What comes next once you’re serious about system change?
Over the last five or six years, I’ve seen a steady but noticeable change in the way charities are approaching strategy development.
There seems to be, at least from my own experience, a growing recognition that we need to go beyond the usual “raise more funds and win more contracts to deliver more services” kind of strategy we’ve had in the past.
Instead, I’m increasingly being asked to help organisations build strategies around the concept of systems change. In fact, five of the last six projects I’ve supported have been about developing system-based strategies.
If this is something you’re wrestling with, here’s what I’ve found that might help.
The first thing to say is it takes longer, or at least it does the first time you do it, because of two things: it can take a while to gather insights in a way that informs your thinking about the system rather than just your services; and it takes time for your own people to adjust.
That latter point is important. System change requires a different way of thinking, and it’s not always easy for people to change how they think. The traditional way of responding to growing need, with growing numbers of services and interventions, runs deep, and it can be quite hard to step out of that paradigm.
You will get there, though. And some organisations make the shift more quickly than others, but generally it does take time, so factor that in.
Throughout that time, you can also expect to feel an almost magnetic pull, back to those safer, more traditional ways of thinking, because there’s comfort in familiarity. The siren’s call of just parcelling it all up into the classic four silos: services, policy and influence, fundraising and engagement, and support teams; can be quite seductive.
That’s why there’s often a “hold your nerve” period a few months into the process where, in the words of one client, you’re out of sight of the harbour you’ve left, but can’t yet see the one you’re sailing towards.
I’ve helped a lot of charities through this process, and it happens almost every time. As things start to fall into place and the future role of the organisation starts to become clear, there’s always a sense of relief alongside the excitement.
It’s worth holding your nerve though, because it makes a huge difference when you do. A system-based strategy brings the organisation together far more than a traditional one, because it highlights not just how, but more powerfully why, the different parts all need to function together.
As another client described it, you end up with the whole organisation working on the stool rather than each department working separately on a different leg.
Another benefit is that it picks up a whole range of “should do” things that often get bolted on to the side of traditional strategies. Things like collaboration, inclusion, innovation, agility, cross-functional working, diversity, co-production.
We know all these things are incredibly important, but a lot of the time, if we’re honest, they only get into the strategy because we’ve made sure to put them in there – they rarely emerge naturally as being central to achieving the goals we’ve set ourselves.
With a system-based approach, they do. All these things naturally emerge, and because of that they end up running through your plans like a stick of rock, giving you a much clearer, more cohesive story about “why”.
That “why” story provides the framework for innovation and exploration, collaborating and influencing; one that’s far more strategic and intentional than you might have had in the past.
It’s also absolutely essential for helping you take all your different stakeholders on the journey with you, not least your donors, funders and trustees.
Don’t underestimate how much thought you’ll need to put into this.
But on the flipside, one of the things that speaks to their growing appetite is the number of times I’m now being invited to speak to executive teams and their trustees, about this kind of stuff.
They’re already asking the question, what comes next if we get serious about system change?
If that kind of conversation would be useful for your organisation, just drop me a line.
I’ll also be touching on this with Peter Wanless and Debra Allcock Tyler on Tuesday the 10th March in our conversation about “How Boards Need to Change”, particularly if they’re to support executive teams to go down this route.
You’d be very welcome to join us.