Pegs Bailey, Third Sector Employability Partnership Manager blogs for the TSI Network, reflecting on where we are with employability in Scotland, the importance of ‘speaking up’ and having difficult conversations in partnerships – and why the voice of people looking to get back into work or find better jobs needs to be central to the policy discussions.
I am writing this blog on the train home to the Highlands after a foray down south to meet colleagues from different parts of the country.
This is now a familiar journey and the train a bit like an ‘office from home’. Sometimes, like today, the journey is quiet, calm and on time, a haven of peace for thinking. At other times small delays have caused missed connections which in turn led to longer delays. Or to my horror I have found ‘my office’ so full and busy of fellow travellers it has been impossible to think, let alone work.
This feels like a good analogy for my first 6 months in post as the national Third Sector Employability Partnership Engagement Manager. At times the work has felt spacious, with time to think and a sense of greater purpose: the Scottish Government policy direction is clear after all, and it has been wonderful to connect the dots with third sector organisations and Third Sector Interfaces across and within local authorities. At other times a delay in one space (Grant Offer Letters anyone?) has caused significant impact, with ripples which ricochet through local authorities, partnerships and providers all the way to the people seeking support. The frustration is palpable. And in a complex policy arena such as this, it can also feel quite ‘noisy’, with different, sometimes competing views on how things are going and what could be done to make things better. Like a busy train carriage, it has been hard to see a way through or know what to prioritise.
Despite an intention to focus mostly on listening these first few months, I have, with an almost inevitable predictability for those who know me, also taken the opportunity to speak up in the national space on behalf of the third sector in all its shapes and sizes. In the process I have made many friends, trodden on a few toes and (hopefully) built some bridges. After all, if we can’t talk about the difficult stuff how we will ever make things better?
What is clear however, is that everyone I have met shares an absolute dedication and commitment to get the employability ecosystem working better in Scotland. And this is palpable whether that person works in Scottish Government, academia, DWP, SDS, a local authority, third sector interfaces or organisations of all shapes and sizes.
I would even say that the fact that we all see things differently is great!
It is part of what partnership and No One Left Behind is all about. Because it is only through understanding each other’s diverse perspectives, that we can have the ‘big’ conversations necessary to find lasting and meaningful solutions to the collective problems we are trying to solve.
And let us not forget the all-too-often-missing view of those seeking employment support. Policy colleagues might view employability through the lens of increasing employment figures and reducing economic inactivity. But ask someone seeking support what matters to them and they are more likely to talk about being a good role model for their kids, or having a sense of purpose and structure to their week, personal fulfilment and self-worth.
Getting this perspective front and centre in all our conversations, from strategy through to delivery, is still a work in progress, but for me this is the destination I am working towards.
In the meantime, despite joining at different stations, and possibly having different stop off points, it does feel like in Scotland we are all on the same train. And with a new Government in Westminster, perhaps the wider UK might join us on route?
Whatever happens, as a self-confessed ‘employability geek’, I feel honoured to be on that journey, and look forward to sharing it with you all.
Pegs Bailey
National Third Sector Employability Partnership Engagement Manager, Scotland
pegs.bailey@tsi.scot www.linkedin.com/in/pegs-bailey