Since its founding in 1989, more than 60,000 people have been involved in the independent educational organisation Common Purpose and over 12,000 leaders from every area of the UK, including hundreds of arts professionals, have completed one or more of its programmes. Julia Middleton explains why.
Common Purpose brings together people from different sectors to learn more about how their towns, cities and regions work. There are programmes for senior decision makers, programmes for fast trackers and programmes for young people, all of them drawn from diverse walks of life and from diverse communities. There is a Common Purpose programme in nearly every city and major town in the UK, and we are expanding internationally.
Leadership and society
Common Purpose's vision is that we can improve the way society works by increasing the number of informed and engaged individuals who are actively involved in the future of the areas in which they live and work. For a democracy to be strong, it needs an active civil society, in which citizens are both informed and connected. We have always believed that, full engaged and properly informed, individuals are capable of changing and improving society themselves rather than waiting for others to take the lead.
The leaders of this civil society are likely to be leaders already within their own areas: companies, hospitals, communities. But they need to see themselves as leaders of society too - and use their talents accordingly. Common Purpose is all about finding, encouraging and developing these leaders, wherever they are and whatever they are currently doing. Its programmes help people in leadership and decision-making positions to be more effective in their own organisations, in the community and in society as a whole. In the process, they meet new people, forge new networks and find new ways of working with people who may not view the world in the same way. As professionals, we cannot afford to be isolated from fellow decision-makers. As people, we cannot continue to be insulated from our fellow citizens. These twin beliefs are the founding principles of Common Purpose and continue to underpin everything we do.
Personal and professional development
The highly participatory programmes offer not only insight into how an area works, but also offer opportunities for professional development and establishing new networks. Many programme days concentrate on core issues affecting the participants? own community, such as housing, education, media and communication, governance, cultural diversity, etc. All the programme days are carefully structured to include a variety of locations and stimuli: speakers, behind-the-scenes briefings, visits, case studies and question and answer sessions. This enables the participants to immerse themselves in the subject, experience it first hand and then interrogate the appropriate decision-makers. Our leadership programmes are delivered in a unique way because they are rooted in the community. This doubles the return on investment, resulting in better leaders and stronger communities. Participants don?t just sit in meeting rooms doing exercises. They go out into the surrounding area and consider society?s real issues and problems first-hand. Together, they tackle live issues with other leaders, including the people who carry real-life responsibility for them.
Arts participants
Arts professionals across the UK have found involvement with Common Purpose an invaluable tool. They get involved in a number of ways:
? by using the development opportunities afforded by participating on a programme
? by hosting or sponsoring a Common Purpose event
? by acting as a speaker or workshop leader on a programme day
? by getting involved with the ?Your Turn? programme for 14 year olds
Throughout the last 12 years many senior people working in the arts have found direct benefit from participation on the programmes. Theatre practitioners and managers such as Genista Macintosh, Chief Executive of the Royal National Theatre, and Jude Kelly, former Chief Executive of the West Yorkshire Playhouse, have been active on the programmes and are enthusiastic advocates of the ?Common Purpose? effect on the communities in which they live and work.
Julia Middleton is Chief Executive and Founder of Common Purpose. For more information, or if you?d like to host a visit of Common Purpose participants e: enquiries@commonpurpose.org.uk w: http://www.commonpurpose.org.uk