🎋Grow

Aka getting from idea to action - and building the structures that support your teams to thrive.

Overview

The “Grow” phase is about preparing to deliver your co-operative care service in practice. That means more than just getting people in post - it’s about building the conditions for long-term success: clarity on operations, robust local recruitment, a thoughtful launch plan, and readiness to meet commissioning standards.

The diagrams below break this work into phases. Each one supports the others, building momentum and capacity as you go. You don’t need to do everything at once, but all of these areas will eventually matter.

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Operations Development

What’s involved:

This is the foundation. It’s where you put the building blocks in place for how your local Circle will run. These include:

• Circle Operations: coordination and communication across the Circle

• Care Operations: service delivery processes and systems

• People Operations: HR, contracts, and people support

• Financial Operations: invoicing, payments, accounting

• Platform Operations: making sure your digital tools work for your team

Each of these needs clear roles and simple systems to help your local teams function without unnecessary bureaucracy. Wherever possible, use your digital platform to reduce admin load.

👉 See also: Equal Care’s Platform and Choosing Technologies

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Marketing

What’s involved:

Even the best-designed service needs visibility. You’ll need to:

• Develop a local marketing plan that reflects your context and audience

• Produce local marketing collateral - flyers, social posts, posters, referral materials

• Coordinate a launch marketing push to coincide with your readiness to begin forming Teams

Good marketing is grounded in trust. Focus on relationships, not just reach.

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Recruitment

What’s involved:

You’ll need to recruit people into two core groups:

Worker Recruitment:

• Coaches

• Care Workers

• Registered Manager

• Circle Operations roles (Hats)

Team Owner Recruitment:

• Lead generation via community engagement

• Initial conversations with people who may want to form or join Teams

Recruitment is ongoing. Build with care and consistency. Every new person shapes the culture.

👉 See also: Recruit Workers

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Worker Training and Platform Onboarding

What’s involved:

New workers and Circle contributors go through a structured Welcome Process followed by training tailored to their role:

• Coach Training

• Care Worker Training

• Circle Ops Hats Training

Once completed, workers are marked as ready to start forming or joining Teams.

This is also where you introduce the peer supervision process, a core part of how we support and learn together.

👉 See also: Peer Supervisor

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Launch and Strategy Planning

What’s involved:

Before you formally launch, you’ll want to co-develop a clear plan:

• Understand the local commissioning requirements

• Shape your launch strategy in partnership with key allies

• Begin early engagement with local commissioning groups (e.g. NHS, LA leads)

This helps ensure alignment and clarity, and sets you up for future funding conversations.

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Commissioning

What’s involved:

To deliver commissioned care (e.g. NHS or local authority-funded work), you’ll need to:

• Submit a framework application

• If approved, enter the tendering process

• On success, you’ll be added to the approved provider framework

This can take time, so begin parallel to your other activities. Some areas may also have grant funding or direct payment pathways.