Karen, firstly, can you tell us more about your role?
“I want to ensure that, no matter where they live, our residents know how they can provide their feedback and be confident that their voice is being heard and helping shape our services. There are two of us in the Engagement team and my colleague, Demi, works part-time. Engagement is a team effort, and we collaborate closely with the wider business to ensure our residents can engage with us in a way and at a time that suits them, including our events. We also work closely with our Neighbourhood and Estates team, local councils, resident committees, and charities to improve our communities, focusing on important things that improve our areas for everyone, not just our residents.”
Karen goes on to explain how our residents have been impacted by our events.
The most impactful part of our events is that residents can raise their issues face-to-face with the relevant team, and most of the time, the issue is resolved on the spot. If they are struggling, we can provide them with advice and support or refer them to someone better to assist them. Many residents come with multiple issues, so it is great that they are able to discuss these with the relevant team on the day rather than having to make multiple phone calls to us.
I love that we are able to help people on the spot with any questions they may have about their home, repairs or support they may need. People have visited our drop-ins for just a cup of tea and biscuits because they haven’t spoken to anyone all week and would just like some company. This makes me feel like we are there for our residents and we are making (albeit in a small way) a difference to someone’s life.”
You can read more about what we did last year here.
We asked Karen what she enjoys most about her role.
“The variety. One day, you are hosting a community event; the next, you are judging the tallest sunflower competition! It is hectic, but I love my job and the variety of people I meet. I have built up some lovely relationships with our residents. I wouldn’t want any other job!”
Talking about the future of resident engagement, Karen says:
“You will see more of the same, but bigger and better! We would love to work with more residents to provide better services. We would like our residents to be proud of where they live and trust that when we say we will do something, we will do it and keep them updated. We know not everyone wants to be involved in an activity or event we are organising, but we want to make it as easy as possible for our residents to be involved with us if they want to, in a variety of different ways. We want to make Havebury feel like more of a community, so we want to continue with things such as Havebury in Bloom and other competitions such as the Wildflower project as these were really well received by residents, and we had such positive feedback. We would like residents who have used our services, such as repairs, to become key to our decision-making process and also, to know that their feedback makes a difference.”
To summarise Karen explains:
“Working with residents can build trust and confidence that things can change, and it can increase the feeling of
safety and security within the community. Residents know the area around their homes and the issues, and they are often the best placed to work with us to provide solutions.”
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