From her early days as a teacher to her current role, Marie Cunliffe, Director at Ever Evolving, has navigated numerous challenges and changes, always with an eye on growth and evolution.
“I started as a teacher as soon as I finished university,” she recalls. After earning a BA Honours in Primary Education, she found herself pregnant with her daughter the same year. Despite this, she managed to secure a job, becoming the first in her graduating class to do so.
Her first role was at an all-boys EBSD residential school in Congleton, where she served as the Maths and English lead. “They would bring boys out of the city and the countryside and we would teach them in a way that was wholesome and holistic to support their emotional needs,” she explains. After eight years, she ascended to the role of Assistant Head.
Marie’s journey then took her back to her hometown of Saint Helens, where she worked at a special needs school called Mill Green. Over the next eight years, she rose to Middle Leadership and served as Careers Leader. It was during this time that she began to dream of setting up ‘Ever Evolving’, having identified a gap in provision for adults and children.
“The key challenges for me were setting everything up by myself and finding the right people with the same ethos, vision, and values,” she admits. Without a business coach or a sounding board, Marie relied on her passion and belief in her vision. “I believe that through my education background of being a teacher that I needed solid systems and procedures,” she says.
From a Good Heart Comes Good Care
Such experiences though, have made Marie a leader who believes in the power of heart and vision. Her approach to leadership is rooted in her own experiences and values, and she has a unique perspective on what makes an ideal leader.
“I was always keen on ensuring good compensation, but it’s also about their heart and their approach,” she explains. “We have our own training company. So if you come with the right personality and the caring nature, we can provide you with all the necessary training.”
This recruitment approach involves potential staff volunteering for a few days. “We see if they gel as a team and how they fit with our dynamics. From a good heart, you get good care,” she says.
Marie is equally committed to supporting her staff in their roles. “We have staff well-being sessions every Wednesday where I pay for therapists to come in and support staff,” she says. She also believes in the importance of work-life balance, allowing staff time off for important family events.
Amidst this, Marie also does coaching and mentoring, asking staff to observe how she deals with certain behaviours and management strategies. Marie is evidently a hands-on leader, willing to lead by example. “I can still do the day-to-day tasks that a support worker would do,” she says. “I always call it being on the shop floor. You get a realistic view of what it’s like.”
Now, her expertise is sought after, “we’re being outsourced. Others are asking us to train them,” she says. This includes working with a local netball team on inclusion, building a bespoke package for them so that they can be more inclusive as a sport for special needs children in the area.
A Community Pillar
Marie is not just a leader within her company, but also a pillar in her community. Her vision for Ever Evolving extends into the heart of the community it serves. “We do lots of things for charity and the community, like bags for the homeless and voluntary work,” Marie explains.
The company’s focus is on happiness and inclusion, being part of the community, and collaborating with parents and families for the best outcomes for their service users. “We provide inclusion at its finest,” she says. “This means adults and children with additional needs living their best lives.” The company offers a range of activities, from adaptive boxing to mixed martial arts, tennis, gym, and swimming. “We’ll adapt it, we’ll differentiate it. We’ll use our skills, talents and resources to ensure that the barriers are brought down.”
Marie’s role at Ever Evolving has also allowed her to be part of the Community Action group, working with Merseyside Police to collect data and look at what’s going on in the area. She is also a chairperson on the steering committee working with the charity called Right to Succeed, focusing on her area of Saint Helens.
“Being in this position has allowed me to support the community even further,” she says. Ever Evolving has won a host of awards, including Equality and Diversity in 2021, Entrepreneur of the Year in 2022, and Scale Up Business of the Year last year. “We’ve won an award every year that we’ve been open,” Marie rounds off.
Marie’s commitment to her community is clear. “I am very proud to be from Saint Helens and if I can do anything to support that, I will,” she says. “Being part of this project is a privilege for me. I’ve pledged my time to that project now and I will give 100% to help steer it in the direction that Right to Succeed wants to steer it in.”
Alongside her communal efforts, the Ever Evolving Director also has a clear vision for policy makers. Her advice is rooted in her experience and the realities she sees every day in her work.
“Collaboration is key,” she says. “I have ideas that I would like to discuss further with the local authority about having a collaborative social care hub in the future.” She believes that by streamlining services and setting up robust policies and procedures, support could be given in a more cost-efficient and effective way.
Marie’s vision includes a hub in Saint Helens where people can come along, chat, get the help they need, and be directed in the right direction. “The numbers are only going to increase in the future,” she warns.
Her second piece of advice for policy makers is to be proactive rather than reactive. “We need to have a plan,” she says. “These plans don’t happen overnight. Informing the community of where the plan is going and not keeping it in house is key,” she adds.
When she talks about community collaboration and being a successful leader, she speaks from experience. “I know because I’m part of it,” she says. She is prepared to have those conversations with people and say what level of support is needed and what needs to be done.
A Legacy in the Making
Marie’s long term goals are as ambitious as they are compassionate. She sees herself not just effecting change in her town, but also expanding her influence to a broader scale. “I want to do things on a large scale,” she says, indicating her plans to work with Salford University and other institutions.
She believes in the power of education and the synergy between business acumen and a caring heart. “You can have a heart and you can have a successful business,” she asserts. Her future plans involve being part of bigger projects and possibly even franchising across the Northwest and the country.
Marie is confident in the policies and procedures she has set up, seeing them as a blueprint for success that can be replicated to improve outcomes for more people with additional needs. But her ambitions don’t stop there. Marie even contemplates a foray into politics, recognising the potential to effect change on a larger scale. “Somebody having a real understanding of what’s needed and also the academic prowess to put that in action is vital,” she says.
Reflecting on her journey so far, Marie is proud of what she has achieved. From starting with three service users in April 2021, she now has late service users and employs 35 staff. “That just shows the growth,” she says. “I can’t believe I’m here with that.”
