A glass half-full: 10 years on review

Author(s)

FOOT Jane, et al

Publisher(s):

Local Government Association

Publication year:

2020

The publication of ‘A glass half-full’ in 2010 was timely, increasing awareness and deepening debates about how asset-based approaches could be most successfully applied in the UK. The chapters in this ten-year anniversary publication collectively provide policy and practice insights from what we have learned since that time; what challenges remain; and what are the current opportunities to be taken to ensure the potential of asset-based approaches is sustained. The chapters are organised into four themes: policy and structural issues; implementation and organisational change; challenges and critiques; and leadership. Together they reflect the notion that asset-based working needs to be considered at all levels of the system and in a multi-disciplinary way to be successful. Key messages include: asset-based working needs to be considered at all levels of the system and in a multidisciplinary way to be successful; they seek to enhance people’s ability to identify and use their own health resources; asset-based working should not be seen as competition to a deficit approach – a focus on deficits like disease should not be abandoned; learning from practice and sharing experience of what facilitates and hinders success is critical to our ability advance both the conceptual understanding and practical know-how of the asset-approach; policy makers need ensure the necessary supportive environments are in place to ensure success; those adopting asset-based approaches need to be continually reflective and recognise the challenges inherent in remaining true to the values of community control; politicians and senior management should use opportunities, such as financial challenges and devolution, to fundamentally re-think how they could create a new relationship with residents and communities to bring about sustainable public service reform. (Edited publisher abstract)