Good work is about more than producing things

Technology can help us research, analyse, draft, produce and publish more quickly than ever.

But producing something is rarely the hardest part of a communications, operational or stakeholder challenge.

The difficult work is understanding what really needs to happen. Making sense of different perspectives. Knowing what matters and what does not. Making decisions when there is no perfect answer. Bringing people with you. And turning a good idea into something that works in practice.

We focus on the difficult bits.

We help organisations solve challenges where understanding context, using judgement, building relationships and ensuring follow-through matter.

We use technology wherever it makes the work better, faster or more cost-effective. We bring expert experience to the parts that need it.

I founded ShackletonReach after more than 25 years working across communications, consultancy, client services, digital, business development and organisational improvement.

That breadth matters.

Many organisational problems do not sit neatly within one professional discipline. A communications problem can turn out to be a process problem. A project that appears operational can depend on stakeholder confidence. A stakeholder exercise can expose questions about strategy, leadership or delivery.

My role is often to understand how those things connect, help people establish what actually needs to change and then help make it happen.

I have worked in and with agencies, consultancies, charities, businesses, public bodies, regulators, research organisations, universities and international institutions.

The contexts are different, but much of the difficult work is remarkably consistent: understanding people and evidence, navigating competing priorities, creating clarity and turning decisions into action.

Ged Barker

MCIPR
Founder

Organisations I have worked with

  • Chicken Digital

  • CHIRP (The Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme)

  • Accuracy Matters

  • Dentsu

  • ILM

  • City & Guilds

  • The University of Oxford

  • The University of Cambridge

  • United Nations University

  • Chatham House

  • The King’s Fund

  • The Nuffield Trust

  • Institute for Fiscal Studies

  • World Health Organisation

  • World Economic Forum

  • The NHS (various ICBs)

  • The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England

  • The NHS Confederation

  • Healthcare Financial Management Association

  • World Resources Institute

  • Asia-Pacific Network

  • British Swimming

  • Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  • Meningitis Now

  • Royal Mencap Society

  • Control Arms

  • Internet Engineering Taskforce

  • Torchbox

  • Soapbox

  • Oxfam GB

How we work

Start with the problem

We do not assume the answer is a workshop, a strategy, a campaign or another document.

We start by understanding what you are trying to achieve, what is happening now and what is getting in the way.

Work with people, not around them

The people closest to a problem usually know things that cannot be found in a brief, dataset or strategy document.

Interviews, workshops, informal conversations and co-design help us understand the context and develop solutions people can actually use.

Use evidence and judgement together

Evidence matters, but evidence rarely makes organisational decisions by itself.

We combine research, data and structured analysis with experience, contextual understanding and the perspectives of the people involved.

Make things happen

Recommendations are only useful if something changes.

Where appropriate, ShackletonReach stays involved beyond diagnosis and planning. We help develop the communications, processes, tools and activity needed to put decisions into practice.

Use technology intelligently

Technology can now do a great deal of production work extremely well.

We use it where it improves quality, speed or value. The aim is not to maximise either human effort or technology use. It is to use the right combination to produce the best result.

Before ShackletonReach

Recognition

What we believe

We believe good work should be useful, ethical and capable of making a real difference.

We value evidence, openness, collaboration and strong working relationships.

We involve people rather than designing around them, try to understand consequences as well as outputs, and continually reflect on what could work better.

We and our clients work in very different contexts, but share an ambition to contribute to organisations and communities that are prosperous, just, equitable, sustainable and safe.

Talk to us

You do not need to arrive with a finished brief.

If you have a communications, operational or stakeholder challenge and are not yet sure what the answer is, that is a good place to start.

Tell us what is happening. We can work out the rest together.

We and our clients aspire to live in a world that is prosperous, just, equitable, sustainable and safe for all. 

We are committed to inclusive ethical practice in our behaviour, words and deeds. 

We seek to continuously reflect and improve, sharing everything we learn with those who may benefit.

Get in touch …