Let’s move together

Let’s move together

Getting Lincolnshire moving is everybody’s business. Making it happen means coming together, sharing strengths and genuinely, freely collaborating to do the absolute best we can for our communities.

We’re rising to a complex challenge – to help people across the county build movement back into their everyday lives, making those lives healthier, fuller and more prosperous. But inactivity isn’t a simple problem to solve. A huge range of factors impact people’s ability to be active, and only by considering and tackling all of these factors in a joined-up way can we really achieve our goal.

Here in Lincolnshire, we know that means we need to commit to a whole-system approach, establishing agile partnerships that support deep and lasting change. So, we’re asking each of our stakeholders to commit to doing everything they can to help the people of Lincolnshire get moving – and to do it in an open, collaborative way that breaks down barriers and pulls us together as one, proactive Let’s Move Lincolnshire team.

“The purpose of Let’s Move Lincolnshire is to provide the framework to bring Lincolnshire’s shared vision for a more active county together. It enables all partners with a role to play in supporting our people to be more active to understand local need, align resource, learn from each other and ensure no people or places are left behind.”
Active Lincolnshire, 2021

Opening doors, changing lives.

We might come from a myriad of organisations and see hundreds of hurdles in the way of working together, but the people of Lincolnshire don’t recognise those boundaries, or understand why those hurdles should hold them back.

That’s why we want every sector, stakeholder and organisation to bring their strengths to the table, sharing data and research to build a common vision and a robust roadmap for reaching it. It’s crucial to this strategy’s success, because it’s only by changing our approach to policy, collaboration and decision-making that we can create real, innovative change.

Of course, there are significant challenges and complexities involved in working in partnership at this scale – not least the need to balance unity with recognition, and push beyond competition to a place where people can work together comfortably. But by establishing an effective, well-managed way for organisations to collaborate, we’ll be putting Lincolnshire in a strong, position for the future, and paving the way for tackling more of our toughest challenges, together.

"We all live and work across geographical borders. Sharing resources across those invisible district lines means a more logical, can-do way of working – and a better chance of reaching our goal."
Let's Move Lincolnshire Stakeholder Consultation 2021

Making It Happen

Case in point: policy & planning

There’s no getting away from the fact that if we’re going to promote activity and exercise, we’re asking citizens and communities across our county to change their habits and behaviours, albeit for the best of reasons. That’s a big ask, and both stakeholders and citizens recognise that behaviour change is heavily influenced by policy and planning.

For example, one of the biggest barriers we’re seeing is access to opportunities to be active. In our research, a fifth of respondents in Lincolnshire said they completely or somewhat agreed with the statement ‘I can’t access places or facilities where I could be active’.

Our county’s home to a multitude of small villages where rural poverty and a lack of transportation are real equality, diversity and inclusion issues. Infrequent public transport means people who can’t afford their own cars are extremely limited in the places and opportunities they can access, and this is something that must be addressed in policy and planning, county-wide.

Commitments required:

• Geography & boundaries: Enable resources to be used across district lines
• Funding & finances: Take a strength-based approach to working together, removing competition by agreeing which partner is best placed to lead, and which to support
• Visibility & knowledge: Improve communication and information sharing
• Relationship building: Work together across sectors, nurturing trusted partnerships
• Insight, data & research: Share what we know to shape a better future for Lincolnshire

Impacts of working in this way:

• Deeper, wider understanding of the issues and the resources available to tackle them
• Greater reach, amplification and impact though combined, joined-up efforts
• Clearer, more consistent messaging that’s more likely to resonate with our communities
• Avoidance of unnecessary duplication, competition and confusion
• Sustainable, relevant networks that enable learning to be shared and people to work together in an agile, effective way, long term

How do we make it happen?

• Understand and prioritise the needs of the people of Lincolnshire
• Be brave and commit to a cultural shift in our ways of thinking and working
• Build fair, honest and transparent relationships that make more things possible
• Agree on joint, mutually beneficial projects that empower people and organisations
• Make sure we’re clear and consistent, so our audience feels confident and empowered