System Synergy

Accelerated Design Approach

Starting point recommendations :

Implement an asset-based approach by shifting the culture through climate. This approach accomodates the long term vision, such as in health and care transitioning from treating illness to promoting wellness.

A climate approach requires staff to work differently, and this change should be reflected in the organisation’s culture, leadership, and approaches to improvement and innovation.

• Promoting a climate for creativity and innovation
• Fostering inclusive and compassionate leadership
• Focusing on wellbeing and resilience

Exemplar hub:

The Exemplar Hub is created to allow organisations to accelerate promising initiatives with system oversight and evaluation. “Exemplar” in its simplest form means something to point at’. Organisations/partners of a system may showcase existing initiatives or collaborate to create or adapt solutions for system-wide implementation. The overarching goal is to identify the best of our system assets, initiatives, and talents, and join forces. This enables us to uncover your best assets and test and learn the most promising initiatives in a system context.

In addition it creates a space that allows for oversight during early stage initiatives and during their evolvement. In effect we are enabling the most powerful way to bring about change in complexity – A complex adaptive space during accelerated design, innovation challenges or : Listen here to Mary Uhl-Bien about the power of these spaces. Many have seen this in action during Covid-19 and by creating an environment conducive to working with complexity we can see dramatic and rapid change across entire systems. In system spaces (Collaborative groups and initiatives) Sarah Phillips observed that people are able to disentangle from their own organisations, specialisms and roles in the hierarchy and utilise what Sarah Phililps calls ‘System Stretch’ becoming system first while also anchored in their own organisations and roles. To do this continues to require support from leaders and facilitators as people learn how to collaborate to innovate together and avoid the pitfalls such as collaboration lab and initiative overload all leading to lack of coherence and use of joint energy, resulting in inaction, or in the worse case organisational (system) inertia. You can also learn about the journey of this type of whole system transformation here;

This test-and-learn spaces to apply the accelerated design approach during the early stages of design and discovery. During delivery, we evaluate and make necessary adjustments for the next phase of system implementation. During evaluation and implementation we adopt improvement methodology -You can read about his here PDSA. (Plan-Do-Study-Act)

Improvement principles following PDSA and design thinking double diamond click link for explainer video about the Double Diamond. Systems thinking, this enabled us to easily measure impact against the people promise has been part of 2024 evaluation and it has proven helpful at system level to keep a broad approach that aligns many types of methodology. You can read about what this looked like in this presentation and view an example summary impact report with a simple snapshot every 6 months. Learn about the Innovation Challenge Approach here, with practical examples to apply a dialogic approach to systems innovation.

Systems Thinking and Design Methodology in Practice

Recognising the importance of inclusive conversations, especially in complex systems undergoing transformational change, we adopted an accelerated design approach for key initiatives. Facilitators, OD Leads, Improvement Leads and change agents can do this for all organisational design and development initiatives. Once you have progressed further take it to the systems via the architecture and infrastructure – It may be a simple (Complicate domain) adapt to adopt at a large scale ie: Statutory Training Or it may be more about Bespoke Design and be an innovation challenge or a new initiative ie: Coaching, or we may be making something system fit, so custom adapt such as executive leadership programmes.

Step 1 – Identify your existing exemplars
Step 2 – Evaluate which align with our strategy and diagnostics, then proceed with the accelerated design approach and commit to an oversight workplan
Step 3 – Arrange a design meeting (2.5 hours, ideally in person or hybrid)
Step 4 – Review and test
Step 5 – Evaluate and apply design thinking

Where possible we utilise system/organisation spaces that are already in place, such as assemblies, working groups and encourage and support with the event design to hold dialogue conference and place-based café conversations. Supporting facilitators to enable groups to collaborate effectively in order to not jump to the solution and explore the root causes. This can involve holding the dissonance and a supportive, safe and containing (Bion, 1961) style to to enable space for difficult conversation.

Innovation Challenges

These are large events (whole system) and smaller groups on programme over time. You can read more about the approach here or download this toolkit to help you set up your own innovation challenges and see others.

Much more than ‘another strategy framework’ this tool helps:

• visualise and make sense of the multiple learning and innovation projects required across sectors that are needed to enable diverse actors to organise around directional goals and complex challenges;
• recognise and align work across sectors and fields that will be needed to advance action towards bold goals, creating focus around high-leverage areas for intervention to address complex issues;
• and create a sense of coherence across ecosystems, sectors and actors so that collective intelligence can be harnessed towards addressing challenges.

Diagostics into a large system revealed a desire for more shared learning and development opportunities.

6. Leadership development programmes that connect people across the system –
7. Crucible leadership experiences –
8. Leadership exchanges – Shadowing, leadership circles and a Coaching Faculty to advance strategically
9. Innovation challenges based on local “wicked challenges”
10. Mentoring colleagues from other sectors

Measure and assess the impact of interventions

When working at system level, compared to bounded organisations (where we can often set starting and finish points) it is helpful to see progress along the way and to share what is working and not working as early as possible. This will give oversight within the governance infrastructure, build momentum and support and help others determine how they may align with your approach and projects.

Executive Board Development

These are designed according to what will help most and will ensure the Board are up to speed with the system to ensure alignment with strategy.

We also do short workshop style

Leadership Circles – these are a sequence of 10 short 1.5 hour (typically early morning) sesions. Typically these will be executive only with a maximum of 12 participants.

Organisational Role Analysis: This is executive coaching with greater depth to explore the Organisation, Role and Individual. They are very powerful and work well for human systems where there are many projections and dynamics to navigate. They free up the leader from organisational projections and system toxicity.