Local government, health organisations and the third sector are working against the clock to transform services, since only by starting with the needs of the resident and integrating services can we meet people’s needs at lower cost.
As work moves from concept to implementation – all organisations are finding that it is changes in culture and behaviour that are proving hardest. New structures and systems won’t deliver unless there is the leadership at all levels to challenge assumptions, work generously with partners and find creative solutions. In the words of the Public Services Transformation Panel: 'Collaborative leadership is the critical behavioural factor in successful transformation.'
The skills of HR and Organisational Development (OD) teams now become essential – to create the right sort of personal development and experiential learning to shift mind-sets and build collaborative skills.
This is difficult work, so the PPMA, (the Public Sector HR Association), health colleagues and OPM, (an employee-owned consultancy specialising in leadership development and research) joined forces to showcase learning about Systems Leadership, at a recent OD/HR practitioners summit.
Systems Leadership describes the way people need to behave when they face, complex, difficult and seemingly intractable problems; when they need to juggle multiple uncertainties; when no one person or organisation can organise the solution on their own; where everyone is struggling to stretch resources and so the way forward is to involve as many people’s energies, ideas, talents and expertise as possible. It’s distributed and interconnected, based on networks and relationships, and emergent – learning from experiments and partial and clumsy solutions.
For the past three years, there has been a national Systems Leadership programme, backed by (amongst others) the Local Government Association, ADASS, the Virtual Staff College, NHS England, Public Health England and the Department of Health – and from this a body of evidence on systems leadership is beginning to emerge.
A research programme, commissioned by the Virtual Staff College, is building a picture of what makes for good Systems Leadership; matched by national leadership development programmes and practical place-based support to some 40 projects across the country, through the Leadership Centre’s Systems Leadership – Local Vision initiative. Systems Leadership is also being used to support the Integration Pioneers and Better Care Fund plans in some places.
While national focus has been on governance systems and care models – less attention has been paid to ‘what works’ in the all-important development of leadership skills and culture change. Our Summit was a great opportunity for 60 practitioners from around the country to exchange learning from these projects and explore the OD and HR questions raised.
The event explored lessons from research and practice on the ground, alongside participants’ own experience, drawing on examples of progress – and exploring challenges. Debbie Sorkin, National Director of Systems Leadership at the Leadership Centre, joined the panel with Liz Goold and Sue Goss from OPM and Kerry Furness, OD lead for PPMA. Bringing together a rich mix of experience we developed a deeper understanding of potential implications for OD.
Debbie Sorkin described how Local Vision places in Wakefield and Wiltshire, alongside the LB Islington Pioneer, had begun to integrate health and care services, introducing more GP population-based services and integrated teams. Kerry Furness talked about how in Norfolk the Local Commissioning Academy was supporting the joining up commissioning activity locally across public services.
Sue Goss shared stories from her experience as a ‘system enabler’, including a vivid account of her work in one locality where constant ‘dancing around’ the partnership table, avoiding difficult conversations, eventually escalated into conflict. For Sue, finding a systems leadership way forward meant beginning with relationships: 'Informal meetings, having honest, difficult conversations, and the careful design of spaces where we could think together and understand each other’s perspectives. Some of my most important meetings happened in Costa Coffee.'
These leadership approaches, with their emphasis on influence, emergent solutions and acceptance of risk and uncertainty, challenged some traditional mind-sets. Encouraging people to try things and learn from experiments, to start where the energy was, and recognise clumsy solutions doesn’t always fit with the requirement for business cases and detailed plans. In the words of one participant: 'What shift do I need to make in my own model of OD? How do I practice and model Systems Leadership?'
The initial sessions led on to a conversation about approaches, behaviours and skills, using research commissioned by the Virtual Staff College.
Systems Leadership: Exceptional leadership for exceptional times Virtual Staff College 2013
From live examples, we identified a number of ways in which local authorities can nurture the Systems Leaders in their midst:
1. Having senior leaders (from local government, public health, CCGs, social care, third sector) learning together from the same locality;
2. Effecting change through working on real-time challenges whilst learning together;
3. Connecting leaders together from different sectors, developing fresh perspectives and new relationships; and
4. Using public narrative to engage and mobilise others.
We also put together some pointers for OD and HR practitioners:
1. Don’t try to introduce it top-down or organisation-wide all at once: start small and just have a go;
2. Help to identify values and behaviours conducive to Systems Leadership amongst teams;
3. Widen your view – think beyond organisational and professional boundaries to shared purpose – keep asking ‘who is this in service of?;
4. Don’t just involve the usual suspects – use informal networks to knit together different perspectives;
5. Develop Systems Leadership skills across your OD/HR business partners, to broaden the prospective offer across your organisation;
6. Engage senior leaders and be prepared to have difficult conversations; and
7. Above all, don’t get hung up on labels – just approach the work using the principles.
At base, this is about coming together to develop a shared narrative around Systems Leadership principles alongside the cultural norms and workforce skills needed to support this. OD and HR leaders across local government and health have a key role to play here, as well as modelling Systems Leadership themselves. This is not to claim Systems Leadership as some kind of silver bullet or magic wand, but it offers a way to explore problems.
It’s an approach to working that we believe everyone involved in OD and HR should have in their own, and their organisation’s armoury. We know it can work in effecting change. PPMA, OPM and the Leadership Centre are keen to continue the conversation about the benefits and implications of systems leadership.
If you are too, please contact:
OPM: lgoold@opmassociates.co.uk , sgoss@opm.co.uk
PPMA: Kerry.furness@norfolkcc.gov.uk
The Leadership Centre: debbie.sorkin@localleadership.gov.uk
