In this blog from another of our speakers at next month’s seminar, Scott Darraugh offers a glimpse of the experience he’ll be drawing on for his talk on the theme of the Peter Drucker quote that forms its title…

Now the CEO of Social adVentures, Scott had a long career in the NHS but was ready to leave as he “didn’t feel very inspired within the NHS”.  He says, “What I found was that the NHS wasn’t able to respond quickly enough to make really sustainable responses to the challenges service users faced. In 2011, we were given the opportunity to set up one of the first social enterprises under the Right to Request programme. The process was tough but I knew I wanted to create an organisation that was dynamic, free from red tape and that made those delivering public services accountable to those that used them.”

It was emotional to leave the public sector after 10 years of service but a cultural shift within the team has resulted in better productivity. He says that “People are driven to make a difference, to take ownership and I believe that has to be better for the people we serve.” Scott places significant emphasis on trusting his staff to do the right thing, for example with devolved budgets and staff entrusted to spend up to £250 without management sign-off. Subsequently, spend has gone down as “people spend the money as if it is their own and they spend it in the best interests of the organisation.”