Problem solving with love
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Imandeep Kaur, Marketing Coordinator at Bromford Support. As she moves on to pastures new she blogs on the lessons she has learnt whilst here.
“The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have known since long.” ― Ludwig Wittgenstein
I came to the UK housing sector without the faintest idea of what the sector was all about (yes, really)! I was very lucky that at Bromford Support I could quickly throw myself in to find out about the work the organisation did. There was a lot that stood out, it was important to quickly learn about what all our different ‘contracts’ meant and who were the types of people the services supported.
I quickly learnt that you couldn’t just put people into boxes of needs or contracts, this was real life and every day Bromford Support were problem solving to create solutions that doesn’t tick boxes, but actually looks at the person, as they are, a real person with multiple feelings, a heart, a soul, dreams, aspirations and needs – not just a ‘client group’.
I loved learning and reaffirming what was at the heart of everything - real human care, love and support – without this, the digital, the innovation, the contracts, meant nothing because where a Bromford colleague didn’t wake up and think today I want to do something that means ‘tomorrow’ is better for the person on their ‘case load’. When this genuine care coupled with the problem solving nature of your typical Bromford Support worker, and backed by the holistic approach Bromford takes in helping people to really be their best, I saw the magic formula but I was never able to let go that at its heart was real genuine human connection. Let’s take one story as an example.
Lisa’s Story
The video shows Lisa, a young woman who was referred to Bromford Support she was young mum in an abusive relationship, struggling in a single room, anxious, depressed, in debt, and with crushed confidence, at rock bottom. She met Corrine, a Bromford support worker in Swindon – Corrine, like 100’s of support workers across the country stepped on to her journey and step by step looked at each issue, at each need, each aspiration and helped Lisa get back on her feet day by day.
This may sound like something relatively simple, particularly in the support world where organisations across the country deliver support services, but it’s really important (well to me anyway) that organisations never lose this true genuine essence. As we move through the traditional leadership structures we begin to lose touch with this and make decisions for people rather than with people. There is a lot of discussion in a number of high level settings for radically open collaboration that enables sustainable local work.
This isn’t new information, or just about digital or other innovations but instead rearranging what we have known for so long, that collaborative compassionate communities thrive through adversity and remembering that at heart of it all this really is what matters. Hope is real.
Every day Bromford Support workers are embedded in the hearts of communities, understanding the local issues, the needs and problem solving with genuine compassion, providing hope for a better tomorrow. Hope is real, crucial and essential in this unsettling time we face. Keeping this at the centre of everything we do will mean the future for our communities is a bright one.