Easier INC

Are you fed up with being managed by targets that don’t reflect the lives of the people you help? Of writing plans and budgets that you know are a fantasy?

If so, you can choose to do public management differently.

Human Learning Systems starts with the complex reality of the lives of people being supported. It enables workers to build relationships and learn together with those they support. It creates real outcomes for less money, by bringing together all the elements of the systems by which outcomes are made.

It is public service for the real world.

Watch our webinar to learn more about the key takeaways from a new e-book, Human Learning Systems: Public Service for the Real World, and hear from practitioners on how they have been using the Human Learning Systems approach to transform the way in which they work.

These videos are from the launch of the HLS e-Book, Public Service for the Real World.

Dr Toby Lowe, Visiting Professor of Public Management at the Centre for Public Impact

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Olli-Pekka Heinonen, ex Director General of the Finnish National Agency for Education

Katie Owen, Commissioner, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

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Sam Kammerling, Research and Learning Lead, Likewise (Mental Health charity)

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In the UK public and voluntary sectors, the New Public Management paradigm is failing and performance management is inappropriate. Dr Toby Lowe explains the need for a change and tells the story so far. Toby is a researcher at Open Lab/Newcastle University and a former voluntary sector CEO.

As part of the Complexity Dialogue seminar series, the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST) hosted its first seminar of 2020 on Thursday, 23rd of January. The keynote speaker was Dr Toby Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership and Management at the Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University in the UK.

Dr Lowe’s research focusses on how organisations can improve the funding, commissioning and performance management of social interventions (across the public, private and voluntary sectors) by applying complexity theory to create a critique of New Public Management approaches, particularly highlighting the problems created by attempts to use Outcome-Based Performance Management (e.g. Payment by Results) in complex environments.

This research is informed by a new complexity-informed paradigm called the “Human Learning Systems approach” that he and colleagues developed whilst undertaking action research programmes with public and voluntary sector funders and delivery organisations to explore how this paradigm is implemented in practice, and to support the development of a Community of Practice around this new paradigm.

New Public Management has failed but for many, an alternative is hard to conceive. Toby Lowe explains how a Human.Learning.Systems approach can provide a better way.

Mark Smith (Director of Public Service Reform at Gateshead Council) describes the what, why and how of taking a Human.Learning.Systems approach in practice. Includes case examples and reflections on what this means for public service commissioners and leaders.

Gary Wallace explores what it means to put the 'human' into a Human.Learning.Systems approach and why this is so vital to success.

Toby Lowe explains how commissioners who use learning as their strategy can commission for better outcomes.

Toby Lowe presents to the National Lottery's 'Building Better Opportunities' programme.

HLS Week 2022 Opening Event with Collaborate's Chair, Victor Adebowale and a panel of HLS practitioners exploring what HLS is and why it matters. With practical examples and insights from Kathy Evans from Children England, Alex from Liverpool City Combined Region and Gary Wallace from Plymouth City Council.

This session explored how three similar but distinct alliances and movements are trying to achieve system change within public services, co-led by three prominent networks: Human Learning Systems, New Systems Alliance and Think Local Act Personal. Each alliance has human-centred practice as a primary value - and the session demonstrated our shared values and practice and explored how we might collectively work to influence national and local policy and practice.

Across the country, local authorities are putting Human Learning Systems into practice, working closely with other local partners. This event explored in depth what HLS looks and feels like for commissioners, local authority partners and providers in Liverpool; and the difference it is making for them and the people they support.

A systems steward is a person, organisation or group that takes responsibility for helping to create a 'healthy system' - building trust and relationships, enabling deep listening and learning, and helping people work better together towards common goals. Different types of organisations can play this role, and in this event we heard from five civil society organisations about how they're playing a systems stewardship role locally, what it takes, and the difference it's making.

This session explored the role of learning partners and reflective practices in helping to support collaborative work to address complex social dilemmas and achieve systemic change. We recognise instinctively the value of sharing different perspectives and collaborative working; however, quite how we reflect and learn together in practice is often uncertain, and how research can support practice is unclear. The session, led by Northumbria University, explored the practice of action-orinted research and learning at three levels - individual, collective and with the wider system, and the role and value of a critical friend to help make sense of data and translate insight into meaningful action.

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Funding & Commissioning In Complexity: North East Panel Discussion

A panel discussion at the North East Community of Practice around Funding and Commissioning in Complexity and Complexity-informed Public Management.

Featuring:

• Lynn Mumford (Mayday Trust)
• Tom Hall (Public Health, South Tyneside Council)
• Mark Smith (Public Service Transformation, Gateshead Council)
• Becky Elton (Changing Lives)

Becky Elton - Putting It Into Practice

Presentation by Becky Elton (Changing Lives) to the North East Community of Practice around Funding and Commissioning in Complexity and Complexity-informed Public Management.

Tom Hall - Putting It Into Practice

Presentation by Tom Hall, South Tyneside Council to the North East Community of Practice around Funding and Commissioning in Complexity and Complexity-informed Public Management.

Mark Smith - Putting It Into Practice

Presentation by Mark Smith, Director of Public Service Transformation at Gateshead Council to the North East Community of Practice around Funding and Commissioning in Complexity and Complexity-informed Public Management.

Habiba Nabatu - Putting It Into Practice

Habiba Nabatu's presentation to the North East Community of Practice around Funding in Complexity on 13th Sep 2018.

Kathy Evans - Putting It Into Practice

Kathy Evans, CEO of Children England, presentation to the North East Community of Practice around Funding in Complexity on 13th Sep 2018.

Funding & Commissioning In Complexity: South West Panel Discussion

A panel discussion at the South West Community of Practice around Commissioning in Complexity chaired by Gary Wallace, Plymouth Council.

Featuring:

• Tessa Hibbert, Regional Partnerships Manager, Blagrave Trust
• Kristian Tomblin, Commissioning Manager, Devon Council
• John Hamblin, CEO, Shekinah (Service Provider)
• Hannah Mahoney, Programme Manager, Golden Key

Hannah Mahoney - Putting It Into Practice

Hannah Mahoney, Programme Manager of Golden Key, Bristol: presentation to the South West Community of Practice around Commissioning in Complexity on 26th Sep 2018.

John Hamblin - Putting It Into Practice

John Hamblin, CEO of Shekinah: presentation to the South West Community of Practice around Commissioning in Complexity on 26th Sep 2018.

Tessa Hibbert - Putting It Into Practice

Tessa Hibbert, Regional Grants Manager at Blagrave Trust's presentation to the South West Community of Practice around Commissioning in Complexity on 26th Sep 2018. 

Kristian Tomblin - Putting It Into Practice

Kristian Tomblin, Commissioning Manager of Devon Council: presentation to the South West Community of Practice around Commissioning in Complexity on 26th Sep 2018.

Highlight Video

Hosted by Easier Inc, The RSA and The Health Foundation, over 100 pioneers in health, care and public services came together for a day of exploration, celebration and action; connecting to each other and to the principles, practices and ideas that drive Human Learning Systems and  "Next Stage" organisations. 

Radical Models of Organising

Edel Harris

Edel Harris (CEO at Cornerstone) talks about transitioning to self-managed ways of working in an established business of over 2000 people.

Helen Sanderson

Helen Sanderson (Founder of Wellbeing Teams) describes her experiences creating a brand new organisation founded on the principles of self-organisation.

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Radical Models of Public Service

Mark Smith

Mark Smith (Director of Public Service Reform at Gateshead Council) describes the impact and challenges of taking a "bespoke by default" approach to helping citizens and communities.

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Radical Models of Commissioning 

Toby Lowe

Toby Lowe (Senior Lecturer in Public Management & Leadership at Newcastle Business School) describes how cutting-edge commissioning is about nurturing relationships based on mutuality and learning.

Kathryn Caley

Kathryn Caley (Operations Director at SK Nurses) explains how short-termism, annual commissioning cycles and a preoccupation with commissioning for outcomes stifle innovation and reinforce the status quo.

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Radical Models of Regulation

Jeremy Cox

Jeremy Cox (formerly Director of Quality at CQC) explores how pioneering providers and regulators are collaborating to ensure that regulation is a force for innovation, quality and safety.

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Radical Models of Leading & Learning

Fishbowl Highlight Reel (Audio)

Highlights from a discussion between 4 public sector leaders as they speak about their experiences of trying to move their organisations to the next stage.

The Full Discussion (Audio)

4 public sector leaders speak about their experiences of trying to move their organisations to the next stage. Drawing equal attention to their failures as well as their successes, they reflected openly in a shared discussion in front of an audience of more than 100 people.

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This webinar was part of Next Stage Radicals "Exploring Aloud" series; events which bring innovative thinkers into an open forum to discuss their work in an open ended and exploratory way.

In this webinar, alongside an audience of c.25 others, Toby Lowe (Visiting Professor of Public Management at the Centre for Public Impact) explores what it takes to 'do' Human Learning Systems in practice.

This 1-hour live discussion will be on the theme of systems innovation in the context of public administration and the public sector in general. Long since known for its bureaucratic approach of long-term fixed planning governments today are presented with ever larger and more complex challenges that necessitate new approaches.

In the context of these "wicked problems" the idea of systems innovation is gaining ground as a way to move towards a more distributed and emergent approach; one that focuses on transformation rather than incremental improvements; an approach that sees communities as complex adaptive systems to be worked with rather than have things done to them.

From theory to practice this panel discussion will explore a new way of understanding public admin through a complexity lens, asking if this new set of ideas and approaches can transform how the public sector operates to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Speakers:

• Eve Mitleton-Kelly: Lecturer at the University of Cambridge & Policy Advisor to major international organizations & governments
• Marco Steinberg: Founder & CEO of Snowcone & Haystack, Faculty Member States of Change, Nesta
• Toby Lowe: Visiting Professor at Centre for Public Impact, Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University

The guests are joined by the host Bowen Feng, Community Developer at Systems Innovation.

VIEW THE SLIDES 

Presented by Dr Toby Lowe (Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership and Management @ Newcastle Business School) the webinar views the challenge of creating complexity-informed evaluation by seeing it as a public management challenge. How can public management adopt a more complexity-informed approach? The session outlines an emerging complexity-informed approach to public management: the Human Learning Systems (HLS) approach. The HLS approach involves public services responding to the variety of human need through bespoke service provision, using learning as the engine for performance improvement and stewarding the health of the systems which produce social outcomes.

Human

One of the three key tasks of managing work in an HLS way (including funding and commissioning of work) means creating the conditions in which people can build effective human relationships. This means understanding human variety, using empathy to understand the lives of others, recognising people’s strengths, and trusting those who do the work. Variety, Empathy, Strengths and Trust (VEST).

Learning

In complex environments people are required to learn continuously in order to adapt to the dynamic, ever-changing nature of the work. In complex environments, there is no simple interventions which “works” to tackle a problem. “What works” is an on-going process of learning and adaptation. It is the job of managers to enable staff to learn continuously as the tool for performance improvement. This means using measures to learn, not for reward/punishment. It means creating the conditions where people can be honest about their mistakes and uncertainties. It means creating reflective practice environments between and across peer groups. This requires funders/commissioners to fund for learning and adaptation, not for “results”.

Systems

The outcomes we care about are not delivered by organisations. They are produced by whole systems – by hundreds of different factors working together. The final job of managers is therefore to act as Systems Stewards – to enable actors in the system to co-ordinate and collaborate effectively - because that it was will enable positive outcomes to emerge.

This webinar with Collaborate CIC and Dr. Toby Lowe from Newcastle Business School, shares insights from their report 'Exploring the new world. Practical insights for funding, commissioning and managing in complexity.' Clare Allcock from Kaleidoscope Health and Care joins to give her insights into funding, commissioning and managing in the health world.

Is there a better way than management by targets? Toby Lowe and Gary Wallace share the pioneering Human Learning Systems approach of Plymouth’s Health & Care system. This webinar was organised by the Q Community’s Reimagining Health and Care Special Interest Group.

How can healthcare in Scotland be different, so that people are put first? Hear from Dr Toby Lowe about how the HLS approach could be used to create this change.

Watch part two, which features Gary Wallace from Plymouth City Council and Mark Smith from Gateshead Council. This focuses on practical insights of using HLS.

Watch Professor Toby Lowe introduce Human Learning Systems and our new guide, which provides advice to help organisations in public service apply this approach to their work. Click here to hear from other event speakers at the launch event.

Watch this conversation between Dr Toby Lowe, the visiting professor at the Centre for Public Impact, and Dr Kate Simpson from Wasafiri.

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A conversation between Toby Lowe of the Centre for Public Impact and Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of the Finnish National Agency for Education, exploring the Human Learning Systems approach to public management at a national scale.