Leadership at every level: creating the conditions for change

In this article, Kate Copeland, with support from colleagues Andrew Laird, Anya Kemble and Catriona Moore, reflects on one of the biggest challenges places are facing when trying to embed relational public services: how to move beyond successful pilots and pockets of good practice to create lasting, system-wide change?

Drawing on discussions from the recent Towards Relational Public Services (TRIPS) Conference, where they led a workshop exploring the role of leadership in creating an enabling environment for change, the article reflects on how leadership needs to adapt as new ways of working mature. They argue that sustaining relational practice requires the conditions that allow it to scale, embed and ultimately become part of how organisations operate every day.

Across the public sector, there is a growing recognition that relational public services represent a better way of supporting communities, as well as working more effectively with limited resources. When services are designed around people and places, with a focus on relationships rather than outputs, outcomes improve, as does the experience of both residents and staff.  

In June, we had the pleasure of attending the Towards Relational Public Services (TRIPS) Conference. We wanted to explore a common challenge that many places are grappling with: how to move past a pilot or pocket of good practice and make change part of BAU. 

Drawing on our experiences working with places seeking to build relational public services, and informed by Mark Smith’s Three Environments, we developed a model to spark discussion about how leadership needs to evolve as change matures.  The model, based in the context of a local authority although applicable across public services, was not intended as a fixed framework or checklist, but as a practical lens for us to discuss how different parts of the system can contribute to the enabling environment and how leaders at every level, from Senior Leaders, Heads of Service and Practitioners play a distinct yet interconnected role in creating and sustaining change. 

The model was used as a tool to illustrate how leadership roles interact across three stages of maturity: 

• Early Adoption: creating space and permission for change 

• Scaling Change: aligning governance, systems and resources 

• Embedding Change: making relational working the default way of operating 

  
  

The discussion was rich and reinforced that in order to create an enabling environment across different stages of maturity, leadership needs to evolve across different levels and scales. Each level of leadership has distinct but interconnected responsibilities and must work together to enable new ways of working, as none can succeed in isolation. Of course, leading through change is not as simplistic as delivering one outcome, but we believe that this model helps to zero in on the most important change at each level. 

There were 3 key takeaways from the discussion 

1. Abundance of early adoption  

One of the strongest themes from the conversation was there are several examples of good practice in the early adoption stage of change. Teams, services and places across the UK are testing relational approaches, creating new partnerships and finding innovative ways to work alongside communities. The issue we face is not a lack of ideas or commitment to working differently, but that this practice exists in pockets, pilots, and relies on the good will of individuals. Across all of the examples discussed in the workshop, a common challenge is in scaling and embedding these to move beyond localised tests to become part of the default way the system operates.  

2. The model is not linear, leaders can be across all levels  

The conversation reinforced that these stages are not rigid nor do they fit neatly within a framework. Change rarely moves neatly from one stage to the next, and whilst the model describes stages across early adoption, scaling change and embedding change, there is a level of interconnectivity and overlap between these where leaders often find themselves operating in different stages simultaneously. What matters is understanding what kind of leadership is needed at each point and how different layers of the system contribute to progress.  

Importantly, the behaviours described within the model are not exclusive to any one level of leadership. Senior Leaders can (and should!) champion experimentation and learning, just as Practitioners can influence system change through insight and innovation. The stages therefore represent different types of leadership activity rather than a hierarchy of responsibility, with each building on and reinforcing the others. An interesting exercise for leaders would be picking a different level and challenging yourself to operate there for a day. By stepping out of your day to day, you will observe new challenges and opportunities. 

3. All leaders need to work together in order to embed and sustain change  

The third takeaway was that sustainable change relies on leadership being connected across the system. Practitioners, Heads of Service and Senior Leaders each have distinct roles to play, but none can succeed in isolation. Embedding change requires alignment between those testing new approaches, those translating learning into organisational practice, and those creating the strategic conditions for change to endure. When these layers of leadership are connected through regular formal and informal discussions, they create the conditions that allow relational approaches to take flight, adapt and become part of everyday practice. 

We are good at starting, but not travelling 

Across the conference, our own experience, and the reflections from our conversation, it is clear that we are often good at starting somewhere, but less successful at travelling. Everyone has an example of pockets of good practice, pilots and committed individuals creating new ways of working. However, there are far fewer examples of these approaches scaling across whole organisations or becoming embedded as the default way of working. 

This does not necessarily mean the approaches themselves are not appropriate. More often, progress becomes stuck because the wider leadership and system conditions have not shifted around the work. Existing governance, funding, commissioning, performance measures and organisational habits can continue to pull practice back towards older ways of working. When this happens, innovation becomes trapped in pockets, struggling to travel unless the wider system is actively aligned around it. 

The model is a useful conversation starter, but it is not the answer 

This model is not the be all and end all, and nor should it be. No model can fully capture the complexity of relational public services, systems change or the realities of public sector leadership. The value in this is not that it provides a checklist for leaders to follow, however feedback from our conversation was that an overarching model was useful to offer a shared understanding, language, and approach to help leaders start a conversation about their distinct role in the change journey and how they can work with their peers to effect system change.  

Importantly, our conversation reinforced the notion that sustainable change does not happen from one part of the system working better. It is reliant on leadership being interconnected, aligned, and focused on creating conditions for relational public services to embed and take flight.  

Whether you are a practitioner leading change through your daily interactions, a manager helping teams navigate uncertainty, or a senior leader shaping organisational conditions, each role matters.  

Does this resonate with you? We would love to hear your reflections, please contact kate.copeland@mutualventures.co.uk to discuss.