At the beginning of November, we started a special month-long campaign. What makes it different from our previous blogs and stories, is that we have turned the spotlight on the work, skills and passions of our colleagues, who work at inHive’s partner organisations.
These skilled project managers, team leaders and analysts from Pakistan, Rwanda and the UK are the hidden stars in our work. They are the doers, movers and shakers. They do it all: from the daily emails with alumni network leaders, to designing and delivering trainings, conducting surveys, and articulating the strategic vision of alumni networks. They are indispensable part of our mission to foster social change and improve the life chances of young people and their communities.
Throughout November, we have been publishing stories we co-wrote with Unaza, Elie and Pippa – young professionals with whom we have worked as part of our projects at the CARE Foundation, the Mastercard Foundation and Police Now. We hope that the stories of their past experiences, career development and future ambitions will show what it means to partner with inHive in practical terms. If inHive’s texts can serve as a frame, then our partners’ blogs are the pictures: they depict some of the key challenges and issues in their sectors and countries. Together they should offer you a way to better understand what it means to build alumni networks for social change.
The paths we don’t plan to walk
By Prerna Aswani and Pippa Mildred, Police Now
Pippa’s career, similar to most of us, has not been what she had planned or expected whilst she was at school and university. Upon graduating, Pippa dreamt of being an educational psychologist, so she got a job at a children’s education centre. In some ways it gave her exactly the experience she was looking for, providing insight into working with a diverse range of children with different educational needs. But the experience taught her that what she thought she wanted, wasn’t quite right for her.
The next logical route for her was to try something in the other areas of psychology that sparked her interest; crime. That’s how Police Now came into play. Police Now operate with the mission of breaking the link between crime and deprivation in the UK by recruiting and developing outstanding graduates and career changers to be inspirational police officers who transform communities.
Pippa already knew about Police Now, because one of her best friends was training in their very first cohort of the National Graduate Leadership Programme. So, when one of her ex-colleagues told her about an opening as an executive assistant to David Spencer, Co-Founder and CEO of Police Now, Pippa went for it, starting what is now her three-year career at Police Now. As she reflects on it, Pippa is amused by how she got the job that led her into her current role of building an alumni network at Police Now through her own network and connections. She shares how when she first took up the assistant role, she really didn’t see it as a long-term option, but as a stepping stone in the right direction. Yet three years later, Pippa is still at Police Now, having been promoted to Policing Ambassadors and Communities Manager, with two members of staff that she line manages and loving every moment of it (mostly!).
Building a Movement for Change
When the leadership team at Police Now started to carefully consider creating a movement for change in policing, and this new role of Ambassadors and Communities Manager opened up, Pippa had no idea what community building entailed. She had no experience in alumni relations or how to build an alumni (ambassadors) network for former programme participants. But like the free-spirited person she is, she loved the idea of having a blank slate and a challenge to tackle head on!
Working with Pippa on the technical aspect of network building, I’ve had the privilege of watching how seamlessly she has built her own network of advisors, supporters, and experts to give her all the skills and knowledge she needs to build Police Now’s ambassador network from the ground up. Together with the team we have transformed the blank slate that is Connection for Life – Police Now’s movement building work, to an evolving strategy, by building a comprehensive database of all alumni, a communications strategy to keep alumni engaged, the process to recruit lead ambassadors to run the movement, and a theory of change to evaluate how this network contributes to the wider mission of breaking the link between crime and deprivation.
It’s Pippa’s transferable, soft skills that make her such an excellent network builder. Her power of persuasion has enabled her to get other teams across the organisation on board. She’s done this by bringing each stakeholder on the journey: by involving other teams in the early stages of strategy design, hearing their ideas, sharing evidence and research, and by leading conversations in a way that allows them to reach their own conclusions. Network building is a strategic and long-term process. Pippa understands this and has both the vision and the commitment to see it through. She sees that this is not just the work of the ‘alumni team’ of an organisation, but as requiring the entire organisation and participants to buy in to and emit the message that once you are part of Police Now, it truly is a connection for life. This is a value that Pippa herself resonates with; as she says
“Our case for change…makes perfect sense. Why wouldn’t you do this? Now if I did ever move somewhere else, I would still feel very passionate about what Police Now is doing. I don’t think I’d ever lose that”.
– Pippa Mildred
Pippa writes:
Have you ever been in the position where you have a piece of work stretching ahead of you and you have absolutely no idea where to even begin to get it off the ground?
Well that’s exactly where I found myself at the start of this year. Having worked for a year on a project team which launched a brand new Direct Entry Detective Programme; the team disbanded as the programme became business as usual, and I found myself in a brand new role, within a brand new team, trying to launch a brand new concept.
I began my new role with some trepidation. Although I enjoy creating and thinking outside the box, I had been tasked with ensuring that our organisation was an active movement within policing and communities. To be completely honest, that seemed a little bit fluffy when I first heard it and I had no experience of movement building or indeed really understood what a movement was.
Now I am 10 months into my new role, with my own team and proud of the work the team has achieved and have a much more solid understanding of what a movement is and how to build one! I wanted to share three of the most important learnings I have taken from beginning a new project from scratch to support anyone who is faced with a similar challenge.
1. Start networking, fast.
Networking can seem like a bit of a cliché at times, and the idea of it can fill a lot of people with dread. However, by building my network I was able to find others looking to achieve similar things and form relationships which centered around ideas sharing and learning from each other. I didn’t have an extensive network of contacts before starting this role; but I found a ‘connected connector’ who was able to leverage his own network to help me to build my own by making some crucial introductions to experts in movement building and community organising.
2. Ask your network for help
It can sometimes feel unnatural asking someone you don’t know very well to help you out, but once you’ve started to build your network the key is to use it! Talk to the people who have a shared vision, who have tried things in the past and learn from their successes and mistakes. Find the people who inspire you and pick their brains. You’ll be surprised by how quickly this relationship becomes mutually beneficial and where you have as much to contribute as you have to learn. Each conversation I had with someone in my network sparked new ideas and I made sure I took tangible actions from each meeting to progress the project. For example, if there was a new concept that I hadn’t heard of I would go away and research it and then bring that learning with me into my next meeting.
3. Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know
One of the scariest things to admit can be when there’s something that you don’t know. Having the courage to own areas where you’re unsure is going to be key to your success. Research isn’t something to retire after you’ve finished your formal education, but a lifelong skill to be fostered and developed. Find the books, the articles and the seminars which are going to fill in the gaps in your knowledge and make the most of them. A great way to start conversations within your network is asking for recommended reading!
Finally, don’t give up! You will hit roadblocks and there will be things with hindsight you would have done differently, but the ability to persevere and carry on is half the battle!
A big thank you to Pippa for the contribution this week!
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