This is the second in our series of posts on our loneliness work - part one is here

One of the big questions that brought the issue of loneliness into the Lab was this:

“What can our community coaches personally offer when they encounter people who appear lonely and disconnected?”

The answer , we quickly decided, was nothing. The moment we start offering anything from Bromford we would be moving towards creating more professionalised services - and a reliance on them.

The gap we identified is who is doing the connecting? Who is spotting the various community resources and helping stitch them together?

Bromford had already decided to begin a major transformation piece called Locality Working. The premise is to reimagine our roles as coaches and connectors - rather than managers.

In a world where many see channel shift and 'digital transformation' as salvation - Bromford are going in the opposite direction. We want to develop the relationship with communities rather than just shift it to a cheaper option.

Accordingly our Lab work concluded that we don't need to have lots of "anti-loneliness" initiatives going on. If the roll out of Localities proves successful we should - by default - be helping resolve loneliness.

The role of an innovation lab is not to get the organisation to launch new stuff. Rather, it's about helping the organisation focus on fewer but more effective activities.

So , does that mean we have the work around loneliness all wrapped up?

Not at all - and tomorrow we'll be outlining the gaps we have found and the proposed tests.