Systems Leadership...Integrative leadership and the creation and maintenance of cross-sector...
Transcript of Systems Leadership...Integrative leadership and the creation and maintenance of cross-sector...
Systems LeadershipBelinda Weir
Director of Leadership: Health Services Management Centre
Overview of session
Leadership: a quick introduction
Scientific Management
Systems Thinking
Leading in a complex system
Lao Tzu
The wicked leader is she whom the people
despise.
The good leader is she whom the people
revere.
The great leader is she of whom the people
say, “We did it ourselves.”
Theories of Leadership & Management
Scientific Approach: the “one best way”
Process Approach: MBO
Human Relations Approach: motivating
people
Systems Approach: everything is connected,
and complex
Expectation of STPs..
‘System leadership is needed. Producing a STP is not just about
writing a document, nor is it a job that can be outsourced or
delegated. Instead it involves five things: (i) local leaders coming
together as a team; (ii) developing a shared vision with the local
community, which also involves local government as appropriate;
(iii) programming a coherent set of activities to make it happen; (iv)
execution against plan; and (v) learning and adapting. Where
collaborative and capable leadership can’t be found, NHS England
and NHS Improvement will need to help secure remedies through
more joined-up and effective system oversight.’
NHS England 2015, p4
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/planning-
guid-16-17-20-21.pdf
WHO recommendation
‘Transformational strategies require new forms of
collaborative leadership that help to bring together multiple
stakeholders through an effective policy dialogue. Indeed,
what is required is transformational leadership that goes
beyond understanding how to bring together stakeholders
with competing views and mind-sets, but which pro-actively
communicates the goals and values of the strategy and
seeks to mobilize others through a more emotional
involvement in the need for change.’
WHO 2015, p34
http://www.who.int/servicedeliverysafety/areas/people-
centred-care/en/
Scientific Management: an overview
The father of scientific management
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915)– Industrial engineer
– Specify tasks and select and train workers for this tasks
– Managers design the work and workers execute it
– Find the one best way, and standardise it
Taylorism
“Hardly a competent workman can be
found who does not devote a
considerable amount of time to studying
just how slowly he can work and still
convince his employer that he is going at
a good pace.”
(Taylor, F.W. Scientific Management, New York 1947)
The ‘scientific management’ approach
If you understand the parts you’ll understand the
whole. Hence mechanical metaphors:
– We need to step up a gear
– This department runs like clockwork
– It is part of the machinery of government
– We need to find the policy levers
– Top down change, or bottom up?
‘Mechanical’ assumptions
If you understand
1. Tasks
2. Hierarchies
3. Functions
– you can manage and discipline by replacing parts like worn out cogs
– you can make plans with timetables and penalties
– you can transfer ways of working from one setting to another, with equal outcomes
Scientific Management works well when:
The task can be clearly-defined
The task is known – we have seen it before
There is an answer and it is agreed upon by
everyone
The person carrying out the task is not required to
think on their feet
The environment is predictable and stable
The manager has the power to instruct and
command
Some problems are amenable to a scientific approach
• Complicated but tame problems:
– Throwing a rock
– Mending a computer
– Choosing a chess move
– Analysing financial flows
– Engineering a space rocket
• How about….
…..Throwing a live bird?
A Systems Thinking Approach
What do we mean by ‘System’?
Senge describes systems thinking as “a
discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework
for seeing inter-relationships rather than
things, for seeing patterns of change rather
than static snapshots”
Assumptions about organisations as systems
From sub-atomic/quantum physics, chaos theory, fields theory, systems
theory, evolutionary biology
• Human (social) systems are living systems, ie can’t be
controlled, measured or fixed as if they were machines
• Synergy - the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
and is emergent and dynamic – relationships, patterns and
connections matter
Organisms (living systems) are self-referencing - they act
to preserve their own identity (autopoeisis)
Lessons from evolutionary biology
• Systems are well-adapted to their environment
and will act to preserve their identity
• If something comes along that upsets that
environment, by changing it, the natural response
is to kill it, or resist it.
• But keep going: “if the organism is held perturbed
for sufficient time, it adapts to this new condition.”
What form might resistance take?
• Avoidance/fear of loss
• Deflection or denial
• Endlessly delayed meetings
• Defining issue as purely technical
• Shooting the messenger
• Blaming ‘them’
Complex systems
A complex system is one in which – because of the number of
components which interact and the difficulty in determining the
boundaries - even knowing everything there is to know about the
system is not sufficient to predict precisely what will happen
Systems Thinking Ideas: Unintended consequences
Because
People don’t always obey instructions –
sometimes they think for themselves!
People make different assumptions based on
the same ‘facts’ and data
People have different ways of making sense of
their world
Systems Thinking Ideas: Predictability .
Because
• Socio-political context matters: culture, history, identity, beliefs
• Geography matters: Liverpool isn’t Lincoln, or Lyme Regis; Nottingham isn’t Newcastle, or Norwich.
• Predicting outcomes isn’t possible only by looking in the rear view mirror
• Globalisation and mass communication increase variability (and therefore complexity)
Systems Thinking Ideas: Perspective.
Because
• In highly complex systems, you can’t ‘see’ all
of the system
• Different parts of the system have different
ways of interpreting what they ‘see’
• Other perspectives are different and valid
ANELEPHANTIS LIKE ASNAKE
ANELEPHANTIS LIKE ABRUSH
ANELEPHANTIS LIKE A
ROPE
ANELEPHANTIS SOFT &
MUSHY
ANELEPHANT ISLIKE A TREE
TRUNK
Systems Thinking Ideas: Everything is Connected.
Because
• You can’t intervene in one part of the system
without having an impact somewhere else
• Small actions can have a big impact
• Lorenz’s butterfly effect
I’m sure glad
the hole isn’t
in our end...
Systems Thinking Ideas: Collaboration and Cooperation
Because
• There are synergistic gains to be made by
collaborating
• Change always involves loss
• Diversity invites new possibilities
Systems leadership is applying systems thinking to complex issues
“Leaders are struggling to innovate,
integrate, manage demand and find
new solutions.”
“Leaders are wrestling with ‘wicked
issues’ that shape-shift and defy
resolution, and which cannot be
resolved by single agencies acting
alone.”
“We are…applying systems thinking
to the practical reality of trying to
achieve complex change.”
Debbie Sorkin, the Leadership Centre/Sue
Goss, ‘A View from the Bridge’, OPM May 2015
Systems
Leaders start
here
In the
old
days
The
vision
Complex (wicked) issues are where…
…solutions sit outside single hierarchy and across
boundaries
…there is no defined start or end point – sometimes you
can’t even agree on what the issue is
…there are no right or wrong solutions; instead you need to
aim for progress and improvements
…the setting is uncertain, ambiguous and volatile
…there are diffuse and contested power relationships;
multiple and divergent motivations, objectives, value
systems; diverse cultures, professions, operating systems,
legal and financial frameworks and accountabilities….
Obesity Map
Raffoul, A. School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo.
If we think we are dealing with technical problems, we need:
problem solving skills (and a solution mindset)
expert advice and proven practices (best practices from
other areas where they’ve had some success)
clarity: e.g. clearly defined problem statements
(preferably at the level of root causes and drivers) &
clear goals and focus areas
a clear vision of the ideal end state
alignment (of stakeholders etc)
measurable outcomes
a lot of money and the very best technology
If we think we are dealing with wicked problems in complex systems, we need:
Sense-making capability (to know the system)
Pattern intelligence (which we can influence, not
control)
To value questions, not answers
Ambiguity and nuance vs certainty and clarity
Focus on the present rather than a future ideal state
Coherence within boundaries rather than consensus
To change mindsets
Leadership in systems
‘The capacity to engage people and groups
outside one’s formal control and inspire them to
work toward common goals – despite differences
in convictions, cultural values and operating
norms.’
Source: The King’s Fund
Source: The King’s Fund
Effective System Leader Behaviours
Effective Leaders in Complex Systems… Are Courageous:
– Embrace ambiguity and uncertainty e.g. are able to influence without authority
– Promote distributed leadership…engage effectively, balance collaboration and competition, let go of control
Are Curious:
– Go out of their way to make connections…
– Adopt an open, enquiring mindset…ask questions, seek out difference
Are Clear:
– Establish a compelling vision…e.g. through story-telling
– Invest in promoting values…understand the importance of culture and behaviours to driving change
Understanding Self
How, when and where are you at your most
– Courageous?
– Curious?
– Clear?
What are the conditions that enable you to
develop or use these qualities?
Learning from research and practice
Need for distributed and collaborative leadership
Shift away from excellence in task or function,
towards new roles for system leaders:– Systems Architects
– Commissioners of services
– Brokers and Navigators
– Story tellers
– Networkers
– Municipal Entrepreneurs
– Resource Weavers
Learning from research: 21st Century Public Servant
1. Develop a clear shared purpose and values
2. Place matters.
3. Make systematic use of improvement
methods
4. Develop effective mechanisms for handling
conflict.
5. Be patient, persistent and resilient.
6. Prioritise relationship building.
7. Look for many leaders at all levels within the
system.
Learning from practice: Lessons from the King’s Fund/AQuA Integrated Discovery Communities
Readiness for change is critical
Be persistent – it takes time to develop trust and a
shared vision when people come from different ‘tribes’
Doing this work needs space, as well as time
Leaders need to have resilience
External support is essential in building confidence and
capability
Measures of success must be near-term as well as
long-term
Learning from practice: ICCs in Morecambe Bay
• Understand yourselves, your teams, your colleagues
and your partners as systems leaders and enablers -
part of a wider system connected by a shared
ambition
• Hold yourselves to account – the standard you walk
by is the standard you accept
• Start small and use what you have – often more than
you think
• Make connections and build relationships, alliances
and networks (RCTs, buddies)
• Just focus on making progress: give it time, allow for
mistakes, learn from them, adapt, and keep going
What does this mean for leaders?
References Crosby, B. C., & Bryson, J. M. (2010). Integrative leadership and the creation and maintenance of
cross-sector collaborations. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(2), 211-230.
Heider, J., & Laozi. (1988). The Tao of leadership: Lao Tzu's Tao te ching adapted for a new age.
Toronto, Bantam Books.
Lorenz, E. (1963). ‘Deterministic Non-Periodic Flow’ Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 20.
Maturana, H.R. & Varela, F.J. (1980) Autopoiesis and Cognition: Dordrecht: D. Reidal Publishing.
Miller, R. & Millar, R. (2017) Partnering for Improvement: inter-organisational developments in the
NHS. Birmingham: HSMC
Morgan, G. (2006) Images of Organization. London: Sage Publications.
Rogers, M. & Wheatley, M. (2012) A Simpler Way: ReadHowYouWant, New York.
Senge P., Hamilton H. and Kania J. (2015) The Dawn of Systems Leadership The Stanford Social
Innovation Review Winter 2015
Taylor, F.W. (1947) Scientific Management: New York
Welbourn D., Warwick R., Carnall C., and Fathers D. (2012) Leadership of whole systems London:
Kings Fund
Williams, P. (2011). The life and times of the boundary spanner. Journal of Integrated Care, 19(3),
26-33.