Get Involved: Systems Leadership Workshops 2024

By GM Moving | 29 February 2024 | TAGS: Systems Leadership

Systems Leadership is all about amplifying a model of leadership that’s not about managing, but about how to make things happen, across sectors, in a collaborative way. It is designed to help you lead when you don't have positional power, levers to pull, or a large budget to wield.

Macc, on behalf of 10GM, are leading the next phase of the GM Moving systems leadership approach. The work will support and enable a transformation in the knowledge, skills, and opportunities of people (paid and voluntary) in Greater Manchester to work and lead across sectors and within communities around the shared purpose of changing lives through movement, physical activity, and sport.

It remains a key GM Moving in Action ambition to realise the power and potential of a movement of people that is reflective of the population, to inspire, engage, and support people to live more active lives. This can only be achieved by working collaboratively across sectors to build and foster relationships with and between people, communities, and system partners.

We invite anyone who is curious to find out more to participate in the following sessions. These are open to anyone working or volunteering in Greater Manchester, who share the aim of changing lives through movement, physical activity, and sport.

'Community Engagement and Leadership' with Kat Pursall from 10GM

• 13th May, 2-3.30pm
• Virtual

Community engagement and participation in decision-making spaces feature heavily in a number of regional and national strategies. Conversations have shifted from doing to to doing with communities, and questions have moved from What’s the matter with you? to What matters to you? But what does this mean and look like in practice? Is there an art to good engagement and what is its ultimate aim? How do you speak with communities who are “consulted-out”? Can we shift the dial from community engagement to community leadership and what system enablers would need to be in place for that to happen?

Sign up here.

Active lives - Focused Co-learning sessions ( Over a Brew ☕) with Cat and Naomi from Curators of Change

• Monday 20th May, 3.30 - 5pm
• Virtual

Are you involved in /interested in reducing inactivity and enabling active lives?

Do you find the systems you work in and the lives of the people you work with are increasingly complex?

Are you looking for solutions and ideas?

If you answer yes to these questions (or are simply curious) - Grab a brew and join us for online sessions (1.5 hours) every other month starting on Monday 20 May at 3.30.

We are offering an informal ,but guided space, to reflect , get curious ,learn together and problem solve across traditional boundaries of sector, organisation and locality.

Sign up here.

Keeping Change Going: Leading Through Uncertainty with Debbie Sorkin from The Leadership Centre

• 11th June, 10 - 12 noon
• Virtual 

How can you work with complex issues in shifting and uncertain environments: when you’re looking to address inequalities or any of the wider determinants of health, in a world of multiple financial and operational pressures.  

It can be hard to keep change going, for yourself and others.  So in this session, we look at how you can take people with you and retain their commitment, alongside looking after yourself, using approaches that will actually help.  

Sign up here. 

Share your experiences...

Coming soon... Online Lunch and Learn: Stories of Systems Leadership with Claire Haigh, Collaborate Out Loud

Do you have a story or experience to share about leading and influencing change when you don’t necessarily have traditional power? We are looking for people who are happy to speak at informal ‘lunch and learn’ sessions as part of the GM Systems Leadership approach! This is all about amplifying a model of leadership that’s not about managing but about how to make things happen, across sectors, in a collaborative way.

Topics and themes that your experience touched on can be broad and shaped by you – they just need to be linked to Systems Leadership in some way. Examples include:

• Shifting organisational culture
• Overcoming imposter syndrome
• Pioneering a new approach in your organisation/community/system
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in leadership

We are keen to hear from people in different sectors in Greater Manchester, especially those working and volunteering in the VCSE (voluntary and community) sector, or spaces where your voice is not always heard. Perhaps you are in a more ‘traditional’ leadership position, or perhaps not.

We can provide support as needed in the run up to the session, and a facilitator will be leading the session. Please get in touch with us at [email protected] if this opportunity sparks your curiosity!

Past workshops in this phase.

‘The Value of Values’ with Jackie Le Fevre, Magma Effect

• Tuesday 12^th March. 10am - 1pm

Across the fields of leadership, business and psychology there is agreement that values matter. What makes things difficult is lack of consensus about what values are, the functions they fulfill and how to tap into the benefits they can bring. This introductory session will detangle what values are (and what they are not) and provide an overview of ways in which connecting to values is useful for individuals and teams. Highly interactive and peppered with real world examples of values in practice the session also includes guidance on working with our values.  

‘Introduction to Facilitation’ with Curators of Change

• Monday 18^th March. 12pm - 3:30pm

Join this workshop with Cat and Naomi from Curators of Change, to learn about the skills of facilitation through doing. Participants will be led through supported processes, learn about novel tools, and focus on their ideas, content, relationships and outcomes. 

The workshop includes:

• Understanding your purpose and aims
• Design of workshops
• Who to invite - how to reach out
• Basics of organization, including accessibility and diversity
• Tips and practical tools (ground rules, tone etc)
• How to avoid common pitfalls
• Takeaway resource to include useful workshop activities and other training offers

‘Introduction to Systems Leadership: How to lead when you’re not in charge’ with Debbie Sorkin, The Leadership Centre

• Wednesday 3^rd April. 10am - 12pm

Systems Leadership is designed to help you lead when you don't have positional power, levers to pull, or a large budget to wield. It can help you get your message across and influence when working in hierarchies or political environments, trying to bring traditional silos together, or working across professional or other boundaries. It can help you tip the scales in your favor, find allies and get yourself room for maneuver. In turn, this will help you do real work on the things that matter to you, and make progress towards the changes you're aiming for rather than anticipating an overnight transformation.

We'll cover what Systems Leadership is and how it works; what you can do; what to watch out for; and approaches that we know work in these situations. The aim is to help you make sense of what you're experiencing; to give you practical tools and techniques you can use straight away; and to provide a space for you to apply the ideas to real-time issues you're facing. This workshop is open to anyone working or volunteering in Greater Manchester, who share the aim of changing lives through movement, physical activity, and sport.

‘Putting Values into Practice’ with Jackie Le Fevre, Magma Effect

• Tuesday 16^th April. 10am – 1pm

A session for those who have begun to think about values and have an interest in how we can harness values for better outcomes. Using reputable theories and real world evidence, Jackie Le Fevre a specialist in values, will facilitate conversations about how we can use what we already know about the systems around us and the nature of human values to influence how things are done in future.

There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion alongside demonstrations of simple activities to undertake with peers and/or colleagues to support their understanding of values in practice. By the end of the session you will be equipped with new knowledge, some practical skills and connection with a group of people across GM interested in the same challenges as you.