Focus on what’s strong, not what’s wrong – if you want people to thrive

When we want to make social and environmental change, our culture, institutions and education encourage us to assume people need more information, skills, resources etc before they can act.Anthony Morrow and his team at one of Scotland’s largest housing associations take the opposite approach. They support tenants and local communities by believing that people are already capable, recognising and focusing on their existing strengths.From my conversation with Anthony Morrow you will:Learn about Asset Based Community Development and how using this approach Anthony and his team have prevented homelessness and transformed lives, while saving money for Sanctuary Group and for society.Hear why housing is fundamental to sustainability, not just because people need stable homes to thrive, but also because of the connections between housing, health, climate and more.In the second segment of the show, I’m joined by co-host Morag Watson and guest listener Ruchir Shah to draw out key insights from my conversation with Anthony, including:How this strength based approach can be applied in other contexts.The importance of upstream prevention and the difficulty of attributing results to specific projects and funders.The relationship between stories and data when trying to engage people and get support from managers, colleagues – and politicians.I’m Osbert Lancaster, specialist facilitator and host of the Thrivable Scotland podcast.Connect:Main Guest: Anthony MorrowGuest Listener: Ruchir ShahCo-host: Morag WatsonHost: Osbert LancasterLearn More:Sanctuary ScotlandABCD Training and Resources - Cormac Russell and Nurture DevelopmentScottish Violence Reduction UnitShumela Ahmed - Resilience Learning PartnershipGary Stevenson: Refugee Riots – Salience and StorytellingFrom the Thrivable Scotland Bookshop:The Power of Mattering by Zach MercurioBe part of the Thrivable Scotland community:Subscribe to my Notes for a Thrivable ScotlandJoin our upcoming eventsShare your feedback [email protected]