Scott Hartley and I met in the kitchen last week to reflect on our learnings about relationships as outcomes since we wrote a short series of blogs on the topic.
The conversation was quite wide ranging, and it was the day after a national Active Partnerships health integration event, and we naturally reflected back on it.
I hope you enjoy it.
Some topics included, if you’d like a bit of an insight.
Relationships as outcomes for exponential growth.
The importance of creating conditions for many solutions to emerge.
The power of people learning with self-driven purpose.
The value of having disproportionate influence.
An idea – using Inner Development Goals to shape our work and our role descriptions.
The importance of a North star, or perhaps a constellation?!
Here are the four earlier blogs that led to this conversation and are referred to along the way.
Ahead of an event organised by our children and young people leads on Tuesday, I’ve been thinking about my journey from Youth Sport Development Officer (1998) to here. I’ve been involved in the work to support active lives for children for my whole career in lots of different ways and roles.
I have been asked to provide a short introduction to a workshop where we will consider the best of what has been in the children and young people area of work, before we look ahead and vision what is needed next and why.
As a born-again evangelist for journey mapping and ripple mapping, it has become quite the norm for me to reflect in this way. I have been around a while, it turns out!
The process of mapping a timeline, thinking about the key events, approaches, catalysts, points of friction and challenge over the years is so revealing.
I invite you to think about your role in the children and young people work and plot yourself on this timeline. Of course, this diagram doesn’t include every project or programme, or every approach we took. But it was a wonderful trip down memory lane. It reminded me of the very best work I have done and been involved in, in this area, and the very worst too.
But there is no failure, as we know. It’s all learning and it all evolves and folds into our future work. Especially if we take time to notice what happened, what difference it made, and what could be better in the future.
As we collectively evolve and mature our approaches to tackling inactivity and inequalities for children and young people, it is too easy to fall into the trap of assuming that when we say ‘what we did wasn’t working, so we need a new approach‘, that means that “everythingwe did was rubbish, we didn’t learn anything and we need to throw it all away and start afresh“. This is NOT TRUE.
This mindset can be an unintended consequence of having the courage to confront the realities of our limited impact at scale to date. There are systemic and structural inequalities that remain and our children and young people are experiencing inequalities and inactivity. So, yes. We do need new approaches. And we need to nurture and compost the best of what has been, into the future world we grow and create.
Part of my role on Tuesday, is to help us remember that together;
We have done brilliant work to support children and young people’s activity over the years and we have changed lives and developed things that are still keeping children active nearly 30 years later.
We also need to develop more holistic, whole of system approaches to build on and expand on what we have started.
We need to understand the best of the approaches we have developed and delivered, so we don’t lose them as our new approaches mature.
AND, we need to be honest with ourselves and courageous enough to recognise that:
The dominant worldview that created the prevailing culture of PE, youth sport and physical activity opportunity over the years has been traumatising for some, excluding for others and has served to reinforce cultural norms that drive inequality.
The approach we have taken has been too narrow, and we need to widen the lens to address ALL the influences on children and young people’s movement.
We have collectively perpetuated myths, assumptions, beliefs and mindsets that have held the problems of inactivity and inequality firmly in place.
But we have a huge opportunity now, with some emerging ways of thinking and leading this work that hold so much potential for change at scale and pace if we compost the best nutrients and let a thousands flowers bloom.
Just now, I am most excited about the potential of:
The physical literacy consensus statement and it’s potential to change mindsets and beliefs about children and young people’s relationship with movement over their lives.
The wider lens on our work with schools. Creating Active Schools as a framework, offers the opportunity to support all children and young people to move every day and enjoy a positive relationship with movement. It moves us beyond a narrow PE and programmes approach to something that holds so much potential for change.
The opportunity to take a longer term view- aligned with the Healthy Britain Report and the ‘wellbeing of future generations’ thinking. This would be a game-changer.
The recognition that there are many aligned missions that are all integrated and support a healthier, happier, greener planet and future for all children.
The power of the crowd: there are believers and influencers for this work everywhere in local and national networks and communities. The opportunity that our networks of active education leads, voluntary and community sector youth organisations, our Bee Well team, the local place based teams, our health leaders working on children’s mental health and many many more. People with common purpose on aligned missions are changing the world.
So how do we do it?
I’ve used this diagram for a while. It’s called the two loops model by the Berkana Institute and it has helped me to understand and hold my nerve with our whole approach to GM Moving, and some specific areas of work within it, where old systems needed to ‘die off’ and new needed to emerge under the protection of greenhouses to protect them from the harsh elements.
There are repeated patterns in the processes of emergence that the two loops model clearly explains. It works really well alongside appreciative enquiry as we get to work with strengths and assets, identifying the best of what has been, and composting it into the soil to grow the future we need to create.
This video describes and explains it well.
Last week I was given a great guide to the two loops model that I’ve seen. It is effectively a ‘how to’ guide that we can follow in all our work. Much of this, we are doing already, but I am looking forward to Tuesday’s discussions about how we do this more intentionally.
“The two loops model is a tool for structuring the change from an old system to a new one. It lets you see the growing and decline of one way of doing things, and how the emergent new pattern can look like, and those two interconnectedness“.
“There is no incremental change where the same thing changes and continues on forever, there is rather discontinuous change that presents an structure shift. This means there is one thing that dies at the same time as something new starts to live. We need to look as much on the new emerging system as we much handle and take care of the old system, making the decline more smooth and with less resistance and crisis”.
I love this slide as it helps us to see how we need to create the conditions for the new to emerge. It’s possible to see how the best of our previous approaches on my journey map above, can be absorbed into the new, emerging, alternative approaches that better support cultural, systemic and structural change to support current and future generations.
What is emerging that needs to be named, connected, nourished and illuminated?
For me this includes:
The need for a whole systems approach to children and young people’s health and wellbeing.
The need to work on all the myriad influences on our children’s wellbeing and the role of movement within that.
The need to name and work on the structural and systemic inequalities that hold the problems in place
Change the culture of PE and Sport
Recognise that the current culture excludes, traumatises and inhibits many children and young people.
Name the inequalities that exist and persist and take positive action to address them: poverty, homophobia, class discrimination, gender stereotypes and much more.
Shine a light on critical work and approaches that need to become the norm: trauma informed approaches, equity and social justice in the work, youth voice and lived experience in everything we do. Deep codesign and coproduction. Shifting power to young people to design and influence their own healthy futures.
The tough bit
And what needs to be allowed to die off? This is a question for us all to reflect on. I’m pretty sure that when we look back on our journey and hold the mirror up, most of us will see things we did, beliefs we held or approaches we took that were part of the problem. Many will lie beneath the surface in the beliefs, assumptions, mindsets, worldviews that dominated and that we consciously or subconsciously perpetuated.
Some will be in the way we worked, or were driven to work in a culture of competition, measurement and targets.
These will have influenced the approaches we took that reinforced stereotypes, inequalities, patterns, and trends that shaped the activities and events that we designed. I know I was part of the problem, when I look back. Despite the fact I also did some brilliant work that sustains itself today.
I can reflect on the early work I did as a Youth Sport Development Officer, then a Sports Development Officer for a whole borough, working with top down national programmes and learning how to create the conditions for them to respond to the needs and aspirations of people and communities rather than dictate to people what they should do and get.
I learnt so much in my early career that helps me today. I remember the points of friction, tension and challenge as a new culture and way of working clashed with entrenched, competitive, traditional approaches to PE, school sport and club development.
I also recognise that I had no influence or involvement then on active travel, or health systems. But I did connect closely with parks, open spaces, the national park, outdoor education, youth services and other sectors more naturally as part of the council. These relationships and connections across departments and sectors are vital to protect or re-grow where they have been lost.
I am looking forward to this workshop.
I wonder if I can find an old Millennium Youth Games t-shirt somewhere. We argued for ages over the boundaries and branding for those! I definitely have a painting jumper with a school sport partnership logo on somewhere.
I’m sure there is still a TOP Play bag in the out of school activity club at my local primary school. 20+ years ago I delivered TOPS training to midday supervisors (probably called dinner ladies then), after school club staff, football and cricket club coaches, teachers and teaching assistants). Those people are still some of the biggest supporters of active children and young people in my community today.
That is worth celebrating and illuminating, for sure.
I will need to be careful that my team and the audience don’t get bored with my stories of these past times.
It’s good to look back and learn, and it’s also time to move forwards together. They have brilliant ideas and approaches. They have better insight and understanding and are more deeply committed to tackling inequalities that I was back then.
We all know more, understand more, can be more honest- and we care deeply.
The next generation are leading the way to the future for future generations to thrive, my role is to help compost.
“Do you have examples of where physical activity has helped to address issues of structural inequality?“
This was the question posed by my colleague Tim Crabbe, as we prepared to host the next meeting of the global community of practice on active lives for all.
We shared the questions with the group just before the Easter break, and I thought about it in relation to my own life and the inequalities I’ve faced. I also thought about it through the examples and stories I’ve seen and heard from friends, colleagues, family and through the activity I’ve nurtured in my community and through my work.
Be Strong
A prompt for Tim’s question was from the GM Moving conference the week before, where two young men from Be Strong in Bolton shared their stories about how movement, sport and fitness activity was supporting their recovery from addiction and related issues. The video of Ant and Jordan can be watched back here from 10 minutes in.
“I used to see runners on the street and think, ‘I wouldn’t do that if you paid me’… now I love running and the gym”
My story
Tim’s question made me think about how physical activity was a catalyst for me and my own life chances. Today, I appear as a confident, privileged, middle class woman with a good job, and plentiful life chances in a place where I feel safe to run, walk and enjoy movement with ease.
But I realise that my friends and I did experience structural inequalities growing up working-class (and as a girl/young woman), in Coventry, a city under massive economic and social pressures during the 70’s and 80’s.
PE, sport, and activity were positive and powerful for me. They creating meaning, value, enjoyment in my life. They helped me to learn, connect and relate to others. I have written plenty about this in multiple articles over the years.
Reflecting on Tim’s question I can see that movement, sport and PE helped to remove some of the structural and systemic barriers that would have otherwise been in the way of my long term life health and economic prospects.
It’s worth noticing that it was the people, as well as the sport or activity. Sport was a vehicle for my inner development, networks, relationships, educational achievements, horizons, and prospects.
I could draw a timeline of key events, interventions, introductions, and invitations that completely changed the course of my life.
Reflecting on adolescent activities like youth club and basketball, I noticed how these pursuits connected me to and built strong relationships with people with different values, and with different experiences and perspectives than my family and community. Through engagement in these activities relationships were formed with people outside my immediate community. This included confident women who were educated, independent, holding professional roles. It included people who had travelled independently, undertaken sabbaticals and exchanges with other teachers in different countries and brought back stories that inspired me. There were committed and caring youth workers, coaches, PE teachers and leaders who offered new horizons and opportunities.
They also held me to account for my behaviour when I started to go off the rails at school and put me back on track. I will be forever grateful for that, even though I was angry for being singled out at the time.
These relationships and interactions with people meant they became inspirers, mentors and supporters. They enabled my personal growth, economic and social mobility. They opened my eyes to new possibilities, challenged my assumptions and beliefs about who I was and who I could be.
These are just a few examples from my life story. I am 100% sure that without these people and relationships and the central role movement, activity and sport played throughout my childhood and adolescence, I would not have gone on to travel the world, cycle around New Zealand, sail the Tasman Sea before I was 19. I might not have gone to university, which would have meant I didn’t develop a career and profession as I have. If university tuition fees had been introduced though, I definitely wouldn’t have gone.
Thousands of stories of change
In our work, we see and hear thousands of stories of individuals whose lives are transformed through movement, sport and activity like this. We shine a light on them and use them as powerful tools to inspire and motivate others. These are examples and case stories of people overcoming health challenges, reintegrating into society after time spent in the criminal justice system, and those finding employment through their involvement in physical activities. And of course, there are stories galore of people who grew up in hardship and went on to sporting success.
A colleague shared their story with a group recently. It was powerful story of how running became a way out of poverty. Their story was an important moment of change in the session we were in, and many follow-on conversations have rippled out of that since.
Creating the conditions for population scale change
My opening conference speech (from 30 minutes in here) outlines the need for GM Moving, the mission, the change we are seeing and what we are learning about what makes change happen. The script to the speech is here. It takes people power, and we all have a role to play, I said. But it takes more than that.
I am a great believer in the importance of incremental change and of the importance of every single person’s journey and story. I have seen families, groups and whole communities transformed by the power of movement. But we are limiting the potential for change at scale if we seek to change one life at a time and focus solely on individual stories of change and inspiration.
Evidence shows it isn’t enough to hope that individual motivation, capability, and opportunity will be enough to create population scale change and shift these ‘stubborn’ inequalities. The phrase ‘stubborn inequalities’ is often used, and with good intent. It is used to explain the data and trends- highlighting how the inequality gaps between different groups in society are stuck and have been for generations. These inequalities are long-entrenched, and they have been most recently exacerbated by the impacts of the pandemic, austerity and other structural, systemic and societal factors.
The problems we face aren’t going to be solved with a singular focus on ‘those inactive people and groups’. Our work is also in influencing the the systemic and structural inequalities ingrained in our society. They manifest in poverty, misogyny, class discrimination, racism, ableism and homophobia and transphobia. They hold the problems in place and perpetuate a cycle that limits opportunities for many.
Rather than focus solely on shifting ‘inactive people’, we need to recognise and shift the systemic drivers that create inequalities and inactivity. Rather than focusing solely on individual motivations and opportunities, efforts must extend to influencing policies and societal beliefs. We need a holistic approach that encompasses grassroots initiatives alongside advocacy for systemic and cultural change. The goal is to create a society where access to good health, opportunities is not determined by one’s background or life circumstances, and where activity that changes lives is enabled by the structural and systemic conditions that surround is all.
We need to reduce inequalities in society and communities if we are going to shift the inequalities in physical activity.
By recognising the role of movement, activity, sport, connection and relationships in fostering equality and life chances, we can work towards a future where everyone has the chance to thrive, regardless of their starting point. And this becomes entirely possible if the economic, environmental, policy, cultural and organisational factors at play are addressed in everything we do.
To return to Tim’s question: Do you have examples of where physical activity has helped to address issues of structural inequality?
Yes. I do.
In my own life.
But the conditions are not yet set for that to be possible for everyone. The conditions are less conducive to that than they have been for some time.
And together, perhaps we can help to influence and change that.
I first shared this blog in draft form with a couple of people. Partly because I’m experiencing the fear of sharing it (“who am I to talk about the inequalities I’ve faced”). But a male colleague reminded me that I’ve been experiencing discrimination in this society every day for 50 years as a woman. Does that ‘count’?!
A few things have come out of conversations already:
How many of us in this work have our own stories of inequality that drive and motivate us at a deep and powerful level, whether conscious our not? What potential could be unlocked if we were conscious of them, and what more if they could be shared to help us all understand more.
How often do we sit in rooms and ponder how we could bring more lived experience into the work, without using the lived experiences we all have from our own lives? This is something I’ve been thinking about with a newer member of our team recently. Links to the next point.
How do we stay safe in sharing our stories. There are things we can and would share, and things we wouldn’t or couldn’t. How do we protect ourselves and others in the process?
One friend and colleague said:
“I like the fact that you are asking for people’s stories. I wonder if you can ask in a structured way, and do this at scale (who else might be interested?) and then pull out the similarities (and maybe differences), it could form the basis of a compelling case and route map for the structural changes that need to be made“
I’ve shared this with 3 people. They have all been interested and had ideas about how it could unlock something powerful.
It’s led to some insightful conversations between us about our own lives, experiences, values and how they drive our purpose for our work to tackle inequalities and inactivity.
So, that’s enough permission, invitation and instruction to feel the fear, click publish and see where it takes us.
Perhaps a set of simple questions that help people to tell their story in answer to Tim’s original question, might be a good way to move forward…
Have a think. How did movement, physical activity or sport and play a part in helping you to grow in an unequal society?
How does that drive you in your work?
What potential do our stories hold if we created the safe spaces to share them?
If you have thoughts, or a story you’d like to share, let me know.
The pressure was off and I was out to enjoy myself with my friends. A girls’ weekend away with sightseeing, pizza, a few glasses of red wine and beer and some laughs. This marathon event had been my main aim of the year. The day I was going to break the 4 hour marathon barrier. But having already ticked that box in the summer, the pressure was off.
It’s a good job, because there was a big block of red (read incomplete training sessions) on my training plan. A close friend had died in the autumn, and a lot of time, energy and emotion had been rightly spent there.
VeronaMarathon
The first half of the Verona marathon was fabulous; running along the river and through the beautiful city. Then there was the hard slog out towards the countryside and some evil miles on weird hard concrete. I was lifted again by an army barracks with soldiers standing to attention. That was unexpected.
I finally dragged myself back into the city centre to finish pretty strong and with a smile.
In 3.47.08!
July 2023 time: 3 48.33
All time PB, Florence 2013: 3.43.33.
Amazing. I was so pleased. A ‘good for age’ entry in London 2025 awaits.
So that was it. My recovery year, getting on track with HRT was complete. I was riding the menopause wave with renewed vigour, and it was time to enjoy my 50th birthday celebrations, a rest and an end of year break.
My colleague Nick was moving home to Belfast and on my birthday night out, we’d both egged each other on to sign up for the Belfast Marathon in May.
New Year, New Goals
January saw an enthusiastic New Year mapping out of a training plan that would take me to a faster marathon, and hopefully another step closer to my PB.
Off I went.
Training went well in the first couple of weeks in January, despite some personal life challenges and two periods in one month. Weird, I thought….
My husband had bought me a fancy watch for my 50th. It would help me to find my way in the mountains. But the data was telling me I wasn’t at my best. Not sleeping. Struggling to get more than 5/6 hours sleep a night. Sometimes less. Heart rate variability showed I was fatigued.
I couldn’t work out if it was life stress induced, or hormone drivers. What I did know is that I felt like shit.
I was having periods every two weeks, and it became concerning. A call to the GP at the end of February set me on course for a scan and some blood tests. All a formality, I presumed. Then I got an urgent same-day referral to the gynaecologist. Cue a worrying couple of weeks, with a potential cancer diagnosis on the horizon.
It sent me and my husband into a spin, and I was grateful to close colleagues for the safe space to be honest about what was going on, in the midst of Board meetings and some important family events.
In the end all was well and I am grateful I didn’t have long to wait to find out. A six month check up on the horizon but I’m 100% confident there’s nothing to worry about.
I am blessed that I have never been down the mental path of a cancer scare before. It gave me a teeny, tiny, minuscule insight into the fear and trepidation that comes with any health scare and a dose of perspective and gratitude for my usual good health.
An ‘all clear’ didn’t change the fact that I was still experiencing heavy periods every two weeks, feeling drained, and struggling to train. Work was busy and life was stressful. I was struggling.
A few weeks earlier, flopped on the sofa on a Saturday morning with exhaustion, struggling to summon up the energy for my long run, I had messaged a friend to say I was postponing the marathon until next year. Thankfully the Belfast Marathon system doesn’t allow you to do that without a GP note. So I decided to wait until I’d seen the GP.
Interestingly, once I got the urgent referral and was on that treadmill, my mindset shifted from postpone to re-commit. I decided that a focus on training for the marathon was the best thing I could do, mentally and physically. Running is my stress relief. So if there was going to be a cancer diagnosis, I needed to be running. And I would want to be as fit and strong as I could be. So I decided to stick to the plan, kept my marathon entry but dialled up the self-compassion. If I was feeling drained with the fortnightly bleeding, I promised I would listen to my body, be kind to myself and do what felt good and restorative.
Renewed energy
Fast forward to the end of April, and I’m feeling fab. I’m three weeks into a new HRT combination, and it has been three weeks since I had my last period. So hopefully, something is working. That’s the biggest break from bleeding, I’ve had since January. My energy is returning and I’m feeling mentally better after a period of sleep struggles, anxiety and brain fog that comes with menopause.
Belfast is now on the near horizon. As I’m writing this on the train, Nick has just messaged me with the beginnings of the pre-event plans. Where shall we meet? When shall we pick up our number? What are we doing?? I love this process. There are so many patterns in it and I will try to hold onto all that I’ve learnt over the years.
Hold it lightly. Have fun. Possibly- Smash it!
And whatever happens, be grateful that I’m here and not somewhere more scary. Life is good.
A friend said to me when I got the all clear from my tests. “Live Big”. A colleague just messaged me with a question to ponder in my coaching session today: “Are you thriving?” And the cleaner on the way in to work just now said “We’re alright. That’s the main thing isn’t it?“.
Life lessons in every conversation. If we’re open, and listening.
One final thought. I bloody love our NHS. It needs protecting and nurturing. The fact that I went from urgent referral fear to reassurance and clarity in two weeks is phenomenal.
Chapters 1-3 of this story, if you need the background.
Over the years we have tested, practiced, and used a range of tools to help us think, learn, plan, reflect and capture value and impact. There are some that have come and gone, and there are some that have stuck. I have been reflecting on the ones that have stuck and thinking about why. I think there are a few simple characteristics that they share, which means they are still in our mental and physical kit bags!
Simple and easy to think about and use.
Evidence based AND have practical application in the real world.
Offer easy to understand language and questions.
Can be used on our own, in teams and in groups.
Can be done quickly.
Can be fun!
Unlock new thinking.
Are transformative for our practice and impact.
Here are a few of our team’s and my personal favourites. I’d love to know what you enjoy using and why.
To look back and learn:
Use journey and ripple mapping
If I need to reflect on a journey/process, remind myself of milestones, events, moments of change and friction and make sense of what has happened and what I can learn from it, I increasingly use a backwards looking journey mapping process.
This example is a reflection of my personal journey in GM Moving and the ongoing challenge to measure what really matters. It started out as a scribbled document on a train which I redrew and used in a workshop recently.
Why was the process useful? Because it helped me to step back and think from a distance. It helped me to remember and identify key moments or particular periods and feelings of friction, challenge, tension and dissonance (red). It also helped me notice how far we have come, what feels different now, the things that have helped us along the way (blue).
So, what? Understanding the journey so far, making events, feelings, challenges and enablers visible and explicit for myself and others has helped me to think about where next. It has also resonated with many others and helped them to think about their own journeys and where next.
We used Appreciative Enquiry a lot in my early work in GM Moving. It’s something I’ve been reminded of recently and will start to use more again. We should never stop dreaming!
It’s a brilliant tool which can be used in loads of different ways. I have workshopped with it in rooms of 100 people, and I have used it in one to one conversations. If someone can direct me to the best description of it and the process, I would be grateful. In the meantime, here’s the wiki page!
Use Rolfe’s What? So, What?Now, What? questions
Our evidence and evaluation leads have worked hard to develop simple reflective practice and sensemaking processes that help me to reflect on my own, with others and for us as a whole organisation about an event, process, time period, activity or project.
These kind of questions are gold to me and they are becoming more embedded in my natural everyday thinking processes. This has moved from being a evaluation method to a natural way of thinking. They are based on Rolfe’s work (2001) and are widely used. Our team use them for personal and collective monthly logs and we then engage in collective sensemaking using some of the other tools mentioned here (e.g. enablers of change). The table below shows my current personal log headings and questions, very slightly adapted for my own preferences.
2. Understanding and capturing value
If I want to understand and/or capture the value of a process, event, project, I like to use the 6 Box Revaluation tool, described in a blog here.
What I love about the six box exercise is that it can be done on my own, as I listen to people tell the story of their work. It can be done as a group activity, with flip charts and post it notes.
It’s about storytelling from each of our perspectives, noticing what we noticed and it’s a beautiful blend of ‘hard’ data and evidence, sensing, feeling and reflective practice. It is also forward looking, helping us to envision the future transformative potential of relationships and connections that are being created. It’s a brilliant way to help people think about the tangible and the intangible change. It simply asks…
What can you count? Or what ‘could’ be counted that you’d need to find a way to calculate or work out?
What can you see, hear, feel and touch?
What connections are being made? What relationships are being developed? And what do you sense/know about the transformational potential of these connections and relationships in the future?
The approach also distinguishes between what is visible and invisible, which is so important.
Examples: Most recently, we used this method to capture the value and impact of the GM Moving conference. It was fun, revealing and could be done with celebratory chocolates in hand. I have also used it recently to help people step back and see the value of their own work (when supporting another organisation’s board away day). As I listened to a range of local and national contributors to the Pivot work in Greater Manchester, I used it to help me capture the value of their work, which I am now turning into a blog.
3. Looking forward and planning
At my best, when I want to look forward and plan, I start by looking back first! Then, I take the learnings and reflections from journey mapping, ripple Mapping, the six box value and/or the What? So, what? thinking… then use one of the following processes:
Now, What? At this point, Rolfe’s questions above, might help me to think about what I need to do next, or what I need to think or be next.
A theory of change process, such as this one which our Children and Young People have developed for their work.
3. Understanding influences and drivers of change
If I want to understand what is influencing something, I like to use our adapted version of the socio ecological model. It helps us to think about all the influences on behaviour at scale or at an individual, family, team or community level. I have used this in many and varied situations over recent years and it is always a valuable conversation and process.
We can ask questions like this to help us think and understand:
What are the ……. Influences?
What is in our sphere of control or influence to change?
How?
What might help?
What might get in the way?
Who can influence the things that we don’t have control over?
How can we support that process?
A brilliant example of how this model can be used as a design and thinking tool is the Right to the Streets work, led by Eve Holt. She developed the whole approach around this model and you can see how it translated into action and change in the final report.
The enablers for change have been born out of our work in Greater Manchester, thanks to the embedded researchers and the realist evaluation approach of the Substance Consortia with Sheffield Hallam University. We use these all the time in our work and they continue to be useful in new and varied ways.
There is a rich and deep body of research, data and evidence that sit underneath these, which you can explore here.
Again, at their simplest they can be used as a set of questions to look back, take stock of the current position, and/or think about what needs to happen next. It’s a great way to organise our thinking and ensure that our approach is evidence based. Here are some examples of questions we could use. We have questions like this for all five enablers of change:
Involving local people and growing assets: To what extent are local people currently involved in influencing, designing, or implementing solutions to enable active lives? What more could you do to work with local people in your local area on an ongoing basis? What would help this/get in the way of this?
Strategic leadership enabling collective leadership: To what extent is strategic leadership enabling distributed leadership to enable active lives? What more could you do/could change to ensure greater strategic leadership (belief or agency), or to enable wider and more diverse collective leadership?
Effective work across and between sectors: To what extent have you built trust and strong relationships across sectors? To what extent are there effective partnership(s) with a common agenda aligned to the mission?
Transforming governance and processes: What are the governance and administrative processes that are helping or hindering progress? What have you had to work around? How have you managed it and what have you learnt? What is still in the way? What is in your sphere of control of influence here? What system, process or governance changes would enable greater change and impact?
Learning and adapting: What processes are in place (or can you develop) to critically reflect, learn and adapt to better enable active lives? How are you bringing in insight, data and best practice from elsewhere to support your ongoing practice?
In reflecting on those enablers for change above, and in using many of these tools in fact, we need to be clear about what is in our sphere of concern, control and influence. We have limited time, capacity, resource, energy and will. There is a perennial question about whether we ‘go where the energy is’ or keep banging our heads against brick walls. When 90% of the doors are open, how much time do we spend searching for a key to those that are locked?
This diagram (again, turned into a set of questions) helps us to reflect on:
The things we are concerned about that are getting in the way of change.
The things we or others around us can influence.
The things are have direct control over and can crack on with.
This isn’t about being defeatist, and we may need colleagues, coaches, mentors or our children (in my case), to challenge our beliefs and assumptions about where we draw these circles. For example, I might assume I have no influence or control over national government policy or what goes on in board rooms or government circles. But there are many and varied ways that we can all influence bottom-up, so let’s name the enablers and barriers to change, then use this diagram to help us reflect on which levers we and others can pull.
Getting below the surface. Another model I have been introduced to in recent years is the iceberg model. This is brilliant for thinking about, naming and making explicit the things that are going on beneath the surface. This is so needed and powerful. It has given me a sense of permission, and the language to ask different questions, to help get to the root cause of where culture, systems, processes or people might be stuck. I use it as a personal tool to check my own thoughts, feelings, behaviours and actions. I use it in coaching and mentoring and I use it in group work when planning projects and approaches to the work. It is brilliant.
The questions on the slide are good in some contexts. In reflective practice or coaching I turn them into questions like:
What assumptions am I making?
What are my beliefs about this (that might be getting in the way)?
What systems, processes or rules might be getting in the way?
What behaviours or attitudes are at play?
Then how might all those things be showing up in the patterns, trends, events and outcomes?
This model works brilliantly alongside Immunity to Change (Lahey and Keegan). It helps to unlock ‘stuckness’ at an individual and group level. The book has brilliant tools in, and this video helps to walk you through the process.
4. Understanding my role and contribution or helping others’ to understand theirs (past, present or future).
One of my all time favourite tools is this one. I was introduced to it by Rene Barrett in a personal resilience workshop in 2017. It has changed my life and many others lives too. Again, it can be turned into a brilliant set of questions to help me and others think back, think about now, and think about the future. It can be used as a self assessment tool and a planning tool. For example, if I ask myself these questions about my current role and contribution:
On a scale of 1-10 how much is my current role made up of what I love, what the world needs, what I am good and and what I can have a paid role to do… then I end up with 4 ‘scores’.
Then I can ask myself: “what would need to change to make that 5 a 6?” or what might I do differently, more of, less off to dial up those scores in all areas?
Why does our ikigai matter in the context of this blog? Because we do our BEST work and make our most valuable contribution when we are in that sweet spot in the middle!
My speech to the GM Moving conference, March 2024.
In 30 years of my career so far, I have never been so proud, hopeful and optimistic about the work we are doing and have been doing together here in Greater Manchester.
Movement matters to all of us. It matters to you, your family, your colleagues and your community and yet, it was being designed-out of life. So together we are creating the conditions and designing it back in. For everyone. Changing culture, policy, the environment, working with all sectors, organisations and people.
We are growing a movement together and everyone is playing their part. We are taking an innovative approach. Because past approaches were having limited impact at scale.
I, and we are testing, learning, failing, learning and adapting – as we work to address inequalities and inactivity. Because we understand the strong relationship between them. We are influencing nationally and locally to shift economic and social drivers of inactivity like poverty, racism, ableism, misogyny, ageism, homophobia, transphobia and class discrimination. We are working towards a world where justice for people and planet is top of our hierarchy of values.
We are using our collective influence and voice for change-making moving everyone’s business. Unlocking and aligning resource and capacity towards our shared mission: Active Lives for All.
We are growing strategic leadership that supports the collective leadership, of everyone here and beyond this room. We are all growing community strength and power. We are working across sectors because we all have a role to play- including you, you community leaders, you coaches, you planners and architects, you doctors and policy makers. You supporters and inspirers.
We have believers and agents of change for this mission everywhere.
We are transforming our ways of working, and leading with courage to influence everything that gets in the way of our people and our communities- realising our potential.
And change is possible….
Despite some fierce headwinds, Greater Manchester was reducing inactivity at nearly three times the rate of change nationally before the pandemic. And we have recovered twice as quickly as the national rate.
This work has been a priority here since 2015 and will continue to be.
We have a long way to go, and we are going there together. International, national and local evidence shows that this more systemic approach is necessary. Our biggest opportunity lies in the power we have in this room, to change culture: challenge and shift dominant worldviews that drive beliefs and assumptions that drive policy, decisions and investment… that drive behaviours …. at scale.
I see, feel and hear evidence of that every day. You will see, feel and hear it too. You’ll experience it today, in everything you see, hear and do. Because right here, right now at this conference, we are changing ideas about what this work is and how we do it…even what we wear and how much we move in the process!
This is a conference that moves and makes change happen. It takes a different kind of leadership and practice. It’s human. It’s about relationships. It’s about flattening hierarchies and bringing people with different perspectives together. We are changing the rules and changing the culture and practice of work, to make greater change possible.
It is powerful. And impactful.
You and your relationships are the beating heart of this movement. They are the greatest catalyst for influence and change. So, build more, and more diverse relationships that grow belief and action as you play your part and grow this movement. You are all GM Moving movers and shakers. It’s who you are and it’s what you do…. the ripple effect of this conference goes far beyond this day and these rooms. People here from across GM and from Wales, London, Devon and beyond all unlocking potential to Unite the Movement nationally, and globally.
I am so proud of the change you are making through this work. And I’m more hopeful than ever about how much further and deeper we can go together. I am especially proud of my team and all those connected to us, who have designed and delivered this conference with ease and skill… And I am grateful to Eve – the glue who has held it all together, who will now guide us to the rest of our day.
My quarterly opportunity to remove myself from the day-to-day patterns and routines of being, thinking and doing, and create some space to learn and develop my understanding. Last time I was here in Bronte Country, it was autumn. I was writing about relationships and connection, and how they are key to influencing change. I was learning about Metcalf’s Law of exponential growth.
Back in the ‘real’ work, these blogs evolved and rippled out, then led into a walk and talk about atomic physics, which led to this one– about how the thinking and work we do in one place and at one time, can hold value in multiple places, times and possibly dimensions!
Starting with a period of reflection on that what, how, so what, and what next of my retreating process has been good this morning. To remind myself what I’ve already learnt about process, value, results, relationships, and outcomes. It has also taken me back to the dictionary, Chat GPT and etymology of words and language.
Preparing to retreat.
I am learning more about how to create the conditions for this retreating process and am enjoying how in the lead up to a retreat, I start to notice patterns, observe conversations and questions in new ways, as I wonder where the retreat will take my head, heart, and hands? I wonder what change will come out of this process this time.
I stay with Sam- a friend, and (at for a short period, a connected colleague). We walk, talk, eat, think. She goes to her work in between, and I go to the attic to retreat. Sam still works in a parallel world to me, so the things I’m thinking and writing about are always relevant and we enjoy thinking together. Our conversations flow in all sorts of directions. We hold on to some thoughts, and let others go.
There’s an irony that I notice, as I start to put conditions on the ‘success’ or otherwise of the retreat.…. “The retreat is only of value if I produce a blog or two, or three and read a book”. “The thinking and process is lacking in value if I don’t make it visible and tangible to myself and others”. I potentially restrict the opportunity for deep thinking, learning and creativity by putting rules, targets and boundaries around it. This is amusing to observe. And it’s relevant to the questions that are on my mind this time… what is real work? When is something a process and when is it an outcome? I realise how ingrained the culture, beliefs and mindsets are about ‘real’ and ‘fluffy’ work which is mentioned in the blog on relationships as outcomes.
Current questions and challenges.
As is becoming the norm, I’ve reflected and checked in with some colleagues this week ahead of the retreat. I love the patterns and connections that emerge from what comes back. In a desire to respond to those I ask, I naturally try to integrate their questions. This is always possible because everything is connected. Here’s some what I got back in response to my invitation and has risen to the surface as I start to think….
“My head is still in relationships as outcomes.”
“[The] constant and inappropriate nature of the response to the problems we describe.”
“[the need for/chances of?] transformation in a time of budget reductions”
“[The importance of] maintaining relationships and partnerships where individual organisations are facing overwhelming demand”
“The constant desire to find a technical solution to an adaptive challenge. How do we unbake this? Establishing a new paradigm around public service leadership feels a bit of a holy grail in this space”.
“Scaling: challenges and hopes associated with it [e.g. process of scaling up place-based work]
“When navigating complexity, challenge and threat, strong and trusted relationships, networks, and connections are key. There is a risk that the financial challenges will undermine years of work if the system is fragile. Relationships and depth of trust feels important. It would be good to explore that.”
These questions are all relevant to my work, and I’ll try to explore them all in this piece.
Where to begin?
Reflecting on all the contributions above, I have decided to start with the questions I am holding about relationships as outcomes. Understanding more about this feels fundamental to the rest.
Relationships as outcomes- what does this mean?
I had been left with a lingering question, following my podcast with Prof Carolyn Wilkins and some subsequent conversations. Reading this article and talking to Carolyn, I realise I haven’t fully understood the idea of ‘relationships as an outcome’. I am going to explore this question, in the context of the challenges posed above, and see what I find along the way. As is often useful, I’ve started with some dictionary definitions.
Relationship: The way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected….The way in which two or more people or groups regard and behave towards each other…. An emotional association between two people.
Outcome: The way a thing turns out, a consequence… a final product or result; consequence; issue. A conclusion reached through a process….the result or effect of an action or event.
Which led me to a question: what is the difference between an outcome and a result?
“Result” generally refers to the consequence of a specific action or event. It focuses on the immediate or direct consequence of something that has occurred.
“Outcome,” on the other hand, typically refers to the result or consequence of a series of actions, events, or processes.
I turned to Chat GPT for another perspective. I asked: Is a relationship an outcome? The reply: “A relationship can be considered both a process and an outcome, depending on how you view it. Let’s break it down…
Relationship as process: Relationships involve ongoing interactions, communication, and shared experiences between individuals. In this sense, a relationship is a dynamic process that evolves over time. It requires effort, understanding, and continuous involvement from all parties involved to nurture and sustain the connection.
Relationship as outcome:On the other hand, a relationship can also be seen as an outcome or result of the efforts put into building and maintaining it. The quality of a relationship is often measured by the level of connection, trust, and mutual understanding that has been established over time.
In summary, a relationship is not solely an outcome; it’s a continuous process that leads to a certain state or condition. The outcome of a relationship is influenced by the ongoing efforts and dynamics involved in the relationship-building process. This means I can let go of my search for a binary answer to the question, in recognition of the fact that relationships are both processes and outcomes. What I realised, in talking to Sam about this on our lunchtime walk, is that both of us have intentionally prioritised and relationship building in our work over recent years. We both have deep learning and experience of the value and importance of this. The relationships we develop in work, both hold value in and of themselves AND for the secondary outcomes they generate. There is both an immediate value and a transformative future potential of relationships.
I explored the this is the context of my closest and strongest working relationships, using a Ripple Mapping approach, and noticing the:
timeline of events, activities, and interactions
sliding doors moments
catalysing events
transformative conversations
enabling and limiting processes and factors
moments or periods of friction, dissonance, and challenge within the relationship and their consequences (positive and negative).
potential risks to the relationship and how we mitigated them.
periods of externally driven force or challenge and their consequences (positive and negative)
It was fascinating. Here’s some of what emerged for me:
The value of strong, open, trusted relationships as primary outcomes (the value in the relationship in and of itself)
Sharing ideas. Working as thinking partners.
Critique, check and challenge (mindsets, behaviours, and work)
Sharing and naming our biggest questions and challenges
Pointing each other to learning, reading, resources, tools etc.
The secondary value or outcomes of the relationship (the value of what is produced or changed because the relationship is strong). There is value in relationships which is seen, felt, heard, immediate, future, visible and invisible to self and others.
Growing confidence, clarity, skill, capacity and capability.
Thinking, and behaving differently because of the influence of the other.
Change in thinking or approach leading to breakthroughs, innovation or change.
Challenges navigated more expertly/easily. Conflict avoided, resolved or transformed.
Collective and aligned leadership, stronger leadership in organisations and systems.
Better navigation through crises and dramas.
Positively influencing others because there is alignment and integration in the relationship.
Being able to influence more widely, in more than one place at a time (with shared mission).
Greater confidence in the people, the group, their organisations… resulting in more ‘investment’ or support.
People trust in you/the relationship/partnership which in turn gives trust and confidence in the work you’ll do. This can then translate into doing more work with you, investing in you.
More people galvanising behind an idea.
People going on to do something differently because of the time spent together.
Networks and webs of strong relationships are preconditions for value to emerge
Magnetic effect, contribution, accretion of effort to the mission.
Alignment and integration.
Virtuous circles, ripple effects, tipping points
What do what we (and others) see, feel, experience, and hear in our best working relationships:Openness. Authenticity. Complete trust. Reciprocity. Aligned values and principles. Support, care, concern. Confidentiality. Personal and professional connection. Commitment. Understanding. Alignment. Celebration of difference. Appreciative. Taking responsibility. Showing gratitude. Saying sorry. Relational, not transactional.
What are we being and doing in these relationships? Deep listening. Reflecting. Thinking outside and beyond the conversation and coming back to it. Respecting difference and diversity of experience and thought. Being present. Sharing a commitment to the same mission/questions. Demonstrating resilience and tenacity on shared challenges and missions. Challenging and stretching. Connect each other to new/different people, then stepping aside. Taking accountability and responsibility – doing what we say we will do. Having fun! Laughing (even in the face of adversity). Allowing the relationship to evolve and change over time.
Can this be measured? If there is value is in relationships as primary and secondary outcomes, and relationship building is not only real work (not fluffy) but essential work, then is it possible to make them visible and count or measure them, as a bridge to the old world need for measurement? The re:valuation model is useful for this. There are tools and methods that can be used to track and trace relationships. We’ve done some of it ourselves: stakeholder mapping, using kumu, ripple effect mapping, 6 boxes to reveal value. These can be worthwhile proxy steps as we build confidence and certainty that relationship building is real work: on the way to a world where this is deeply understood and we don’t need to spend precious time proving it.
Case Study- How relationships matter in practice: Place based, whole systems approach to inactivity and inequality. Scaling up, spreading, and growing what’s good. To bring this into the real world and the real work, and to respond to one of the questions from the colleagues above, I have reflected on the importance of relationships as outcomes in the place based, whole systems approach that I have been leading for the past 7 years. The challenges and dilemmas referred to in the article all played out in the early days of this work.
This quote from the article resonates from the Bill Bannear article resonates with how I felt in the early years of this work.
“…… wants evidence of the tangible outcomes that will arise ...‘well, we don’t know. But what we do know is that this is going to create a lot of new and novel relationships that have never existed before, and we think that’s the key to unlocking the value you want,’ we argue.
We collectively held our nerve, and although this journey has been challenging, we’ve navigated it together. I’ve talked about it in the bonus edition of this Local Pilot podcast series. As we practiced and learnt, we did spend a disproportionate amount of energy and time holding the space for this new way of working to emerge.
We needed to spend time building strong, trusted relationships, co-create principles and ways of working, bring people across sectors, places and systems together in a web of relationships and networks with a common mission and a sense of one team. At times we have put the pressure on ourselves to jump to solutions, demonstrate early/immediate tangible results, or offer a direct line of sight from investment to outputs and outcomes. I had sleepless nights worrying about it, and I sense we will see some of the same anxieties surface in other places as the approach spreads and grows. It is a normal, human response to uncertainty and ambiguity. This work is about enabling and catalysing effect, as described in the article, and that is a massive paradigm shift in leadership culture.
As Bannear says:
We need to stop trying to design the solution, and instead design for the conditions that enable the emergence of many solutions.
Fostering more, quality and trusted relationships is a critical enabler of that emergence.
For the catalysers of complex system change (often government), that means starting to value relationships as a key outcome.
Hope and optimism
We now have a bank of evidence and data from the external, embedded researchers that demonstrates the importance of relationships with clarity and certainty, and there is plenty of evidence in other systems and missions, nationally and globally. We also have tools, resources, leadership development programmes, webinars, mentors, coaches, (and therapists!) who can help. So, we are not in the dark or on our own. We have learnt a lot together. I’ve written about the why, the what and the how of this in recent weeks. This work starts with building relationships and trust, and it unleashes the potential of people and communities everywhere towards the shared mission. And it will require us, to rebuild trust where it has been broken, the time and space for relationships and value to emerge. The importance of this can’t be overstated. The pressure and impatience for outputs and outcomes mustn’t allow the relationship building process to be rushed, but the good news is that doing practical work together is one of the best ways of building relationships- and that’s not fluffy at all.
When does this matter most? Working under pressure and strain.
What does all this mean for the questions above about conflict, pressure, dissonance, and strain? In the context of current financial and demand pressures in public services, health, and voluntary sectors, we are being tested and challenged in ways we have never experienced in our careers. I have seen strong, resilient, usually cheerful, and optimistic people being brought to their knees and to tear, in recent years. It makes me sad, angry, fearful, and concerned for their wellbeing, for the vital work they do and for people and communities they serve. And yet, I also see them getting up every day and carry on. Bracing themselves and lifting themselves up to find new routes and solutions- in adaptive, iterative, relational ways. All in service of the mission and their commitment to equity and justice. And I see relationships tested to their limits. I see, feel, and hear behaviours that are helpful, and those that are not. I see trust built, and trust eroded. I see relationships fracture. I see relationships formed. And when relationships are formed, built, tested and thriving, I see more positive secondary outcomes- better work, greater depth and scale of change. New solutions.
Another challenge is that key relationships can change because peoples roles change. Every time this happens, there is a risk to the trust and alignment that has been secured. Over recent years that process of change has felt more rapid rate than previously, particularly after the pandemic, and in some sectors more than others. The question here is, can relationships help secure an ethos of working that outlives the actual actors involved? Or is the value time limited?
So, are relationships both processes and outcomes?
Yes. I believe they are. Relationship building is a process, and a primary outcome. And it produces value and secondary outcomes. Relationships hold potential for future transformative change. Relationship building is vital, real work. We could measure them, track them, trace them, analyse them. We could monitor how weak or strong the ties are. And/or we could teach, learn and experience the characteristics of strong, open, trusted relationships. We could create the conditions for our people and teams to prioritise relationships and call it real work. Then/or we could simply let people get on with the natural, human work of being connected and in relation to each other.
And let the outcomes flow…. And grow….. with more joy in work, more resilience under strain, and more impactful results.
Where does this take us next? What questions emerging next?
As I draw this to a conclusion, I’m left with hope and confidence. We have learnt to much. We can trust the process now, putting relational approaches and measures at the heart of our work. We can design our organisations and develop teams that recognise the full value of relationships; spending time and energy on developing them and knowing that this is real work.
Aside from writing, I have spend a large part of this week on personal development reviews, giving and receiving 360 feedback, reflecting on data and evidence and analysing staff, partner and other feedback in preparation for our Board away day. I have also spent time with colleagues from other Active Partnerships, Sport England, and local partners from the GM system. Relationships are growing and strengthening all the time and it feels me with confidence that we are on to something.
With the spread and grow of place-based approaches to tackle a range of structural and societal challenges, including inactivity and inequality, it’s worth a pause to remind ourselves of whywe have moved in this direction. This blog is the forward to another, which focuses on the other questions we are commonly asked: what is a whole systems, place based approach? How do we ‘do’ it? How do we know if it’s working? This is all covered here, with links, blogs and podcasts galore.
But first….
Why the move to a whole system, place-based approach?
We were experiencing a nationwide crisis of inactivity. What we had been doing throughout my career wasn’t working for the outcomes we sought:
The approach of the previous 20 years; a delivery model with a focus on individualised interventions was failing to improve population levels of physical activity.
Physical activity was in decline, and we saw a widening of inequalities.
The challenge of inactivity was growing and the cost of inactivity to society was worsening.
Complex structural and societal issues around inequality, climate, obesity and more, were also worsening and compounding.
A collective awakening (2015-18). Confronting the brutal realities of where we were.
This period was characterised by a collective recognition of the cost of inactivity and the need for a whole system approach. My recollection is that this was thanks, in part to Dr William Bird and his powerful presentations, which helped us to understand and articulate the impact of inactivity in new ways.
William’s explanation of the cellular level impact on mitochondria and inflammation, it’s resulting impact on people, and the multi-faceted challenges and costs of inactivity to the population, communities, society, and the public purse were the enlightening. His generosity in sharing this work freely, and even coaching me to tell the mitochondria story for myself is something I will always be grateful for.
Around the same time, the Global Alliance on Physical Activity produced a document that stopped me in my tracks. “Investments that work” opened the door to an alternative approach that I’d been longing for.
Looking back, I can remember where I was when I read it, and can see the ripple effect of the impact it has had. It and other work going on during this period catalysed the shift from a belief that individualised interventions, projects, and programmes were the solution, towards a recognition that there were many wider determinants and influences on active lives and health inequalities, and that a much wider lens was needed.
Alongside this, the emergence of systems thinking in the physical activity arena, with a series of workshops and presentations that Debbie Sorkin and the Leadership Centre were doing, gave us an alternative way of thinking, working and leading that would help us deliver the whole system approach that the GAPA document required. Here are some slides from a similar presentation to the Kings Fund.
My discovery of Brene Brown’s leadership work at this time aligned with systems leadership thinking. It felt more natural and authentic, and it turns out it’s what this work needed. When I moved to Manchester in 2017, I made an active decision to be more myself at work, and lead in ways that aligned to the principles Greater Manchester stood for. Thanks to early feedback from colleagues, I was reassured that I could be authentically me, and it was helping the work.
Like many, I had spent a large part of my career trying to fit into a culture of leadership and work that was uncomfortable at times and unhelpful or damaging at worst. Competition, RAG ratings, league tables and leading to prove ourselves had been commonplace, when the problems we were trying to solve required collaboration, deep trust, leading and learning to improve.
The understanding of behaviour change was growing and deepening, but the overall still approach focussed too heavily on the idea that if we can support capability, motivation, and opportunities for individuals, we can achieve population scale change. We needed to understand more about the systemic nature of the problem, and how culture change and system change support behaviour change at scale. We embedded these models into the ways of working for GM Moving and keep developing our understanding of them in practice today.
We also needed to move beyond the mindset and language of ‘participation’ in sport and physical activity, to working across systems to address all the influences on active lives and widen the lens towards a movement for movement– which includes, but is not limited to sport and physical activity. We had definitely moved on from questioning the value and contribution of walking for leisure or travel, but were still having too many arguments in some circles about whether gardening counts during this period! We could be sure that any movement counts, if were were designing moving back into life.
We did some valuable work with Nicky Hawkins (previously Frameworks Institute, now Heard) and continue to work closely with her as we develop the narrative around this work. I’ve written about this before here.
Catalysing and maturing a whole system approach. (2017-21)
Greater Manchester has been growing a movement and a whole system approach since the first Blueprint for Change in 2015. I’ve written reams about this journey, and the learning that has spun out of it. The first GM Moving (whole system, place based) strategy was launched in 2017, and embedded researchers from the Re:valuation collective, Substance and Sheffield Hallam University have been helping us evaluate and learn about the change, progress, and maturity of the approach since 2018.
Embedding and maturing (2021-4)
The adoption of a place-based whole of systems approach is becoming much more widespread. Evidence from this work and beyond, shows we are now on a better track. We can be more and more confident that this approach is worth pursuing. The focus on closing inequality gaps and understanding structural and systemic inequalities was growing, and in the years that followed, the Covid-19 pandemic shone a light on those realities, that should never be forgotten.
Nationally, the 12 local delivery pilots and other place based, systems work provided promising early evidence that the approach has the potential to work at scale. There is evidence that incremental system level change and ongoing learning are helping create population scale change, which will be even faster if wider structural inequalities are addressed.
Spreading, and growing. 2024 and beyond
There is growing confidence in the approach, and a deeper understanding of what this work takes; of us as individuals, of our organisations and of local systems. If we are going to move further, faster, and deeper in this work to address inactivity and inequality, we need these things, and more:
A Marmot approach to the work to tackle inactivity and inequalities. We have become clearer about how a universal and targeted approach works in practice, helped by the Greater Manchester commitment to being a ‘Marmot City Region‘, and by the way that this approach is embedded in Uniting the Movement in principle and practice. This approach is integral to the latest GM Moving in Action strategy, launched in 2021.
Draw on evidence and learning in this work, the strategy is demonstrating a positive correlation between these methods and the positive trends in active lives data over the initial years.
New approaches to measurement and tracking change; looking for is ‘traces in a system’- i.e. visible signs that society / places are shifting towards shifting physical activity inequalities.
A succinct way of confidently articulating the value and impact/change in the existing political system and climate.
Personal and professional development support for teams, boards, and others to understand how this approach is different, how to play their part and how to know what is helping/not helping.
As the approach expands its reach, it is important to translate and apply lessons from the pilot phase to create conditions that are conducive to widespread and sustainable change: a continuous learning and adaptation approach will be vital to deepen understanding of what works and why.
The National Evaluation and Learning Partnership have done some brilliant work and are bringing tools and resources together to support all our place based work, including webinars and visuals to help us better understand system maturity, the drivers of change and how to go about this work in practice- starting with what is strong and working in ways that can be adapted to our context, no matter what kind of place we are working in. There are two useful videos where Katie Shearn explains these model below and how to use it in your work, here and this video explains more about measurement and value in this approach.
We need to keep learning and practicing, so we better understand whole systems approaches in action. We need to hold our nerve and continue collective investment into the approach for the long term. Complex societal issues and structural inequalities are not fixed in the short term. We need to keep understanding our role and contribution and how to explain it to others as we learn more about what is helping to create the conditions for change.
Our own individual development
Throughout this journey, we have been learning about the kind of leadership and work that is needed for us to play our part. There has been a growing recognition that there are mindsets, beliefs, practices and ways of working that help us in this work.
Who am I relating to, and how? Who do I need to be relating to
How well am I collaborating?
How am I acting? With courage, creativity, optimism and perserverence?
What is helping or hindering my personal contribution to this work? And what kind of stretch and challenge do I need to help me play my part with greater effectiveness and impact.
The Inner Development Goals sit well alongside the work of the National Evaluation and Learning Partnership, on our Pointers for Leadership Practice and many other individual development tools that have emerged from this work nationally and locally. There is a widespread recognition now that investing time and resource in the people is vital.
Having taken a personal trip down memory lane, this is my personal WHY of this approach?
What we had been doing wasn’t tackling the population scale challenge we had. We had been picking low hanging fruit to satisfy targets and by doing so, totally missing the point and the bigger opportunity we had.
If I have a finite time to make my personal contribution – to create the conditions for people to enjoy the value of an active life- this feels like the best way to work, to have a meaningful impact in my lifetime, for current and future generations.
This way of working is more purposeful and joyful. I am not in competition with anyone. My job is to unlock the potential contributions of all those around me, in service of the shared mission. That lends itself to the human, relational ways of working that make me smile every day. Because humans, building relationships, to make the world a happier, healthier place is bloody good work to spend my days doing!
Thanks to Tim Crabbe, Dr Katie Shearn, Scott Hartley and Steven Pleasant for contributions and great questions.
We’re 3 years on from the launch of Uniting the Movement, 6 years on from the start of the Local Delivery Pilot work in Greater Manchester, and nearly 7 years on from the launch of the first GM Moving whole system plan.
Place based, whole systems approaches continue to spread and grow, and this January, I’ve taken some time to reflect on the most frequently asked questions, and what we’ve learnt so far.
This article focuses on these questions; What is this approach? What’s my role? How do I play and practice it? How do I know if it’s helping to create the conditions for change? How do I understand the role and contribution that I make, and my organisation?
I’ve put together some links to things I’ve previously written, and things that have been produced in Greater Manchester or in our collective work with the National Evaluation and Learning Partnership. I’ll keep adding to this and pointing to other resources, and please let me know if you would like to add something to it.
There are lots of resources, stories, podcasts and reports on the GM Moving website. Have a browse here.
Specifically, there are place by place podcasts and articles on the GM Place Partner work (Local Delivery Pilot) that will be of interest to those starting place based work or involved in the place partnerships work with Sport England. And here are more links to the GM Moving and Place work from recent years:
I have taken a personal trip down memory lane, and shared some thoughts about why we moved to a whole system approach to inactivity and inequalities, why I believe we’re on to something, what the evidence so far is showing, and how this approach brings me more purpose and joy in the work.
Taking a whole system, movement building, place based approach
Hayley Lever 