Endeavour Housing Association

Shaping the future

In 2000 Endeavour was reviewing its longer term direction.

As a result of earlier work with the senior team, they approached Oasis to help shape, through a participative process, a strategic and realistic picture for their future.

The overall initiative was launched with the whole organisation. The questions raised at this initial event became the touchstones for the process.

The work continued through facilitating the senior team and managers to assess both the current and future internal and external environment and to build an honest audit of their practice.

With the support of the Board they also identified how Endeavour was perceived by key players in local and regional contexts.

The process engaged board, staff and tenants at a number of levels within the association.

It created an identity for the middle managers, resulting in the formation of a clearly formulated operational team that took over many of the activities and authorities previously held by the senior team.

Following a four-month process, a ‘futuring’ group came together to shape realistic scenarios for the next five years, developing a future picture for implementation.

Learning to develop the practice

For the picture to be realised, changes to practice and priorities were needed.

The roles within the senior team changed, the internal orientation of the association switched to an external focus, levels of delegated authority were challenged and reshaped and the staff became more engaged in influencing their own working practices and their own development processes for learning.

Two years later the picture work underwent a full review with many significant elements of the future having already come to fruition.

Some aspects were refined as the group learned about overestimating some possibilities and underestimating others.

‘Futuring’, learning and developing

The process of organisational improvement continues with the workforce having considered their own specific needs for the future, given the picture work.

This process was developed through involvement in staff-led focus groups and has resulted in a development programme that incorporates mentoring, peer learning groups and skills appropriate development.

The association has generally received positive inspection and regulatory reports and was delighted in 2004 to be awarded the top possible status for Governance as well as Services to tenants.

To a significant extent this was a consequence of the awareness generated through the futuring process.

It is constantly considering its position for the future given the changing climate of the housing world.

Charlie Hughes, CEO, said: “The association had grown steadily and we needed a process like this to gain clarity of purpose and change the roles people played to fit the organisation we were becoming.

“Future changes are likely to be both faster and more challenging; this process has left us better equipped to respond.”