Weary of ‘death by a thousand cuts’ whilst working in local authority adult social care, Rachel knew there had to be a better way.
It’s one thing believing it, yet quite another thing to become a modern day ‘pied piper’ and persuade 220 staff to follow her out of the doors of the council and into a wholly independent social enterprise. She did it, and www.possabilities.org.uk was born in 2014.
Ten years later, PossAbilities has had ten consecutive years of growth from £5 million turnover to £26 million; ten consecutive years of surplus; and has built healthy reserves from zero.
Now a regional rather than a local player, PossAbilities has grown from 220 staff to over 750. This is not a story of corporate strategy and organisational structures. It’s a story of passion; pigs; goats; an urban farm and wellbeing garden; backed by a Happiness Manifesto and a permission to have fun.
It’s about risk taking and daring to be different. This attitude of ‘Jump off the cliff and design the parachute on the way down’, has seen PossAbilities become a developer of ‘own front door’ homes for people with learning disabilities. This started even though at the time PossAbilities had no land, no money and had never built a building before. These were just minor obstacles. Today 17 people have their own front door for the first time, and PossAbilities is rolling out the model with a further £7 million of developments on the go, funded by reinvesting surpluses.
If you are wondering how to take your enterprise to the next level…just listen to Rachel’s story.