In 1997, Sound Sense employed two people, part-time, from a central base, and funding came largely from the Arts Council of England (ACE), explains Anita Holford.
Five years on turnover has increased almost five-fold, and is set to rise next year by at least a further 100%. We currently have a board of 10 and employ 12 people, all part-time except for the Director and two administrators. Other than the central administration function in Stowmarket, the team work from their homes in Monmouthshire, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Paris, Surrey and until recently, Yorkshire. At any one time this team is usually managing a minimum of eight, often inter-dependent projects, usually with a national remit, ranging from strategic development initiatives to shorter contracts, and funded from a variety of sources. That?s in addition to providing core services to members and others, and running the National Music and Disability Information Service and Women in Music.
Just why Sound Sense chooses to work in this way is an interesting question. Certainly life would be easier if we employed a smaller team of full-time people from a central base. The obvious answer is that our work is concerned with equality of opportunity, and this extends to our employment practices. We feel it?s important that location doesn?t prevent people from working for us, and we're also better able to employ parents or those with caring responsibilities, and physically disabled people. There are benefits to our constituency too. Having a widely dispersed workforce prevents us from being and appearing to be centralist, and helps our understanding of regional issues and politics.
Equally important are the benefits to the organisation. Those workers, who also tend to wear other professional hats, bring with them a range of skills and areas of knowledge which enrich Sound Sense?s understanding of the broad sector in which it operates. Alex Patient, Head of Projects, is also a self-employed community music project manager and musician, and voluntary chair of a newly-founded community music organisation. Clare Adams, Development Officer, studies musical performance at the Conservatoire Suprieur de Paris and works as a freelance orchestral bassoonist in the UK. Bob Chapman, Development Officer, teaches Music Technology A level, is a guitarist/songwriter in a band, president of LEAPS (Live Experimental Arts Performance Society) and is undertaking a PhD in Electroacoustic Music Composition. I?m a freelance writer and marketing practitioner, working with a variety of clients within the arts and outside it.
The team works because of a combination of clear vision and leadership, a strong sense of purpose and commitment from staff, and tools and structures developed to our specific requirements. A spreadsheet planning tool - COPS (Comprehensive Operational Planning System) ? keeps us informed of current work, and encourages us to consider the impact of our work on other colleagues. Email is a lifeline for collaborative working, backed up with regular meetings by telephone conference call or face to face. Project meetings discuss and move forward operational detail; monthly senior management team meetings allow for strategic and operational planning and development; and regular ?one-to-ones? with line managers consider individuals? work and performance issues and identify training or development needs. Two-day residentials twice a year enable staff to get together to discuss items of common interest, future developments and importantly, to socialise.
This is certainly not a business structure that many strategists would advocate, but it works because of the people that drive it, the methods we use to manage it, and the fact that we rarely have the benefit of knowing too far ahead what turn the road is likely to take.
Anita Holford is Head of Communications for Sound Sense, the UK development agency for community music t: 01600 719636 e: a.holford@sound-sense.demon.co.uk