It’s a free world

Think of a story that you found moving and retell it. Why is it powerful for you? How does it use the elements of the story? What are some of the underlying assumptions that resonate with you?

For me, it is a film about a white working class single mum who works in a recruitment agency which primarily recruits out in Eastern Europe for cheap workers and matches them to companies over in the UK.

Already, this shows the cannibalistic effect of the power structures of our globalised economy which drives a “race to the bottom” of powerless people to undercut other people without power.

But she is getting undercut herself by her bosses. So she and a friend set up a recruitment agency to avoid getting undercut by an employer. Given the contacts they have in Eastern Europe, they can easily go out there and recruit to their new agency. This goes well and she even starts falling in love with one of the workers.

The more people do this, the more others follow suit.

Although many of the people work in very low paid long hour jobs, they all have the same rights as other UK citizens now being part of the EU — from a minimum wage to sick leave. And when their unscrupulous employers try and undercut them, they can and do stand up for themselves and defend those rights to the agency who recruited them.

It also shows the potential of a “race to the top” where minimum European standards, basic solidarity enshrined in law, mean that people can defend themselves and inspire others to do the same, and organise each other.

However, she gets fed up with all these negotiations and she finds it difficult to make a profit with them. So she is tempted to recruit undocumented migrants who are already living in the UK but don’t benefit from the same fights as they have no legal status.

This shows that people with no legal status are treated as less than humans. It also shows how quickly people will be tempted to go “underground” when they have no money.

But then the mafia see her as competition and try and eliminate her. She then grasses up the undocumented migrants when they start making a fuss. But when she discovers the family and how they live she tries to change her mind.

What did I learn from this? We feel what we see

This shows how differently people can act after they have witnessed how people really live and have experienced the emotions they have shared with those people.

Beyond the story itself, I saw the film at a mini festival I helped out called “Love Difference“. It was one of the first times I had got involved collaborating with European Alternatives who had organised this, and it also showed to me the power of creativity in exploring really complex issues (in this case integration of young migrants in local communities) and in reaching out to where different audiences are, in this case…the film was shown in a nightclub Cargo, quickly followed by bands and DJs from Eastern Europe.

What stories have you found moving? What was it that resonated?

Freedom is a tricky word. It’s the kind of idea that can mean everything and nothing, depending on who’s using it. But here’s the thing: freedom isn’t just about breaking chains — it’s about building bridges. It’s about creating systems that are fair, inclusive, and, most importantly, truly accessible to everyone.

For those of us working in strategy, innovation, organisational design, and delivery, it’s time to rethink what freedom really means in practice. How do we design systems and services that don’t just work for the few, but liberate everyone to thrive?

This post builds on the principles outlined in It’s a Free World to explore how we can translate big ideas into practical steps — steps that any organisation can take to create a more equitable, accessible future.

What does freedom look like in practice?

Freedom is more than just removing barriers. It’s about creating choices and ensuring those choices are meaningful. In local government, B Corps, and service-based organisations, this might mean:

• Empowering staff to shape the systems they work within.
• Making services accessible to residents who’ve been excluded for too long.
• Building systems that are transparent and flexible, so they can adapt to changing needs.

At Adur & Worthing Councils, we’ve been grappling with this challenge through our Organisational Design programme. It’s about shifting from rigid structures to a system that empowers staff, residents, and partners to co-create solutions together.

Principles

1. Make the invisible visible

Systemic issues — whether they’re about inequality, bureaucracy, or inaccessibility — often hide in plain sight. The first step to creating freedom is to unearth them.

• Example: The Bristol City Leap Partnership looked at systemic barriers to decarbonisation, bringing residents, businesses, and community groups into the conversation to surface blind spots and co-design solutions.
• Map out who’s currently excluded by your system. Where are the pain points? Where are voices missing?

2. Design for choice, not uniformity

Freedom is choice, and choice doesn’t mean one-size-fits-all solutions. It means creating flexible systems that adapt to people’s diverse needs.

• Example: In Barking & Dagenham, Participatory City rethought how communities could access funding, cutting red tape so residents could lead hyper-local projects in ways that worked for them.
• Take one system in your organisation — whether it’s a service or an internal process — and redesign it for flexibility. How can you let users customise their experience?

3. Embrace the power of trust

Real freedom requires trust. That means handing over control and believing in the creativity and capability of your people — whether they’re staff, residents, or partners.

• Example: Platform co-ops, like Open Food Network, operate on trust-based governance models that put decision-making power in the hands of users.
• Create spaces where trust can flourish. Pilot small experiments where residents or staff have full control over decisions — and learn from the results.

Building systems that liberate

How can we start turning these principles into action:

1. Start with listening

Ask open questions. What’s holding people back? What does freedom look like to them?

2. Prototype first, scale later

Test small, low-risk experiments to see what works. Think about how digital tools, like low-code platforms, can speed up iteration.

3. Measure what matters

Too often, we measure success by outputs (How many people used this service?). Shift the focus to outcomes (How much easier did we make someone’s life?).

4. Share the learning

Freedom isn’t built in silos. Collaborate across sectors, share what you’ve learned, and don’t be afraid to borrow good ideas from elsewhere.

Inspiration from the UK and beyond

• Hackney’s Digital Apprenticeships: Empowering residents to gain tech skills and break into new careers.
• Preston Model: Using community wealth building to localise economic power and give residents more say in how resources are used.
• New Zealand’s Whānau Ora: A people-centred framework that simplifies access to multiple services through one central hub.

Call to action

Here’s the challenge:

1. Identify one process, policy, or service in your organisation that feels overly restrictive.
2. Ask the people affected what needs to change.
3. Commit to a small experiment to make it freer — more flexible, more inclusive, more transparent.

Freedom isn’t a destination — it’s a practice. It’s about designing systems that give everyone the tools they need to thrive, and that starts with us.