The Relationships Foundation Newsletter October – November 2011
Transforming Capitalism from Within
The Relationships Foundation and Relationships Global recently launched Transforming Capitalism from Within at the Jubilee Room in the Palace of Westminster. The Report takes a fresh look at the purpose, performance and assessment of companies based on the idea that stakeholder relationships lie at the heart of companies. It is based on several years of research into the concept of ‘relational companies’, introduces a Relational Business Charter and proposes a Relational Ratings Agency which would enable companies to be scored on their ‘relational rating’ – which complements financial and environmental indicators to act as a guide for investors, customers and potential employees. Among those speaking at the launch were: the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, former chief secretary to the Treasury, Jeremy Lefroy MP, Dr Michael Schluter CBE, chief executive of Relationships Global, Jonathan Rushworth, a former partner of a major City of London law firm and Shonaid Jemmett-Page, chief operating officer of CDC. The meeting was chaired by Michael Trend, executive director of RF.
Introducing the report, Stephen Timms said: “The Relational Business Charter applies a different set of values to challenges we all face, and formulates, as a result, fresh responses and new ideas. There are things governments can do, but the tools available such as regulation and taxation, can’t always deliver a good outcome. That is why alternative approaches like this Charter can be very attractive. I warmly welcome this initiative, and I look forward enthusiastically to following the debate which I hope it will kick off.”
Jeremy Lefroy added: “Companies have sometimes been accused of concentrating too much on short-term results at the expense of long-term goals. A Relational Business Charter along the lines proposed in this report could transform our business culture. Not only would Britain be a fairer society; the quality of life would improve for millions of people.”
And Richard Godden, Partner and former member of the Linklaters Global Executive Committee, Linklaters LLP, commented: “The unifying issue underlying many of the current debates about corporate behaviour is relationships. This report takes that concept as its starting point; it offers a way of breaking out of the increasingly sterile current debates, by adopting a new approach to the evaluation and development of responsible business. I hope that it provokes both debate and change.”
Michael Schluter summed up the spirit of the occasion when he said: “It is now time for a system which allows no reward without responsibility; no investment without involvement; no profit without participation.”
Picture shows Michael Schluter, co-author of the report speaking at the launch.
Read the executive summary or download the report. The printed version can be ordered online here.
Party Conferences
For the first time, this year RF was represented at all three party conferences. Our Head of Family Policy, Sam Barker, travelled to Birmingham with the Liberal Democrats, to Liverpool with the Labour Party and to Manchester with the Conservatives. Sam writes that, “thanks to the hospitality of friends in each city, the costs were kept low. Conference is an amazing opportunity to meet politicians, party activists and fellow workers in the campaigning and policy sector. The days are hectic, often with an 8am fringe meeting and running through to catching up with people in the bar around midnight. A typical conference day consists of speeches on the main stage, made by the senior ministers / shadow ministers in each party; fringe events which bring together an MP and a panel of speakers on a particular subject; side meetings with people; and the all-important bumping into folk in the corridors, or often around the exhibition halls where a vast range of organisations have their stands.
“People, not least those in the media, are always trying to ‘take the temperature’ of the conference – to find out how the parties are feeling and where they are going. You probably get as many views as you do attendees! We were encouraged at the Liberal Democrat Party conference by an assured speech from Sarah Teather which dwelt equally on education and families, she said: ‘Strong, stable, confident parenting. Mothers and fathers spending time with children, reading them stories, engaging with their education marks the difference between the 5 year old who begins school confident, sociable, able to read and write their own name, compared with the child who isn’t ready for school.’ At the Labour conference it was disappointing to hear little about family, and a continued focus on getting parents into employment rather than supporting parents in the choice to work or to care. However, from a wider relational point of view, Ed Miliband was trying to grapple with good and bad forms of capitalism: a space that our recently launched Transforming Capitalism from Within speaks to. Families have also seemed to have fallen off the agenda somewhat at the Conservative party conference, with only passing mention in David Cameron’s speech.
“There is still much work to do. Getting families right will drive success in so many of our social outcomes, and only by rebuilding some of our institutions can we hope to be a tax efficient, effective economy and society for the future.”
Relationships Education Conference
Happy and healthy family relationships benefit the young and old alike. While most adults want lasting love, this is a dream unfulfilled for many. Millions of children have their life chances damaged by poorly handled parental conflict and by changes to their family structure – changes such as their parents splitting up, or the parent they live with cycling through numerous romantic attachments.
For over 25 years, Professor Scott Stanley (with Howard Markman and colleagues) has been researching what it takes to form and maintain strong and healthy couple relationships, and how we can teach people skills to improve their odds of love that lasts. This conference is a unique opportunity to hear these insights, together with those of leading speakers working with many of the most challenging family situations in the UK.
Whether you’re in the private, public or voluntary sector, if couple relationships are part of your work, then this conference offers an opportunity to:
- Learn from the very best research and practice
- Build stronger links between organisations and practitioners working in Couple Relationships Education
- Send a message to opinion formers/shapers about the benefits of Couple Relationships Education
Key Speakers: Professor Scott Stanley – co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver, Colorado, USA; Katharine Hill – co-chair ‘Kids in the Middle’ coalition, and others. Chairman: Sir Paul Coleridge, High Court judge in the Family Division.
When: Thursday 9th February 2012
Where: One Wimpole Street London W1G 0AE
In the media
UK has worst quality of life in Europe reports the Guardian. Our Family Pressure Gauge came to a very similar conclusion: financial and work pressures, combined with poor maternity and paternity provision, and poor living environments put our families among the most pressured in Europe.
The BBC wants to know: Is it too early to be Christmas shopping? “I don’t blame shops for trying to get shoppers early in these tight times, and perhaps we need some Christmas cheer after a wet summer,” says Samuel Barker of the Relationships Foundation. “But as Unicef pointed out last week, gifts are no substitute for time with families, and people should not be fooled into thinking they are. Furthermore, with household debt a significant issue for many people, let alone the economy as a whole, consumers, shops and government should be working together to reduce, not increase, that pressure.”
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