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Systems leadership in action
Systems leadership is about developing a culture where a whole systems approach can thrive. Leaders at all levels, from across each part of the system, play an essential role in setting the tone and direction for their teams and stakeholders.
As a systems leader, your leadership style and behaviour can increase the visibility, credibility and buy-in to systems thinking and systems change. How you act can inspire and encourage your teams and stakeholders to embed systems thinking and a systems change approach in their work. You can drive cross-departmental and cross-organisational working, shifting mindsets and behaviours from individual goals to a common purpose that’s shared by partners across the system.
There are some key principles to consider when developing a systems leadership culture:
Understanding the context
Most leaders are actively involved in the day-to-day running of their organisation. With systems leadership, it’s important to be able to take a step back to gain a broader perspective of the context you’re working in. Leaders at all levels can take the time to define and understand the system that influences their local community, sport or activity and work out how every part of it connects. Doing this allows leaders to make more informed decisions. It can also improve internal and external communication and pave the way for staff and stakeholders to anticipate and adapt to change.
Developing common purpose
Working with stakeholders and partners across the system to identify the key problem you want to solve. Developing a common purpose is essential to getting buy-in and igniting and maintaining motivation within the group. It’s important to consider the language you use when doing this – avoiding jargon or using words like strategy and targets can be helpful as these may be off putting to some. Start simple with relatable language like goals and aims.
“Leadership is taking responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty.”
Professor Marshall Ganz, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Leadership styles
Complex problems necessitate different leadership styles. Our experience shows that to be successful, system leaders are likely to need to have the following attributes:
- A positive, adaptable, flexible style to leadership, partnership working and problem solving.
- An ability to cope with uncertainty and be comfortable to take risks and experiment with different approaches.
- Value and treat trust and relationship building as important. Be committed to proactively encouraging connectivity, conversations and network building across all parts of the system at every opportunity.
- Be willing and able to recognise difference and ensure equal voices around the table.
- Be prepared to constructively challenge your own and others’ assumptions, behaviours, habits and ways of working.
- Allow yourself and others the time and capacity to grow.
- Adopt a learning mindset - be willing to engage in continuous reflective learning and evaluation.
- Be inspiring in the way you communicate with others to motivate them to get involved and take action.
Distributed leadership
Systems change requires a whole systems approach to taking responsibility for action. It differs from traditional command and control leadership models because distributed leadership relies on building the capacity across a network (or system) so that leaders at all levels, across all organisations involved in the system can use their capacity to influence and action change.
By creating a distributed leadership network, leaders can share leadership responsibilities and decision-making across their partnership to avoid hierarchical leadership and advocate for wider buy-in and equal voices.
Developing this approach provides the freedom for individuals to work across boundaries and innovate. It can improve decision making, increase partner engagement and encourage other leaders to take on a collective responsibility to deliver the common purpose.
Learning from others
The learning from our investment into Place Partnerships has highlighted a number of different leadership traits and behaviours that are closely aligned to successful systems leadership and conducive to adopting a whole systems approach. These include:
Be patient and respectful.
Progress moves at the speed of trust, “trust arrives on a tortoise and leaves on a racehorse” (Tom Hughes, YSF). Start with a focus on building relationships, not making firm decisions or seeking immediate progress. Being respectful, compassionate and using your emotional intelligence can help you win trust and strengthen your relationships.
Be stubborn on the vision and flexible on the detail.
Enable decisions and action to be guided by community priorities, remain relentless about achieving your common purpose but be agile, flexible and open to trying new ways to achieve it.
Hold your nerve.
Be passionate, persistent and persevere through challenging times. Stay true to yourself and the vision, try to avoid defaulting to old ways of working and thinking.
Bridge the empathy gap.
Meet people where they’re at. Take time to understand their needs, challenges and opportunities and communicate clearly along the way. Avoid preconceptions and support change emerging from community-driven activities.
Say yes to the mess.
There are no simple answers to complex problems like inactivity. Maintain a flexible approach that embraces uncertainty and can evolve with insight.
Go where the energy is.
Find the places or organisations where common purpose and enthusiasm already exists.
Adopt a new mindset.
Problems can’t be solved with the same mindset that created them, so be prepared to challenge assumptions and cultural or societal rules.
Take a birds-eye view.
Systems leadership requires you to move out of the thick of the problem and take a birds-eye view of it instead. It’s like moving from the dancefloor - where you’re unable to see more than a few people either side of you, your direction isn’t clear but you’re connected to those around you – to the balcony, where you have a full view of the dancefloor and can start to make some sense of it (Heifetz and Linsky, 2009). Both positions are useful and can support action, but you need to take the birds-eye view to get going and see how everything interlinks.
It doesn’t have to be perfect to be better.
Tackle real barriers to sport and physical activity and their root causes, don’t rush to provide solutions or interventions that offer a quick fix but don’t get to the root of the problem.
Act with humility.
Leave your leadership title and badge at the door and be prepared to step aside to let others be heard. This can be a really powerful tool for progress.
Help others unlock their full potential.
Help to empower distributed leadership by building the capacity of the partners and communities in your system so that they can take action for themselves.
Be honest and transparent.
Being open and honest and working with transparency helps collaborative working to thrive.
“Starting by seeking to understand by asking good questions.”
Richard Coker, Active Calderdale
“Having an open mind, being willing to think critically about your working processes is key to enabling change.”
Katy Thompson, APNO
More information on leadership behaviours and traits can be found on our ‘Leadership fundamentals’ page.
Further resources
Systems leadership can be a challenging new approach, involving re-learning and unlearning some old habits or ways of working. Further resources are available to help develop this approach to leadership. Some guidance and further support is listed and linked to below.
We’re looking for more leaders to share their stories and guidance on systems leadership. Please get in touch at leadingthemovement@sportengland.org if you’d like to share your learnings, challenges, experiences and successes.
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