Peer Networks

Background

Selnet was excited to enable Lancashire social enterprise leaders to access support through this national networking programme. This project was launched and completed in 2021 and was jointly funded by BEIS and Lancashire County Council.

Starting in early 2021, this intensive programme took 18 hours over 8 weeks. Participating in a peer group helped gain fresh perspectives, inspired new ideas and changed habits of thinking. It helped form new contacts, built networks and gained valuable professional and personal support from like-minded peers.

Sharing Experiences to Meet Current Challenges

Our Peer Networks project was tailored to Lancashire’s social enterprise leaders; now, and of the future. It was not formal management or skills training – instead it provided personal development focus with flexible topics worked though with the help of a professional facilitator and in small groups of likeminded social enterprise leaders in a similar situation.

Each group consisted of social enterprise leaders led by an experienced facilitator, Adrian Ashton. In addition, there was bespoke business support for organisations and a series of masterclasses to learn new skills. The Programme supported participants to:

• • Overcome business challenges and act on new opportunities
  • Build a trusted network of connections for current and ongoing support
  • Improve long-term personal and business performance
  • Consider ways to increase turnover and social impact
  • Use the Peer Network to help overcome challenges or make changes in their social enterprises

The agenda for each meeting was set by the group. The context was to support each other to develop new ways of working and building knowledge and skills to expand their organisation’s impact.

Participating social enterprises had to meet the following criteria:

Social enterprises with a trading address within the Lancashire LEP area and had:

*SMEs that did not meet this criteria due to Covid-19, but did meet the criteria during the 12 months prior to March 2020 were also eligible

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