Insight: Claremont Project

Embedding a Relational Approach

"Let us listen to one another. See one another. Show respect to one another."

These were sentiments expressed in President Biden’s recent inaugural speech and are also principles at the heart of our work at Claremont Project. Our charity is an arts and wellbeing centre for people aged 55+ and we’re located in Angel, Islington.

Feeling that “we matter to each other” has its basis in trust and good relationships. There’s an authenticity and sense of safety to that which goes beyond empty phrases like “have a nice day”. Some people are good at listening to others, to seeing and showing respect to others; they see a whole, unique person before them, rather than a “customer”, “service user”, or “older person”.

Embedding our principles in Claremont’s working culture in really important to us, so we want to ensure that:

1. We recruit great people.
2. Help those people shape what Claremont is and can become.
3. Encourage personal and professional learning which will enrich the person and those around them.

How we recruit

We look for someone “Claremont-y”! The idea of people feeling “Claremonty” started to emerge as our shorthand for ‘value-based’ recruitment. This approach considers not only the skills that someone might bring to the team but also their values and alignment with our core principles.

We want candidates when they come for interview to feel valued - the same way that we try to meet anyone coming to Claremont as wonderful, equal human beings. In the interview, this includes creating space for mutual curiosity and relationship-building; it can’t just be a list of competency-based questions. It is about trying to understand the person before us, as best we can in such a short space of time, and how they understand and see things. We understand too that we come with our own biases and ways of thinking and are aware that “shared values” is not code for “people just like us”. We also make sure that there’s plenty of time before and after the interview for people to look around, meet as many of the team as possible, and to meet some of the people who come to Claremont. We want the process to be as much about us getting to know them, as they getting a good sense of us!

How we welcome new members of the team

With pizza of course! This might sound silly, or maybe even tokenistic but in a busy centre it can be very easy to get lost in the demands of the day. The reality is that with classes running throughout the day, shared lunch breaks can be few and far between, so making this happen is important, practically and in principle. Lunches altogether might be rare but finding time for each other, off-duty, where we’re people and not “in role”, is invaluable and we find pizza (or non-wheaty, non-dairy alternatives) helps set this tone from the beginning!

New team members are also asked to join our relational practice training. This is a day-long experiential session with colleagues and staff from other charities and organisations where we explore why working relationally is a “Must Have” for well-being, not just a “Nice to Have”. The training shows the science behind “mattering” and its importance to physical and mental health, has lots of practical exercises to help embed the learning, and a good chunk of time is also spent on teaching active listening skills and self-awareness in relationships.

We’re also very interested in how a team member can add their own “magic dust” to the way we work. If someone has a particular skill or interest which might form something new for us all, we’re interested. For example, our creative writing class started many years ago because our Outreach Manager at the time, a keen poet, really wanted to offer one. It was an instant hit!

How we move forward

In addition to the relational practice training, we look for and encourage team members to engage in additional training which will support their professional development, whether that is through additional training, learning from another colleague, or shaping their responsibilities in a way that best sets them up for the future. We want a culture of learning and flexibility, where curiosity leads to new ways for us to deliver great outcomes.

And of course, this can’t be a one-off conversation! Our aim is to create an environment where this conversation is continuous. One of the beliefs at the heart of Claremont is that learning new skills is fundamental to our wellbeing, this idea shapes how we programme activities and also how we listen to suggestions from members. Our programme is co-constructed and absolutely better for it, but that couldn’t happen if the team didn’t also hold the importance of learning as one of their values. In this way, between members, core staff, interns and tutors we each contribute to a culture that nourishes our curiosity, our sense of community and our growth.

This blog has focussed on the ways which we try to embed a relational approach across our team, but hopefully, it also demonstrates how this crucially lays the foundations for a relational approach across the centre.