Hello,
First text of the day… “Chris, you’re just full of sh*t. You don’t support as you say. I know that it’s all just tick-box stuff for you’s lot. You don’t give a f**k about me really.”
Ahh, great.
I suppose I should have got used to receiving messages like this by now. I’m not sure you ever do though; but we now know what to do.
There are very often a few texts waiting for me in the morning. They are rarely quite this full-on (some are really lovely), but over the years I’ve learnt that they probably don’t mean quite what they appear to mean. Usually, there is something else going on.
The first thing I do is check when the message was sent 1.36 am!
Not a particularly good sign.
- I respond to the message, offering to chat
- I make a note to call him later.
I’m now showing a visitor around the site, and they want to tell me what a great success this place is.
I have always found this difficult, this idea of success.
It’s not as though we are producing a measurable quantity, selling a countable number of things, delivering more procedures, or turning in a bigger profit.
We are alongside messed-up, chaotic lives, and if there is any success, it is found in their individual endeavours.
I do get it, about people wanting to say its successful, and I think this comment is often a response to the inherently hopeful proposition that LandWorks represents…. People are capable of change, but change requires relationships, time, opportunity, responsibility and belonging.
Perhaps what people are expressing is an attraction to the idea of making a difference differently.
I’m back in my office, about to call the early morning texter.
Since we’re very much not a tick-box organisation, I don’t have many key performance indicators to look back on. But I do have our logs, notes, all the texts and WhatsApp messages from the last few years.
We have supported and worked alongside ‘text man’ for all these years (he was here in 2022), often witnessing him getting to a better place.
He answers – a good sign. A cracking voice explains that another friend has just died, and that he thinks he may be about to lose his flat. Last night, he sought companionship with his old friend, Mr Jack Daniels.
He is coming over to check in with us tomorrow.
So why is it hard to accept the word success, for me, it just doesn’t sit easily knowing all the background life stories, and because really all this is just about the guys we support. But I do think we are effective and I do believe that we combine effective rehabilitation with a compelling human proposition: giving people the chance to change, communities the chance to contribute, and supporters the chance to be part of something hopeful and practical.
Hope to see you next Friday at our Supporters’ Day – that I’m sure will be a success.
Chris
13th August 2026