“Communication within a diverse, distributed organisation takes serious work,” Lynn Perry, Barnardo’s

“Communication within a diverse, distributed organisation takes serious work,” Lynn Perry, Barnardo’s

The universal importance of engaging your people, demonstrating value to stakeholders and delivering on long-term strategy.

“Before launching our new strategy, we focused on people and culture, because the people are the backbone of any organisation,” says Lynn Perry, CEO of Barnardo’s.

In the case of Barnardo’s, the organisation in question is a charity focused on improving the lives of children, young people, parents and carers. But the challenge of engaging a large, diverse and distributed workforce will be recognised by CEOs across every sector.

Engaging a diverse and distributed workforce

Barnardo’s employs nearly 8,000 people, supported by over 17,000 volunteers, including those who work in its 500 UK shops. The organisation may be best known for its heritage of running children’s homes but today its team is spread across the delivery of 760 services UK-wide, including commissioned services for local authorities, children’s social care and health.

“Communication and engagement within a diverse, widely-distributed organisation like this takes serious work,” says Perry.

That work included a ‘roadshow’ Perry undertook with her senior leadership when the new strategy and a brand refresh were being developed. They visited colleagues across the UK – canvassing opinions on the organisation, its work and its challenges and opportunities. Carefully planned and managed internal and external communications are also critical.

“There's a whole raft of things we do, across multiple channels and digital platforms,” says Perry. “When you've got such diversity, and the level of distribution we have, you won't get one-size-fits-all. You have to find ways to reach everybody with consistent messages.”

Beyond her own teams, Perry has to think in terms of reach and relevance to an entire matrix of influencers and organisations who can improve the lives of children. This includes individual and corporate supporters, healthcare providers, educators, social services, local and central government, the media and other charities Barnardo’s works with.

Creating powerful collaborations

At the heart of its renewed strategy is an immovable purpose – its longstanding commitment to changing childhoods and changing lives – including the 356,000 people it reached last year.

The first pillar of Barnardo’s strategy is providing excellent and inclusive services to improve the lives of children. The other two pillars are a vital complement to that work: improving policymaking to achieve change for all children; and working to change public attitudes towards childhood. Barnardo’s often works alongside partners and supporters, raising awareness of the challenges facing children today - including childhood poverty and its long-term impacts - and money to support increased levels of need. At present, there are 4.5 million children living in poverty in the UK, including one million living in destitution – meaning at least one of their most basic needs are not being met.

Ensuring those three pillars work harmoniously is key to success and requires extensive collaboration.

“All parts of the system have to work together to achieve change,” says Perry, highlighting the example of working with corporate partners to address long-term impacts of childhood poverty, such as poor educational outcomes and unemployment.

“The first thing Thomas Barnardo did was build a school, where young people could learn a trade because he recognised work was the route out of poverty,” says Perry. “Today we are working with our corporate partners, supporting young people through programmes of focussed activity to have the confidence, skills and ambitions to move into the world of work, while helping businesses tap into a very resourceful population of young people.”

Making the case for change

Last year, Barnardo’s income was £326m, which included £187m from fees and grants - double that of its shops and ecommerce operation (£93m) and more than four times what it makes from donations (£42m).

The authorities and organisations commissioning Barnardo’s to provide services are another key partner. Understanding how best to build and maintain those relationships requires a focus on two factors which underpin Barnardo’s work: efficiency and demonstrating impact.

Demonstrating impact is vital to ensuring the ongoing work of Barnardo’s, from proving to supporters where their donations go, to proving to commissioners that Barnardo’s offers value for money to local authorities and tax payers.

“As local authorities have had their budgets cut, the contract managers we work with are under pressure to achieve more for less,” she says. “We have to be really clear about impact. We have to demonstrate we're having a positive impact on the lives of those we're serving through those contracts, and we have to demonstrate financial benefit.”

The organisation’s approach to both components is informed by data and the work of an insights team which includes economists and analysts.

Perry gives the example of a family centre programme on the Isle of Wight delivering early intervention, which she says can lessen harmful human impact and reduce cost.

“We'd like to see a shift to earlier intervention, so we’re doing less work with families once they’ve reached crisis point,” she says. “We found for every pound we spent on family support services, intervening at the right time in the right way to prevent further crisis, there was a longer-term saving of £2.60, which is a significant contribution back to the public purse.”

An extension of this approach to scrutinising cost and return on investment is a tendency to weigh the relevance and comparative value of every expense.

For example, Perry says touring the country to engage teams and meet with partners who are essential to driving long-term outcomes for children is an essential expense, but even in the context of a £300m budget she would still opt for a £30 cheaper train ticket, recognising this equates to a counselling session for a child that money could pay for.

“In a charity setting you always have to think in this way,” says Perry. “It is hardwired into us.”

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Lynn Perry,
Barnardo’s