The challenge in the discussions around a local GDS and other such things.

The debate and discussion around a Local GDS is now over a decade old and still going strong (Phil Rumens has curated a list here) and yet we appear not to be any closer to an agreed way forward… I know I certainly disengaged with this subject for some time as It didn’t feel like anything would change and it felt like wasted energy when I could focus on the local council I was working in, after all change and transformation is hard work in one organisation let alone the whole sector and wider system.  

I’ve accepted though, that essentially I am and have been complicit in maintaining the status quo and yet at the same time, working really hard to change the very system I work in.  I suspect others may have been doing the same, maybe not, I’m not here to judge, just making a personal observation and making an assumption that others may have been in similar spaces…

I don’t believe we’ve not been able to resolve this due to a lack of ideas or options or recognition of the deeper, more fundamental problems facing the sector.  So why then are we pretty much where we were when we started this all those years ago?

My observation and I’m going to be intentionally provocative here, would be that as individuals and groups coming together we aren’t yet capable of holding the space for the inevitable tensions and discomfort that need to emerge by having such deep fundamental discussions.  In my experience and through observation we get caught up either agreeing too easily with each other (after all it is energising feeling connected with people), or defending a position we believe to be right (we might be motivated to get our idea to the top),  or unintentionally talking down other people’s ideas who may have traction (we may feel challenged by others ideas), or we might suggest to each other that the bold visions are too blue sky, unrealistic, say it will never happen (we may struggle to wrestle with the tensions that sit inside us), or even brushing aside and sweeping under the carpet and ignoring the deep truth in the sector that it’s just broken and we might be watching and residing over the steady and managed decline of local government (we might find comfort in painting a picture of the reality that is easier to accept). 

For me all of this is about how we have the conversation and how we understand what might be playing out for individuals in those discussions.  

There are three models I’m going to provide a very brief overview of that have helped me lean into having honest, productive and accountable conversations and I believe these will help those who are having conversations as well as those who need to have the conversations.

The first is advocacy and inquiry, the second is understanding creative tension and the third is working with polarities.

I’ve included very basic pictures and models for each one below to hopefully help people access / understand the tools a bit more, it is essentially about practising this and developing the skills to use them in actual conversations and discussions.

Advocacy and Inquiry:

Why this model: Through observation I think there is a tendency to only choose one of these approaches and I believe the debate would be enriched by helping create a balance.

Summary: Chris Argyris and Donald Schön pioneered the conversation tools of advocacy and inquiry. These tools allow for the right balance of meaningful dialogue and exchange among people in conversations/discussion. Advocacy is about how one influences another’s thinking and behaviour by stating one’s beliefs and thought patterns and inquiry is a process for understanding a person’s perspectives and assumptions by exploring his/her reasoning and conclusions.

Creating conditions for productive discussion: Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry
STATE and ASK

When working with groups or individuals with these tools, I’ve often been asked how does one start to develop their practice, as a result I created the following which is drawn from a variety of sources online and I simply summarised it into a simple table.

Opportunities for increasing productive discussion

Understanding Creative Tension

Why this model: Through observation I hear and see the tension collapsing as either people believe bold visions are unrealistic or too far fetched or that we are not acknowledging the current reality and situation and knowing where we are starting from.

Summary: Built on the concept of “creative tension” proposed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his famous “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,”  Creative tension is the gap between our creative vision and our current reality, this ‘structural tension,’ exists in all parts of our lives.

During any creative process, one has an eye on the future, where you want to go and you also need to understand and be clear on where you currently are.  There will always be structural tension in the beginning of a creative process, this is due to the inevitable gap and discrepancy between what you want and what you have. Peter Senge, The author of The Fifth Discipline explains that for many of us, Creative Tension is our source of energy and motivation.

However it can also be a burden and can lead us to collapse this tension as we perceive the distance between the future and now is too much…

All tensions seek a resolution and the creative tension is no different, we either learn to build the muscles that help us hold this creative tension (the distance between future and now) or we will choose to be drawn to one of the other…the risk here is one will either misrepresent the future or current reality to make it more palatable and manageable as a tension.

Working with Polarities

Why this model: I think what I am hearing in discussions, articles and posts is a number of polarities to manage, and we maybe in danger of simply seeing this as a problem to solve, this may help uncover aspects of the discussion that have been missing before.

Summary: Polarity Thinking, founded by Dr. Barry Johnson, over 45 years ago, provides an easy way to make visible and actionable what may have been hidden in the past. It is about tapping into the power of the “and.” and harnessing the ability to see and act from two very different strengths simultaneously.

Key points to note

• Inclusion and recognition of “and” thinking
• Polarities are not problems to solve
• 2 parts of the same whole – e.g. centralisation and decentralisation
• Important to map the context to understand where and how you can get best of both worlds to avoid having the downsides of just one side or worst case downsides to both

Example

Here is a very useful 4 min Introduction on Polarities by Jennifer Garvey Berger

As mentioned above these tools require and take practise and are proven to help increase the effectiveness of conversations and discussions. If there was a space in which we needed to do this, this is one of them…

Rediscovering connections

People gathering on a beach – Photo from https://unsplash.com/@kimsondoan

Last week, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with a wonderful person, and that person is Sarah Lay. Sarah was one of the first people I connected to outside of Devon many many years ago when I was involved in the corporate web and digital space.

The great thing about talking with Sarah was that it sparked a reconnection to those times when we first met, speaking about similar challenges, similar hopes, and similar frustrations — imagining, dreaming, wondering what could be…. those kind of conversations, reflecting back to probably 2011/2012, are what led to the wider connections and strong network of people that eventually became LocalGovDigital, a network of professional people who all shared a similar purpose and felt under-represented and misunderstood, but all wanted and needed to see public services improve and get better for people and communities.

We reflected on what occurred for each of us in the last 8 years as both of us took a step away from the LocalGovDigital space in 2016, each choosing different paths and each growing, learning, and developing who we are as people. We both found it fascinating that we are both in a similar position of wanting to seek out and find the people with the energy to disrupt, innovate, and be radical in thought and imagine a new public service landscape. 

I can see that some of the people I used to connect with have moved on, some have moved out of the sector and have taken the steps into consultancy or have joined organisations who really do understand the challenges of the sector and are not the big consultancies who are not seen as really focusing on purpose and value.

With so many platforms for connecting now, it is hard to know, where and how to find people in the same way it was 10-15 years ago. When I joined twitter in 2008, it was very easy to find people who were talking about reimaging public services, not just in the UK but globally, it wasn’t populated with millions of bots. I remember attending UKGovCamp in 2009 in London and the first LocalGovCamp in 2009 in Birmingham and those events changed the way I connected with people…The people I connected with back then were and still are some of the most influential people in my professional life and there may even be a few who I’ve never met in person but whose perspectives and views stimulate and challenge my own. 

I remember last week in the conversation with Sarah, we laughed a few times, one of the things that made me laugh was when Sarah shared the memory of being at a GovCamp event and we simply pitched for a room with the title “reflective practice”, the idea being that anyone who may have needed a quiet space or some recovery space after the pre -event food and drink could use the room to simply sit and reflect. It was well attended and I remember we invented the idea of penetration testing hashtags and were just tweeting random things…but it also sparked connections and friendships.

So coming back to now, I shared with Sarah that when I started to think about reconnecting with wider networks, my first thought was LocalGovDigitial because of the history I have with it, but somehow it didn’t feel like a space I belonged anymore, I wasn’t directly in the Digital space, more in a space of organisational change and transformation, but for me it felt like I was an imposter…I suspect that says more about me than the network, but it didn’t feel right, so I have tried over the last few years to make new connections and find spaces to find new people, but they aren’t easy to find. Or am I just missing the obvious?

I must acknowledge and thank Dave Briggs here who has helped me get some perspective on joining back into things and I respect and admire Dave a lot, he has been incredibly influential for me since back in the day, almost holding a place of “he’s famous” frame. I suspect Dave will love and hate this comment in equal measure 🙂

As I finish up this post, I caught sight of a couple of posts by Catherine Howe. Catherine is another person who has been such an influence on me, someone whose views and perspectives really challenge my thinking and I love the way Catherine leads herself and others, it is hugely inspirational. Catherine’s posts are sort of linked to my reflections, but written far more succinctly and intentional. Her post on “so long twitter” resonates so much with the reflections Sarah and I shared that it is worth a read. and her other post, “Fantasy System“, is an invitation to bring together people for something different, new and radical…

So my final reflection on where to find people is linked to Catherine’s invitation, if the spaces don’t exist, then the only response is that one has to create them with others. This is really the key learning from all those years ago – if it doesn’t exist yet, then create it and see what emerges, after all it may just be the thing that generates the spark.

Chilling out in the igloo discussing blogging

Please note, this is not the real Innovation Igloo
Instead this is a photo by Augusto Baldera on Pexels.com

Good friends Dave Briggs and Nick Hill have been hosting a fortnightly “discussion” space online and each session the topic is different.

I’ve now attended 2, the first was about Service Directories and the most recent was about Blogging.

When I looked back on my blogging history, I surprised myself to find that I started in 2008 on this blog, 100% of all the early posts were nonsense but an essential path toward building and growing confidence.

The discussion was fun and invited people who do blog to share what got them started, and for those interested, provided an opportunity to hear the mistakes and pitfalls of others as well as the benefits. So I thought I’d share a short perspective on what I currently think about blogging and why it is a good practice to take up.

Finding Your Voice and Creativity

Blogging provides a unique platform for self-expression. It serves as an open canvas on which you can paint your thoughts, ideas, and experiences. It’s an avenue where you can explore your creativity, develop your writing style, and refine your thoughts. With every post, you’re inviting people to help you refine and challenge your thinking and ideas, opening you up to new and different perspectives, and yes there is a risk of creating an echo chamber, so reflect on how you might avoid that happening.

Building Connections and Community

On a personal note, when I started blogging in 2008 I felt like I was blogging in isolation, I was certainly the only one in my organisation doing it back then, but I’m grateful now I took that risk as it opened me up to new and different people who were all connecting through a shared passion around transforming local public services and that network and community was and still is incredibly supportive and provided constructive challenge. It created a safe space, allowing me to refine my thinking and sense checking stuff before sharing internally, I remember those early days, finding myself sharing documents, ideas etc and saying person X at council y or organisation z has already shared their views on this and saying this developed credibility and validity to those early ideas. Those early days were hard though as It simply wasn’t the normal ways of doing things, sharing and working out loud, so there were occasions where people looked and responded with confusion as they had no idea what I was doing and how I was doing it…
BUT and important for connecting to those people online and through the blog as well as social media, created a community and over time that grew, matured and looking back, I can easily trace the origins and seeds of the LocalGovDigital Network in those early connections and networks. It’s great to see how relationships are what has sustained the work, not just the topic…

Personal Growth and Self-Reflection

My main motivation in 2008 and now with blogging is to compliment and support my reflection and learning, Whilst my blog hasn’t been busy over the last few years, I have a ton of week notes that I’ve created. The practice has stayed with me even if the choice of platform has shifted and continues to shift.

I experience blogging as an introspective process, that encourages self-reflection which hopefully translates into learning. As you craft a post, sometimes you can feel paralysed by the blank page in front of you, but what kept me going and what keeps me interested and curious about it is I am essentially blogging for my own benefit, I found that when I tried to write for other people, I developed barriers and and needed the post to be “perfect”. Writing for myself, feels less pressurised, even though I know on occasion someone might read it, enjoy it or challenge what I’m saying. That’s ok, as the wider engagement by people is a by product of my own commitment to make visible my reflections.

So for anyone who is reading this, embrace that blank page and just start writing!

Uncovering assumptions

Think : Christian Weidinger via Flickr

I’m continually fascinated by what happens around change and why some things, that on face value appear to sound and look great and are perceived to be exactly what is needed to help things improve. But yet over time they simply fade away and people are left wondering, what happened to that piece of work? or what happened to that project? and importantly why didn’t things actually change?

Over the years in my previous role as Digital Lead, I often supported and created projects on the edges which on face value sounded good and for a period of time generated some positive buzz and some momentum, but as I sit here now I am left wondering why didn’t those things create the change I thought they would, why are things not changing.  I accept there have been some surface changes, but I’m not going to kid myself in thinking that those surface changes were worth it. After all, nothing fundamentally has changed. In fact, one thing has and that is ME, I’ve fundamentally changed.

The shift for me in understanding this systemically and conceptually has been the learning and practice within my new role. In this role, I am learning about Systems Thinking and Intervention Theory which is helping me to support leaders to see and think differently.

Over the last few months, I’ve been reflecting on some of the things I was involved in and whether I can, could or should re-engage but have struggled with this as I’ve not really understood how to do that in a practical way which helps. One of those things is LocalGov Digital – something which I dedicated a huge amount of personal time and energy into over 5 years.

When the network started in 2012 I was in a different head space. When I look back at that now and the decisions and motivations I had then, I can now understand why I did what I did and why I think LocalGov Digital managed to get the traction it did at the time and continues to do so.  We had a good narrative, we had a groundswell of support and recognition and were able to harness that to grow our collective visibility – things were looking good.

I thought it was a great way to connect to people but one assumption underpinning this was that collectively we (LocalGov Digital) were already thinking differently (more on this later) and therefore took an unconscious stance of “we were right and others were wrong”.  I now know this is not a constructive position to take and inevitably leads to conflict and tribalism.

I didn’t know any different and for me personally, the value the network created was one of support and connection with people which previously didn’t exist…I felt like I belonged and found a safe space. Finally, I was able to connect with others who thought the same as I did….but over time I was blind to the unintended consequences of the actions the network took, including actions by myself.  I’m not suggesting everything or everyone was wrong, in fact, what I’m saying is that I’m learning that actions I took then internally and through the network are having consequences over time that from my new point of view were not constructive or helpful.   I know the network did the same as a whole, but the network was simply behaving within the parameters of a public sector system which triggered those actions.

In terms of seeing this as a pattern of behaviour, I am now seeing this across many networks and can see this is essentially how networks come together – I can even see elements of the same spirit and determination of early LocalGov Digital being replayed albeit slightly differently through the One Team Gov‘s activity / messaging.

My observations are that both endeavours are coming from a place of good intent, (change public services for the better) however, there are some BIG assumptions sitting behind that good intent, those assumptions are currently invisible and therefore have been unchallenged.

For me, one of the biggest assumptions sitting behind both LocalGov Digital and One Team Gov is that everyone who engages or contributes with any of this work is already and actively thinking differently?

When I say “thinking differently” how I now understand that is that people are learning in a double loop way, resulting in thinking differently.  What I’ve learnt about myself is that I was not thinking differently, I was, in fact, thinking very much like everyone else, including the people I had assumed I thought differently from…that realisation was a pretty illuminating and painful one, but I am now able to learn from that and can see the journey and the power of that journey.

There is an excellent article on double loop learning here, it is quite a heavy subject but this post articulates it clearly in my opinion. I’d very much recommend reading it before continuing but just in case you don’t have time I’ll be quoting from it anyway throughout this post.

“For double-loop learning to occur and persist at any level in the organisation, the self-fuelling processes must be interrupted. In order to interrupt these processes, individual theories-in-use [how we think] must be altered.” (Argyris & Schon)

“An organisation with a [defensive] learning system is highly unlikely to learn to alter its governing variables, norms and assumptions [i.e. thinking] because this would require organisational inquiry into double-loop issues, and [defensive] systems militate against this…we will have to create a new learning system as a rare event.” 

When one applies to this oneself it has transformational impact, this is the journey I’ve been supported to go on in my new role here…

This next snippet sums up for me the nature of the journey i’ve been on…please note the wall they refer to in the snippet below is a barrier to double loop learning.

“The first task is for you to see yourself – you have to become aware of the wall…and Argyris & Schon are suggesting that you may (likely) require an intervention (a shake) to do this. Your current defensive learning system is getting in the way.

Let’s be clear on what would make a successful intervention possible, and what would not.

An interventionist would locate themselves in your system and help you (properly) see yourselves…and coach you through contemplating what you see and the new questions that you are now asking…and facilitate you through experimenting with your new thinking and making this the ‘new normal’. This is ‘action learning’.

This ‘new normal’ isn’t version 2 of your current system. It would be a different type of system – one that thinks differently.”

So when I say think differently, this is how I now see and understand that.

So coming back to the “assumption” of everyone already and actively thinking differently presents a number of questions for me;

• How do we know people are actively thinking differently?
• How do we know that the people who are looking at their work are able to legitimately change that work?
• How do we know they are doing purposeful work and do they know what purposeful work is?
• Do people know and understand the purpose of their work from an outside in perspective?
• Are people able to have the current conditions that apply to their everyday work suspended?
• Are the leaders who have the legitimate power to suspend those conditions engaged and connected?
• How are we learning what good looks like through a new lens of thinking?

So with these questions and more in my head, I’m starting to wonder now whether we are simply advocating people do different things over actually thinking differently?  And what are the consequences of that approach?

If the purpose was to help people to think differently as defined through double loop learning, what would Local Gov Digital and One Team Gov do differently as a result of that shift in purpose?

I don’t have an answer to this but welcome peoples thoughts and opinions no matter how diverse they are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The continuing evolution of LocalGov Digital – my honest reflections

When LocalGov Digital started as a practitioner network back in 2012 I remember the passion, commitment and energy in the room. We were a group of practitioners who had faith that we could collectively collaborate to help make local government better for the people in our communities  – It really did feel like we could change the world.

We were brought together through our shared frustration, shared purpose and shared values.  We have continually evolved from an initial network which was supported directly by the LGA to a network now which is self-directing and independent but rooted in the role of the practitioner. Whilst we were aligned to LGA we received a huge amount of support from individuals that helped us develop new relationships and how to use some of the influence we had started to grow. But I think we were still seen as something created by the LGA as opposed to something that grew out of the sector itself – A true grassroots movement of practitioners wanting and needing to make a difference.

As our journey continued we started to wrestle with some of the “governance” issues surrounding a network and I think we made mistakes in trying to create structures where none needed to be created. Instead what happened was individuals within the network simply made stuff happen, in response to user needs and in response to gaps in the market so to speak. This was a shift which has helped move the network forward and grow its influence more and allow us to respond quickly to the needs of practitioners as the network created the space for practitioners to simply make things happen. Some examples of this include #NotWestminster, Pipeline, The Service Standard, UnMentoring, The Content Standard and the Web Usability Dashboard – all these things were made by and with people in the sector for the sector and we also took over the running of LocalGovCamp

The network now has a level of momentum which previously wasn’t there but one of the challenges we have always had is “how do I know if I’m part of the network?” Until we resolve that we won’t get a sustainable network which continues to provide value into the sector and beyond.

So we have now approached a time in the life of the network where we either accept the informality and the risks associated with that or we look to create something more tangible building on and strengthening the things which have been successful, learning from the things that failed.

So as a network we want to consider plans to become a community co-operative, and want to design this with people who work in and around the sector. Our initial ideas sound very similar to how other cooperatives work, a membership fee, an AGM, membership types etc. We think that some of the things we already have might be able to play a key role in helping to grow the network and the participation such as UnMentoring, LocalGovCamp and Makers etc. We know we need to think about how those individual things work and run so that we can support the wider aspirations of the network. BUT The key thing to remember is this initial consultation is only about the future of the network itself. But if you ahve ideas and views on those other things then please do share them.

The important thing for me personally is shaping something around shared values and principles and ensure that we continue to generate value and continually evolve the network and adapt it to meet the needs of the practitioners and essentially improve services for citizens.  

The co-operative model really resonated as I believe the principles and values of the co-operative match the aspirations of the network and the ambition to grow around these values also make sense. It is interesting to read that a number of former GDS staff are now working for the Coop and I suspect apart from all of the interesting work that needs to be done, one of the main drivers for those people joining were the principles and values.

We know that in moving in this direction it will create challenges and will inevitably mean more work initially, but we also believe that the benefits of doing so are such that it is worth the investment of time and energy in the short and long term.

We know that we currently, we have only engaged a small group of people who have validated our thinking but that isn’t good enough and is often a dangerous place to be, so we are really keen to hear from people who think this is a waste of time, a bad idea – but importantly why you think or believe this. Only through a new understanding of what people think can we be informed in our thinking to make a decision about the future of LocalGov Digital.

I hope that you are able to share your thoughts and reflections and also if possible get involved in making this a reality.

The link to the consultation news item and proposal is on LocalGov Digital.