1. West Midlands System Leadership Event ADASS/PHE 14 July 2017 Lynne Bowers

2. West Midlands System Leadership Event July 2015 Priorities and Updates 6 Regional Actions Rejuvenate the West Midlands Regional Workforce Group around Adult & Children’s Services and Public Health. Be clear about our narrative Sub-regional co-operation and collaboration where helpful Geomaps e.g. infection control, workforce Influences of emergency admissions. A shared endeavour for Children’s Services could be the Emotional Health and Well-being of Children Looked After Children

3. Updates ASC Workforce Network ( Lynne) ; Children's Services Workforce Network (Paula) ; Public Health Workforce Network (Kristy) Sub regional collaboration – STPs (Pete) Geomaps – National Information Governance ECIP; ECIST; Urgent Care Vanguards; Social Care Narrative Emotional Well- being of Children Looked After Children ( Helen Hipkiss TY)– System risk analysis and management; Assurance tool pilot; National repository education & training; Matrix roles of designated professionals.

4. Systems Leadership: You are here Debbie Sorkin, National Director of Systems Leadership, The Leadership Centre Debbie.Sorkin@localleadership.gov.uk @DebbieSorkin2

5. System leadership is complex and messy. A system is much more kinetic and open-ended – which is why it gives you room for manoeuvre A system: a set of individuals, organisations or bodies working together or interacting in some way as part of an interconnecting network; a complex whole

6. Pertubation and the resistance to change And some systems really are out to get you: Systems are not necessarily neutral Maturana & Varela – evolutionary biology Organisms, from single cells to eco-systems have a variety of characteristics in common They have evolved to be in a perfect relationship with their environment It is a symbiotic relationship, the organism/organisation defines the environment and the environment defines the organism Organisms are self-referencing, they act to preserve their own identity (autopoeisis) If there is an external source of perturbation the organism acts to kill it, be it internal or external. If the organism is held perturbed for sufficient time it adapts to this new condition.

7. Leadership; Management ; Command & Control You don’t need to be a systems leader all the time: Keith Grint: critical, tame and wicked issues Different kinds of issues require different kinds of change and different kinds of approach: Critical issues:Commander Tame issues:Management Wicked issues:Leadership

8. Leadership vs management The key thing is to recognise a wicked issue for what it is: don’t put things in the blue box (when they don’t belong there): Ralph Stacey

9. Busy doing nothing; Frenetic activity We start by doing the real work What’s the biggest danger in systems change? Work avoidance Defining the problem as technical and applying a technical fix ‘Turning down the heat’ – denying a problem exists, Prozac leadership Taking options off the table Shooting the messenger Delegating the work to people who can’t do anything about it – consultants, committees, juniors Creating a proxy fight to avoid grappling with the real issue So, always keep the focus on doing real work

10. Its all about you! Using your values and getting on the balcony – part of the six dimensions of Systems Leadership Ways of feeling - about strong, personal values Ways of perceiving - about listening, observing and understanding Ways of thinking – about intellectual rigour in analysis and synthesis Ways of relating – the conditions that enable and support others Ways of being – personal qualities that support distributed leadership Ways of doing - behaving in ways that lead to change – includes narrative and reframing skills

11. Coalition of the willing; Start where you are, go where you can Myron Rogers’ “ Working with Living Systems” Myron’s Maxims Structure PolicySystems Identity RelationshipsInformation Meaning TrustAction Myron’s Maxims: o People own what they create o Real change takes place in real work o The people that do the work do the change o Start anywhere but follow it everywhere o Keep connecting the system to itself

12. System Leadership Development approaches Understand the context within which you work Inspiration role model; Mentor Latest research Understanding personal impact – diagnostics, 360 frameworks etc The opportunity to extend your system experience outside role within a safe environment e.g. special project; secondment; peer review team; organisational raid.