Leadership: Adapt to stay relevant

Enough has been said and written about the decline in youth work organisations, austerity-driven reductions to services and the damage done to the "pipeline" of youth work training. The reality of the last decade has been that many children's and young people's organisations have had to adapt simply to survive. Adapting to stay relevant is often subtly different though. As Young Devon celebrates its 70th year of supporting young people we've taken time to reflect on our work. For an organisation that started as an association of youth clubs and now provides housing, mental health, skills and participation services, the "adaptations" and accompanying lessons for leaders have been numerous.

1. Ensure services are needs-led. At the core of relevant services is the ability to listen to the people we are there to support. It is vital to understand the needs of children and young people and respond effectively to those needs. It's at this point the statisticians and the storytellers need to work hand-in-hand as you look for the balance between what data tells you and how young people describe their needs. As you seek to build individual and group agency the more co-production you factor in at every level the bigger the impact the work will have.

2. Quality matters. Youth services in particular have always grappled with showing an evidence base for good practice. Staying relevant has a lot to do with a determination to deliver high-quality services. Whether the right route for you is an accredited quality mark like the National Council for Voluntary Organisations' Trusted Charity scheme - formerly known as PQASSO - or an internal system of your own design, the importance of a co-ordinated review and improvement cycle cannot be overstated.

Leading business theorists Chris Argyris and Donald Schön demonstrated the value of "single loop" and "double loop" organisational learning. The first reflective loop involves reviewing practice and demands understanding and improvement. The second loop, however, asks deeper questions about why certain activities are taking place and goes to the heart of aligning change or improvement with your organisational values.

In Young Devon these techniques have been used to review individual case studies, asking teams to reflect on how process can be improved (single loop) while also considering what we're trying to achieve and why (double loop).

3. Stay true to your values. Probably the simplest thing that can be done to differentiate between change for survival and adapting to stay relevant is to be aware of how well you have managed to stay true to your organisational values. Does the project you are embarking upon hold true to who you are as an organisation or has the necessity of funding, or maintaining staff teams, led you away from its core purpose?

Having a clear statement of values which is used to judge strategy and a solid theory of change that defines the impact you make for beneficiaries, will help strike the balance between survival and relevance over time. In the 70th anniversary year of Young Devon two potential funding sources - one large and one small - have been turned down because they didn't pass this filter test.

4. Tap into the wisdom in the crowd. In his book The Wisdom of Crowds, finance and business commentator James Surowiecki explains how groups of people - with enough basic knowledge - often outperform so-called experts when making important decisions.

Part of the journey of remaining relevant is the skill of engaging your "crowd" in supporting the right moments of decision-making. For Young Devon it's something we're still working on and we try to create time and space where young people, families, staff, volunteers, commissioners, councillors and people who share our passion for youth work can talk together and tackle issues we face.

5. It's all about relationships. In her excellent book Radical Help, Hilary Cottam describes relationships as the foundation of good lives, bringing us "joy, happiness and a sense of possibility". Why is this important to adaptation and staying relevant? The reason is that good quality relationships bring organisations as much possibility, and hopefully some joy and happiness, as they do for individuals.

Building good-quality relationships across the board is the single most important investment of time you will make. Relationships between colleagues are important - they can create a culture of welcome and an environment which values young people. Relationships with partners and funders build the opportunity to develop and create new services together.

Most importantly, relationships with young people are critical to remaining relevant to beneficiaries. This is true for everything from brand to governance to service delivery.

In building relationships a combination of honesty, integrity and vulnerability goes a long way. Striving for co-operation over competition and being prepared to stand up for partners proves you are in it for outcomes not growth. Being prepared to listen to staff builds organisational capacity while simply spending time with young people is incredibly valuable.

If you forget everything else, remember this: at the end of the day it's the relationships that will matter more than anything. Maintaining these will maintain your relevance.

• Andrew Moreman is chief executive of Young Devon