“Everyone has more power than they realise. We just don’t encourage people to use it.”
Part of a series of posts written by the Directors’ Network, supported by One Team Gov and the National Leadership Centre
We’re writing this blog post to continue our series on growing the community of Directors committed to collective leadership, co-creation and building cultures that support collaboration.
Leading public services has always been tough — we have to tackle complex societal issues which no single organisation can face alone, especially during these times. As public sector leaders, Directors are at the forefront of this, wrestling with the systemic and interrelated nature of many issues.
We had our fifteenth directors breakfast, where we built on the conversation we had with Alex Thomas from the Institute for Gov at the last breakfast call. We had an open conversation session about the future — where we want to get to and what we could do to start to building towards it.
Postcards from the future
We used a simple and quick visioning activity called “Postcards from the future” where we imagined what the Directors’ Network might look and feel like in 2025.
These are our community narratives about our dreams for this space.
For that, we channelled Stephen Covey to “begin with the end in mind.”
…what do we want to create with our lives? What really matters to us? How might we find the time and space to imagine a better future?
We imagined the future, possibilities, and how things could be different. We thought about the big things, so that we know that the small things are moving us in the right direction.
By 2025 we imagined that we would find balance and stability. The directors described how they hoped 2025 would feel…
It feels good to have arrived and positive to be in 2025, where difference of people, diversity is valued. Where we act as “One Public Service” co-creating and co-designing with others.
But we long for something bigger and more ambitious. The bolder our dreams are, the more meaningful change we can make. In a post-crisis world, we are not going back to the way things were.
A bolder vision for 2025
Instead, here’s our thinking for a bold and meaningful public service of the future…
1. We are democratising the way we work
We work anywhere and everywhere: at home and overseas, with family, friends, and people we would never normally meet.
The idea of never seeing our colleagues again face-to-face terrifies some of us — working remotely all of the time is not how we’re supposed to live. So, we’re blending our approach.
We have the autonomy and trust to choose.
2. We are connecting the dots
We are part of a common, collaborative effort. We’re creating and harnessing the power of connections. We’re learning to see our organisations as a collection of connections and patterns of relationships that we can deepen.
We’re working alongside others in the wider system of government: the whole is always more than the simple sum of its parts. We’re paying attention to the whole systems and their interconnectedness, interdependency, and interrelationships.
3. We keep sight of who we work for
We make assumptions and decisions that affect a lot of people across the country — and we’re not good at hearing from them in those places. But, these people have voices, too. The people most impacted by our decisions are often not involved in making them, both internally and externally.
We’re making collaborative work across organisational boundaries easier: by sharing power with others in decision making, including the people that matter most in our work, and listening to people affected by the decisions we make.
4. We are learning to practice co-creation authentically and inclusively
This is a place where people are effective together, where we are supporting and nourishing one another. We are safe to explore, experiment, and be ourselves.
We’re embedded within our local communities: the context matters, and we are paying attention to the past, present, and future. What has come before matters as much as what we’re trying to bring forth.
How can we continue to come together in a shared human endeavour?
5. We are valuing difference
Our difference is valued here. We are creating spaces which feel welcoming for all people. This is a place of creativity of thought, diversity of character, social mobility, age, personality, character, experiences, and values.
We understand that there are different depths that we operate at. That most of what we see about one another is at the surface. But, there is so much that is under the surface: our behaviour, polarities, conflicts, shared essences, and potential. We are creating the conditions that open up the possibilities for empathy, trust, and connections that are meaningful, purposeful, and real.
Above all, we are meeting people with kindness.
6. We are understanding that won’t get there if we don’t do it together.
We cannot change systems with the same thinking that built the current systems. We will have to change our mindset, behaviours, and practices. We know we need to think differently to create different systems to ones we have.
Everyone has more power than they realise. We don’t encourage people to use it. Perhaps we always had the power to change things and just didn’t see it?
We feel safe and secure to challenge what we believe in. We are learning to be more open and ourselves. We are working through things, and learning from the contexts what we’re in. We are not going round in circles before coming back to the exact same things, time and time again.
So, how much do we really want to change about our systems?
Reflection
Envisaging the future(s) was a real shift from our day to day and for a short while, lifted us out of the storms we’re currently in. Often the hardest thing in spaces like these is that it can feel like we’re doing nothing — and the urge will always be to move towards the obvious answer available, which is “action”.
But this is the work.
Seeds of individual and collective transformation lie in thoughtful, authentic, and meaningful conversations. Conversations that invoke possibilities from the future and provide a space for us to collectively reimagine a more beautiful world. We can use the opportunity we have right now to create long lasting change.
There is no power for change greater than this community discovering what it cares about. This community is a safe holding space for delving into these kinds of inquiry, which would, otherwise, have been too daunting for us to take up on our own.
We know that bedding in is a challenge for new Directors. It is not as it was, but it is not as it could be either. So, we are developing this community for the directors that are not yet here. We know they will need it — as we have done.
The next call will be held on Thursday 17 December from 8.30–9.30am, where we will be joined by Victor Perton, advisor and founder of the Centre for Optimism, who will be leading a discussion on, “What makes you optimistic?” In these times of change, how we relate with each other has never been so important. If you are a civil or public servant and would like to join this session, e-mail: csdirectors@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.
We look forward to seeing you there!
