This year we tested a new approach to collaborative working at scale by piloting a new funding programme with the community, Q Exchange. Open to all members, the aim of the programme was to make use of the collective knowledge and improvement expertise across the UK, designing and developing project ideas with the support of the growing community.
The resulting community engagement far outstripped our predictions. In total 181 project ideas were posted online and over a thousand comments added by members, supporting and contributing to the projects. You can find out more about the Q Exchange story on the website.
Before the final vote at the UK-wide Q community event in September, we asked each of the 25 shortlisted teams to nominate someone that they deemed an especially helpful contributor throughout the process. Going through the factors that made contributors so valuable, we saw some notable themes:
- They acted as a critical friend
- They provided experienced knowledge and expertise to help strengthen the proposal and content of the work
- They made useful links and connections to people that they otherwise wouldn’t have made or known about
- They shared useful resources
- They helped to promote and encourage others to support their work
The success of Q Exchange is undoubtedly a culmination of the variety of expertise and collaborative efforts of the community, and we want to say a huge thank you to everyone that shared their time to get involved. We especially want to recognise the following people, identified by the teams for for their contributions. Each individual will receive a small gift as a token of our appreciation.
- Aimee Protheroe
- Andy Ware
- Claire Ashby
- Elizabeth Breech
- Jane Sproat
- Jo Murray
- Karen Machin
- Katie Clark-Day
- Lauren Fraser
- Matt Inada Kim
- Robin Davis
- Sarah Eisen
- Thomas John Rose
- Tim Bennet
- Trevor Fernandes
- Wasim Baqir
Don’t forget, you can still engage with all 25 teams and continue to provide support on the Q website. And stay tuned for more information about the next round of Q Exchange…