Creating the Conditions for Change: The Need for Adaptive Spaces
By: Kyla Avis, Tanya Verrall & Marc Harris, PhD
“The world doesn’t change one person at a time. It changes as networks of relationships form among people who discover they share a common cause and visions of what’s possible.” — Margaret Wheatly
In large-scale, complex change, trust and relationships are vital. At NHS Horizons and the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council (HQC), we understand that the foundation of effective system transformation lies in building strong relationships. We are therefore increasingly focused on creating collaborative environments where trust can grow, and innovative ideas can flourish. Recently, we outlined why relationship building is fundamental to health system improvement. In this blog, we take this further and delve into the how — how do relationships create the right conditions for change?
The Role of Adaptive Spaces
Mary Uhl-Bien’s Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT) offers valuable insights into the spaces which create the conditions for change. According to CLT, system change often emerges from “everyday interactions of individuals responding to pressures and opportunities in their local context,” which foster new ideas and innovations. Yet, encouraging these interactions can be challenging within the traditionally hierarchical and siloed healthcare system.
Think of the tension between two key forces in any system: the entrepreneurial (or innovation) system and the operational system. These forces often find themselves at odds — one pushing for change and the other aiming to maintain stability. When faced with complex or ‘wicked’ problems, the instinct might be to impose order and control. However, in complex systems, a different approach is needed. We should aim to create adaptive spaces where diverse ideas, perspectives, and even conflicts can be harnessed to generate innovative solutions from collective insights. Adaptive spaces require the making of ‘new’ relationships, where different sectors or individuals come together to address complex challenges.
Understanding Adaptive Spaces
An adaptive space isn’t a physical place but an environment that facilitates the opportunity for innovative ideas and entrepreneurial ideas to flow into the mainstream way of working. It serves as a bridge between emerging ideas and established practices.
Mary Uhl-Bien and her colleagues suggest leveraging adaptive pressures, practices, and principles to navigate the balance between innovation and operation:
Pressures: Adaptive spaces should encourage individuals to step out of their comfort zones, fostering an environment where new ideas can be explored. Creating spaces for experimentation and creative tension can drive innovation.
Practices: Using adaptive practices like liberating structures, design thinking, and accelerated design events can help facilitate connections and manage conflicts. These methods support innovative thinking and problem-solving through structured collaboration.
Principles: To ensure adaptive spaces remain effective, principles such as networked learning and sharing should be embedded in the culture. These principles help sustain ongoing improvement and innovation.
Navigating Adaptive Systems Across Multiple Levels
Adaptive spaces work on multiple levels — from individuals and teams to entire organizations. Healthcare systems face the challenge of balancing the stability of operational structures with the need for innovation to tackle the complexities of health and care services.
At HQC and NHS Horizons, we act in a facilitative role within the healthcare system, creating adaptive spaces at both meso and macro levels. These spaces allow innovation and operational systems to address tensions together, creating environments where transformative ideas can emerge.
Case Studies in Action
NHS Horizons: NHS Horizons often bring together large numbers of people to co-create what a different future could look like. During these highly interactive improvement workshops, new ideas and solutions are generated to support large scale change. Large scale change requires learning our way to a new future. If we want to learn from the diverse perspectives and thinking of individuals who provide and receive care in any system, then we need ways of boosting insights, and rapidly making sense of the insights we each have every day. We combine Accelerated Design Event (ADE) methodology with Rapid Insight to create the collaborative intelligence required to unlock systemic change.
Health Quality Council: Recently, HQC launched a strategic program to improve older adults’ ability to ‘Thrive at Home’ in Saskatchewan, Canada. This program is complex given its multi-sectoral nature and existing disconnect amongst individuals and organizations working in this area. To create space to build relationships and allow creativity and innovation to emerge, we are using Accelerated Design Event (ADE) methodology with Rapid Insight as well as Impact Networks. ADEs bring together diverse groups to tackle challenges and identify actionable steps. These events foster connections, reveal various perspectives, and generate rapid insights that can spark new ideas. Inspired by the work of the Converge Network, we are developing an action community with participants who attended the ADE. This network aims to build connections, explore tensions, and find opportunities for collective action, establishing a sustainable framework for ongoing collaboration. To learn more, you can visit our website.
How have you approached relationship building across boundaries/sectors? What key lessons have you learned? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Looking Ahead
In our next article, we will explore approaches to measure the value of relationships over time and the value of relationship-building to drive change.
References:
- Leadership for organizational adaptability: A theoretical synthesis and integrative framework
- https://mbrjournal.com/2021/01/26/adaptive-space-shifting-from-structural-to-social-design/
- David Ehrlichman. Impact Networks: Create Connection, Spark Collaboration, and Catalyze Systemic Change. 2021. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Oakland, CA.
- https://horizonsnhs.com/adaptive-spaces-networks-and-a-challenge-called-spread/
