community collaboration for change
about taproot
taproot is a community consultancy that works across the UK.
We work for social change that is impactful, sustained and which makes communities more equitable. We do this by providing support to organisations and systems that work for a better world.
What we stand for:
- We work for social change and social justice through impactful, sustained and inclusive planning
- We work collaboratively and inclusively- we believe in challenging inequality of power
- We work at all levels- from small community groups to large systems
- We are honest, pragmatic and practical- we work with people where they are
- We are brave and willing to challenge the way things have been done, though we listen to and value all voices of experience
- We believe in the power of good information, data and detail
- We value people and invest in them
Based in Cambridge, taproot was established by Juliet Snell in 2016. Juliet is a trained facilitator and trainer and has spent over 25 years working in the charitable sector, the NHS and for local authorities. She has first-hand experience of leading organisations through change, mentoring and coaching senior staff, supporting trustees, and evaluating and developing services. She is passionate about building the ability of teams to creatively and meaningfully listen to their communities.
Juliet Snell
organisational support
We help organisations to take stock, to listen and learn, to sit with a problem or decision together, and support changes to take root. We work on strategic plans and reviews, change management and organisational problem solving.
Sometimes this support can be as concise as an away day or board session, or it can involve taproot sitting alongside your organisation for a year or more. More than half of our clients come back to us for second or third projects. Our average client rating for consultancy projects is 9.3 out of 10, and for facilitated planning events is 8.8 out of 10.
system planning
We work with whole commissioning and service delivery systems to coproduce a strategic direction around an issue or problem.
With the system and involving the community they serve, we design a process to pull in all the right information, data and experience. Then we create safe, welcoming, well informed, egalitarian conversations. These give everyone whose voice is needed in the process a meaningful opportunity to share their insight and a role in designing the way forward.
the taproot approach
Our work centres around decisions. We support people to understand and “pick apart” the elements of an issue and to bring all of the relevant voices and information in to a carefully designed process.
We have a decision-making model that we know works, particularly when people feel stuck, unheard or demotivated:
- Oversight and planning– a small group ensures transparency, trust and strong communication
- Information gathering– we gather high quality information and make it accessible and relevant
- Group deliberation– using consensus processes, we facilitate important conversations and harness group wisdom
- Iterative process– Taproot projects evolve ideas, openly sharing learning and developing for the best possible outcome
- Accessible Output– We present final outputs that are accessible and easy to use.
clients
Thank you for such a good afternoon, helping us to use our hindsight without being preoccupied by it. To help us gain clear sight about what we need to do to improve our governance, strategic and business planning and thirdly steering us so skilfully to enable a very talented set of trustees and staff tap into their unique individual skills sets... to make the whole more than the sum of the parts
Professor Dame Sue Bailey OBE DBE
Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Juliet is an extraordinary consultant, she is able to disentangle complex situations and make sense of them on behalf of services and organisations in a way that motivates change. Juliet undertakes all her work with integrity, always using a values led approach and my team very much enjoy working with her.
Sarah Hughes, CEO
Centre for Mental Health
brilliant - dynamic, sensitive, fun, open and honest and really brought us together as a group..... enabled learning, cohesion and humour to be embraced as a whole
Pat Alexander
K1 Housing
I can't actually put into words properly what a difference this period of time, your work, report and recommendations, will make to the project. Your help came at just the right time in just the right way! I'd like to thank you for being so sensitive and reflective (and helping us to be) throughout the process.
Jo Hunt, Project Manager
Kings Hedges Family Support Project
Juliet manages to be super-efficient, knowledgeable and professional, and at the same time warm, engaging and fun to work with. It's a winning combination!
Jonathan Wells, Director
The SUN network
Our directors felt very comfortable with Juliet's approach to facilitation of meetings, and her work with us was a major factor in such a rapid development of the new Board
Val Moore, Chair
Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Juliet has been great at holding space for our organisation to work on ourselves. Working with Juliet has helped us move forward in our shared understanding of how we work together, and how we can improve things in future.
Tom Lord
Aptivate
It was such a breath of fresh air to work with Juliet, she had a fantastic ability to guide the group through the activities, helping people to understand the process through a straightforward and no nonsense approach. Juliet helped to turn something super complex into a clear beginning of a theory of change model for our charity and ensured all the people in the room had their chance to input.
Lara Jaffey, Executive Director
The Kite Trust
Juliet has been an outstanding mentor for me as a Chief Executive of a local charity. Juliet's knowledge on both strategic and operational levels has been a great source of support for me.
Lenja Bell, Chief Executive Officer
pinpoint
Invaluable assistance to our organisation- very well structured, clear, goal-focused. We can move forward!
Lara Brettell, Chair of the Management Committee
Cambridge Calais Refugee Action Group
I can’t over-emphasise how big a difference your report has made: we actually have agreement over the direction of some very major changes which we needed to make! Your input as an objective, experienced, outsider made all the difference. Your consensus building approach meant that the major internal stakeholders were an integral part of developing the final recommendations.
