Olwyn Hocking, Head of Regional and Local Programmes, BBC
Olwyn Hocking is Head of Regional and Local Programmes at the BBC and has put her directors and producers on Common Purpose's programmes. She explains why
Working with very different kinds of people, who bring such different assumptions, who question different things and approach things in very different ways, has had an enormous broadening effect on our people, really stretching them.
"We began to put BBC people through the programmes as soon as we came across Common Purpose, seeing the benefits both to the individuals and the BBC.
If you come from the narrow world of broadcasting - perhaps have been at the BBC for some years - then Common Purpose can be very challenging, stimulating, even a bit shocking.
Working with very different kinds of people, who bring such different assumptions, who question different things and approach things in very different ways, has had an enormous broadening effect on our people, really stretching them.
If you work in a news department you are used to having only an hour to chase a story. Over the year, Common Purpose forces participants to deal with issues in depth.
The other main thing is that our people learn such a lot about this area through the programme. The visits took them to places that they would just never have seen before - off their patch and subject. Our political producer went on Common Purpose and clearly he already had a very sophisticated understanding of the way decision-making works but he found it gave him a whole new range of perspectives and contacts and he loved it. As a result he became involved in an investigation into the criminal justice system relating to young offenders, led by another Common Purpose graduate. He also came back with new stories so the BBC has gained very directly as a result.
Let me explain a little more about the benefit to our news gathering. In the media, we have to make judgments about news fairly rapidly and Common Purpose helps us to do this better by giving us a greater range of contacts, a greater awareness of how complex stories might be. It makes our journalism a bit more informed and intelligent, and our stories less of a media reaction.
Of course, any journalist worth their salt should know a great deal about what's going on around them. But for a lot of us, it was in our earlier days that we spent time on the street, developing contacts and seeing things for ourselves. As you move through to be a producer, then an editor and a manager, you become more removed. You're still talking to people but you're not out there. Yet the world changes and you need refreshing. Common Purpose is a fantastic way to do it."
