Systems Leadership

Systems Leadership

Making our Move is a system-based, collaborative approach and we know that not one organisation can design or implement the solutions.

Designing movement back into people’s daily life is complex and requires us all to think and act differently, across institutions, organisations and sectors. We’re learning that how we work is key, with everyone feeling empowered and able to lead…together.

Systems leadership is not about your role, the organisation you work for or the level of authority / decision making you have. Systems leadership is about a network of people from different organisations, sectors and different levels, coming together to work collaboratively around a common purpose, to create change.

We’re keen to connect with others around this and so have convened a number of spaces around systems leadership. We hosted a series of sessions in 2023 with Debbie Sorkin of the Leadership Centre and we are pleased to announce we will be hosting another series in 2024.

What are Systems Leadership sessions for?

Understanding the principles of Systems Leadership and how they can help create change in complex systems is increasingly important given the challenges the public, voluntary and health sectors are facing. These sessions are an opportunity to take a step back and consider what we can still do in the light of the operational and financial pressures you might be facing, with an emphasis on practical ways in which you can make progress and affect change.

We’ll be providing practical resources and tips to support you in your work and certificates of attendance for your continued professional development (CPD).

Who are they for?

Our systems leadership approach is FREE and open to anyone who wants to join the conversation. Systems Leadership is about supporting you to create change in tricky and complex systems, whether you are in a senior position or not so if you work for local government, the health system or voluntary sector, these are for you.

2024 Sessions

The sessions in 2024 will include similar themes and topics to the 2023 sessions, with the exception of the last session – Keeping Change Going. We’ve designed these sessions so that you can dip in and out of what looks interesting without feeling left behind. So it might be that you’ve been involved in the sessions before and want a bit of a re-fresh, have some experience of working this way and want to connect or you are curious and want to explore this work further. We’ll be hosting these online on Zoom with Debbie Sorkin leading the sessions so that it’s accessible to more of our partners and colleagues.

To book, please complete the below form.

Session Content

28 March 2024 1pm to 4pm

Introduction to Systems Leadership

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25 April 2024 1pm to 4pm

The Fundamentals: Making the System work for you and working with shared purpose

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22 May 2024 1pm to 4pm

Being clear about what it is you want to do and how you might get there: getting onto the Balcony and Future Basing

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18 June 2024 1pm to 4pm

Understanding your landscape: the lie of the land: Root Cause Analysis, Rich Pictures, Stakeholder and Actor Mapping

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11 July 2024 1pm to 4pm

Using the power of influence when you don’t have formal power (1): using influence to shift perspectives amongst key stakeholders: Empathy Mapping and Reframing

Recording available soon

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17 September 2024 1pm to 4pm

Using the power of influence when you don’t have formal power (2): using Public Narrative to get people to join with you in action

The second session around influence carries on from the idea that you can exert real influence, and change what happens, without necessarily needing formal or positional power.

The second session around influence carries on from the idea that you can exert real influence, and change what happens, without necessarily needing formal or positional power. Public Narrative is one of the most effective tools in your armoury in influencing other people. It’s about telling stories for a specific purpose: to get people to join with you in action. These people may or may not know you. You might have no formal power in relation to them. You might have views that are diametrically opposed to theirs in many cases. You might not like them. They might not like you. But the great thing about Public Narrative is that none of these things matters. You can still – despite everything that divides you – come together to act.

This workshop will introduce the ideas behind Public Narrative; how it’s constructed; the different elements you need; and how it works. You’ll also have an opportunity to have a go at building a public narrative, and trying it out in a safe space with one or two other people. This is a skill that everyone can develop – you don’t need to be an extrovert entertainer. You just need to bring your voice and something that matters to you.

17 October 2024 1pm to 4pm

Keeping change going: leading through uncertainty and developing personal resilience

The final session in this series of workshops looks at how you can keep change going; for yourself, and for others.

The final session in this series of workshops looks at how you can keep change going; for yourself, and for others. It can be hard to keep momentum going in the face of constant churn, or when you need to keep taking people with you, or when there’s constant pressure on you. So in this workshop, we’ll focus on some approaches that can actually help. We’ll look at William Bridges’ ideas about taking people through uncertainty, giving them enough clarity and support that they can keep moving, even in a transitional and uncertain environment. We’ll draw on John Kotter’s thinking about how you can give yourself a reasonable chance of making change stick. And we’ll look at approaches to resilience and self-care, based on it being an adaptive process grounded in purpose – for you and for the work you’re doing. As always, the session will be practical and interactive, with plenty of opportunity for connection, conversation and reflection, so that you can come away with skills and insights that you can practise and put to use, for yourselves and your teams.

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