, skills, ethics and context and how your background
and upbringing can present itself in your skills or way of working.
Example:
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Skill: Empathically join with service users and colleagues who experience relative
powerlessness. Has learned to appropriately challenge those who have more power
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Ethic: Fight for the underdog. Passionate about fighting discrimination
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Background: Brought up by a single Mother who had to overcome significant problems with
her health.
Jeremy explored with the FLLs the importance of understanding the reasons behind someone’s
behaviour in order to ensure you are fully aware of why someone may be presenting in a certain
way /making particular decisions around cases.
Feedback from Day 1
Firstline leaders felt that the Ethics in Leadership session was very useful and enabled them to
reflect on their own situations and think about what they can do next. Also, individuals highlighted
how it was though provoking and that there were a lot of tools to take away and adapt to use.
Others had said that it would be better if they had more opportunities to discuss their own
experiences of ethical dilemmas and explore them further. Additionally, Some FLL’s highlighted
how the session was a recap of previous things they have been taught. There was a feeling that
the session would have been further improved if there were smaller groups with more facilitators.
Firstline Residential Day 2
Day 2 was led by Ruth Kennedy and allowed FLL’s to explore the nature of Public Narratives. The
day was broken down into three components; The Story of Self, Us and Now. The day was brought
together at end by Firstline Leaders sharing their stories to the whole group.
What is Public Narrative?
Public Narrative is referred to as the discipline of storytelling and as a way for leaders to make
people joining your vision and moreover a skill to motivate others. The importance of a Narrative
comes down to the fact that stories have emotions, which connect to values, henceforth facts
cannot equal to values. Shared values inspires people to come together and take action.
Story of Self
The first element, The Story of Self tells why you have been called to serve. Everyone has their own
individual stories to tell and have all had differing life experiences which have shaped our core
values and beliefs. The power in a Story of Self is to reveal something of yourself and your values
and key shaping moments in your life.
Story of Us
Secondly, FLL’s were asked to construct their Story of Us, this Communicates why your community
(which in the FLL’s case was often their team of Social Workers) is called to act, and why you as a
group have the capacity to lead. Just as in your story of Self, the key is to focus on telling a story
about specific people and specific moments that have shaped your community and then invite
others to join this community.
Story of Now
Lastly, the Story of Now is a call to action, an urgent challenge that the ‘Us’ are called upon to face
based on the values you share and your capacity to lead. This often includes a description of the
tangible path people can take to achieve these goals.
At the end of the session FLLs were challenged to use public narrative in the work place in a way
that suited them and their team.
Feedback from Day 2
Firstline leaders found this session very inspiring and allowed them to re-ignite their passion for
Social work. Many enjoyed the videos of leaders as it showed them what a powerful narrative looks
like. Others found that the complexity of the session allowed them consider many elements and
will take away what they have learnt and implement it on their teams. Nevertheless, FLL’s found
this session a bit confusing at times and felt again that the session would have been better with
smaller groups and more facilitators. One of the main concerns was that the FLLs wanted more
time to practise their stories.
Overview of the residential as a whole
FLL’s emphasised how both the Ethics and Public Narrative had a big impact on them. Both
sessions enabled them understand others better and allowed them share parts to others to make
them feel that they are not alone. Additionally, others said how the contributions of others
highlighted the broad range of skills and experience and the facilitators were able to positively
draw this out. Overall, Firstline Leaders were able to reflect and now can implement the core skills
to their daily lives.