Andrea Bullivant and Karen Wynne have stepped into the role of Co-Directors of Liverpool World Centre in a move towards extending its collaborative working model. This change comes as part of wider reorganisation for LWC as it repositions itself to build on its 22-year history and continue to make positive social change in 2023 and beyond.
The collaborative approach is a strong thread throughout LWC’s work, as can be seen in examples of our work with schools, universities and communities, and particularly so in our role leading collaborative networks like TEESNet. Speaking on the subject, Andrea said, “It meant we could model the kind of collaboration we aspire to internally, demonstrate an alternative model of leadership and promote a flatter structure of relationships across the team. Pragmatically, it also meant that Karen and I could retain some of our delivery work alongside co-director tasks”.
When asked about their priorities through this transition, the Co-Directors said, “At present, our priority is to ensure that LWC continues to deliver the high-quality work with valued partners, locally, nationally and internationally through our current Erasmus+ projects. We have a fantastic small team, and we want to ensure everyone is supported to deliver this work in the transition to the new leadership model”. During this period of transition, the LWC team has prioritised close communication and keeping the roles under review, with support from our Trustees. Going forward, LWC will be closely reviewing our current work streams, both in terms of the different sectors we work with and areas of practice, policy and research, and looking at ways of securing funding which can meaningfully support our aspirations to act as catalysts for social change.
It may be of interest, especially to our partners, that each Co-Director is leading on key tasks. For example, Karen manages LWC contracts and finance, and Andrea has oversight of projects, their delivery and how this is monitored and reported on. On this topic, Andrea noted, “We makes these distinctions clear to partners so that they know who to contact as far as possible”. The Co-Directors added, “While it will take time for roles and lines of communication to settle, we want to emphasise the Co-Director model to people and organisations we work with, and encourage them to feel they can approach either one of us”.