Living the Life You Choose: The Introduction of the Vanguard Method into an Organisation Providing Support to People with Learning Disabilities

This article describes the work undertaken to apply the Vanguard Method (Seddon, Freedom from command and control: a better way to make the work work Vanguard Education Ltd., Buckingham, 2003) to a not-for-profit organisation that exists to provide support for adults with learning disabilities. As chief executive of the organisation, the author directly participated in the intervention. This article is therefore a personal reflection on the experience of a leader who has been a participant observer and has changed the way he thinks about the way services should be delivered. Along the way, the organisation uncovered and removed substantial waste whilst improving the way services were designed around the individual.