When things don’t go according to plan

Benchmapping in Carlton – The plan was to plot the benches and toilets of Carlton (alongside Age Friendly venues) on a map to indicate to residents where they could stop for ‘a pew, a loo and something to do’ to help encourage them to get out and about a bit more in Carlton.

We reckoned it would be a good idea to involve residents in this amenity finding – a kind of Treasure Trail, a way to involve them in the formation of Age Friendly Carlton

Thought it would be good to build on existing walks, starting with the Age Concern sponsored walks and a local community weekly walk.

• I talked to Age Concern Suzy about it and sent her an email outlining what we were after – she was up for it and keen to take part.
• We decided to go via Fiona at Gedling Borough Council for the community walks as she knew the Walk Leader. Fiona got in touch with her, talked through what we’re after, got her agreement to be involved and checked that it was OK for me to have her email address. I then got in touch, sorted out what we were after – the list had since been extended to looking for toilets, car parks, defibs and shopmobility facilities. All Ok. I then emailed her as per the email to Age Concern to outline what we were after and in what format.
• But….the following morning I received an email saying that she would rather I join the walks as I knew what I was after, she didn’t want to ask the walkers to do anything over and above having a nice relaxing walk and as she had other commitments she didn’t want to get involved in any other projects. I’d blown it. Obviously frightened her off with too much detail, too big an ask.
• Since then I have emailed her back apologising and just saying it was meant to be part of their normal weekly walks, not supposed to be a burden…. And she has now agreed to take photos of the benches and send them through to me.

But some learnings…..

Important to be really mindful that:
• everyone is different and needs to be approached with sensitivity to these differences – I probably should just have left it to Fiona to sort things out with the WL as they had the trusted relationship – Fiona knew more about how to communicate with her.
• group leaders have many other commitments in their lives – be careful not to overload or appear to be overloading
• what can seem quite simple to some people – take a photo and email it through with a description where you found the bench – can feel more challenging to others
• think about the context – Age Concern Suzy is part of the Carlton Conversation – she knows that the benchmapping is part of her Age Friendly Carlton initiative – that it can be a fun thing to add to her sponsored walk – that she could make it like a Treasure Hunt. The WL hasn’t been part of this conversation so the ask seemed like a BIG Task for her to do, an imposition.

So…..go through the trusted relationships; think about the ask; and be mindful of the language