I celebrate 10 years at MVDA today. A whole decade. How time flies. I've held a number of different roles in the organisation over the years and took up office as CEO at the start of April. It seems appropriate to write a few lines to share the adventure of my journey with you.
First things first: what exactly does a CEO do in a charity like MVDA? Well, everything. I'm beginning to think that the definition of CEO should be 'chief everything officer'. But that's what makes it interesting, right? No two days have been the same: strategic planning, partnerships, oversight of MVDA’s programmes of work, finances, HR, IT, health and safety. The list goes on. You name it, it's in there. I feel the potential for a fly on the wall television series: 'a day in the life of a chief everything officer'.
I feel as though I'm benefiting hugely from having been with the organisation for some time. Having said that, it also means I have to work extra hard to look at everything we do through a different lens. I'm finding that I'm 'zero-basing' much of my thinking and many of my discussions. This has been a useful strategy for two reasons - firstly, because it means I can think differently about things in the context of my new role, but secondly, where I have some background knowledge, it's really useful in helping to put things into perspective.
In mid-April we had a staff conference at MVDA, providing us with an opportunity to reflect on the previous year, take stock of things, and look to the year ahead. It was a great opportunity to spend some time with a great bunch of people that make up the small but amazing staff team that I've got the pleasure to work with. The staff team are committed to making a difference, supporting of our vision of 'Middlesbrough Communities being active, strong and engaged'.
The staff conference was also a chance for us to think about some of our priorities for the immediate future. Our task is now to reshape our activities to focus on these priorities – something that I’ll be pursuing with vigour. I'm pleased to say that we're already off to a good start with two of them:
- Prevention is something I feel really passionate about. It has been, and will continue to be, a frequent topic of conversation in Middlesbrough. Whether it's prevention in children's services, in adult social care, in health or in any other part of our work, it's an important area of social policy that deserves a renewed collective focus. Nothing seems to make more sense than preventing problems before they start. We have developed a programme of work under the banner of Partners in Prevention. More on this to follow.
- Working with our stakeholders to look ahead and establish how we can collectively support a thriving VCS that continues to deliver for Middlesbrough’s people and communities. We are about to embark on a significant engagement exercise that will help us to think about the priorities for, and issues facing the VCS, over the next five years or so. We are still working on the detail of how we are going to do this, but we have decided on the what: to produce a full and thorough VCS needs assessment to be published in early 2017. Before then, we'll be identifying emerging themes from our engagement work with all our stakeholders and use this for the basis of future roundtables, discussion papers and action learning sets. And much, much more.
And then of course there is a lot for us to do in delivering on the objectives set by MVDA's Board. We are partway through delivery of our current three year strategic plan that sets out the difference we want to make in Middlesbrough in four high impact areas.
In thinking about how we bring this all together for the next year or so, it's clear to me that MVDA's role is in facilitating, enabling, creating, experimenting and leading.
So, 10 years at MVDA and I’m clear if there was ever a time for an organisation like ours in supporting voluntary organisations and Middlesbrough people to make a difference - it's now. It is undoubtedly a challenging time; however the opportunities are within the sectors reach. It is my intention to build on our work to date in working collaboratively and collectively to make a difference in Middlesbrough.
Contact me:
Call: 01642 803608
Email: mark.davis@mvdauk.org.uk
