Transforming the delivery of public services using Human Learning Systems Approach Masterclass

The masterclass was opened by Toby Lowe, visiting Professor of Public Management, Centre for Public Impact (CPI). 

Toby shared his learning from years of action research and starting with the premise that if we want to achieve real outcomes in our services then we need to do public management very differently. He shared a quote from a senior leader in a workshop, who stated, “We're addicted to doing tried and tested ways of failing”.  

A delivery mindset for public service will not give us desirable outcomes

The purpose of public service is to help people create good outcomes in their lives and this should always be our starting point. He then asked, ‘how is an outcome created?’ He brought this to life with the map showing 108 factors relating to obesity, only four of the factors were commissioned health organisations. This demonstrated that outcomes are not delivered by organisations – the outcomes we desire are emergent properties of complex systems.

A delivery mindset for public service will not give us desirable outcomes, and will actively be harmful to great outcomes. He also shared that it was not fair to hold people accountable for impacts when they can only control four of 108 factors. This causes two key problems:

• Targets create gaming (manipulating data) – which means that the data required to learn becomes corrupted.
• Using the reward/punishment logic of targets slows down decision making, making it more difficult to make good decisions in complex environments.

This was also backed up by a systematic review which stated that the effects of target-based performance management systems found that over 80% of studies find evidence of gaming and 74% find evidence of people deliberately lying.

Public management reforms have incurred higher costs and more complaints

Toby then shared that since new public management reforms were instigated over 30 years ago all we have had since is higher costs and more complaints. Toby then brought this to life sharing ‘Johns’ story of over 10 years of service interaction with 14 different public services. Before a different kind of intervention, he had 3355 interactions at a cost of £2million. Post the liberated intervention method and he had only 161 interactions and improved life chances at £35k.

What does an alternative look like?

Toby asked ‘What does an alternative look like?’ If we want to do things differently, we need to embrace the complex reality of how outcomes are made and continually learn together. This is a Human Learning systems approach.

Toby also suggested that learning is a management strategy and that by running a learning cycle with each person and developing interventions around their need, organisational design will naturally develop, and we would have an effective and truly bespoke public service. Organisations would basically become a connected stack of learning cycles creating environments in which performance improvement is driven by continuous learning and adaptation. This fosters in leaders a sense of responsibility for looking after the health of the systems.

Toby stressed that data and measurement were still crucial - data can also mean stories (such as the example of John above). Toby finished with the call to action that Human Learning Systems create environments where managers focus more on learning and less on performance management.

You can download a guide here: 

Plymouth County Council case study - Problem solve not to performance manage

Gary Wallace a Public Health Specialist, Plymouth County Council shared his experience of setting up an alliance in Plymouth for those with complex needs. This started in 2012 using appreciative enquiry as a learning method. It was borne from the local authority and Clinical Commissioning Group pooling their budgets. This led to an alliance of seven CEOs who signed a contract and took control of a devolved budget. They met once a quarter and their role was: ‘to problem solve not to performance manage’

Alliance principles was around co production and devolving power to as close to the point of care as possible. They had a few simple rules: Is it legal? is it safe? Then go for it!

They liberated workers to do the right thing - if staff had to breach the rules to do the right thing, then the rules are wrong!

He talked about continuously listening and learning and coproduction an absolute fundamental to how services were delivered. They only used data to aid learning - targets were only indicators – they do not try and change the colour of the targets; just try to understand WHY they have changed colour.  

He finished with the adage that when people stated they were too busy for this kind of work they were often just: busy doing the wrong thing.

Learning from Greater Manchester - regulation as a tool for learning and public service improvement

Keisha Swaby, Senior Programme Manager at CPI shared her very recent experience of working in Greater Manchester to unlock the potential of regulation as a tool for learning and public service improvement. 

When they started the work regulation was seen as a negative public driver rather than a tool for service improvement. They brought together public service providers, as well as inspectors and regulators, for a 2-day design sprint to co-design experiments that could enable more collaborative regulatory practice and better ways of working together. These conversations helped build relationships with a focus on what they could do differently to drive a different culture and encourage risk taking behaviour.

They did this work using action enquiry through the lens of multi disadvantage – true co-production with people experiencing services. They found that:

• The predominant approach to evaluating service performance focuses primarily on the providers instead of the experience of the people using the services.
• The current accountability structure, both in provider organisations and from regulators and inspectors, does not incentivise responsibility or positive risk-taking.
• A culture of fear and anxiety around inspection hinders productive relationships and collaboration.
• Ambiguity about the remit of regulation creates myths and a culture of risk aversion among practitioners.

They wanted to focus on how they encourage collaboration between inspectors - creating a learning environment with them and providers. Four key themes emerged from this:

1.       Regulation is just one part of the puzzle

2.       People with lived experience are uniquely placed to help us improve things

3.       Accountability and collaboration go hand-in-hand

4.       Shifting systems – the approaches and conditions for change

1.Keisha finished with calling for everyone to cultivate mindset of flexibility - key enabler HLS potential to play a pivotal role to enable collective learning.

Further Reading 
The liberated method (more detail)
The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Case Studies from Plymouth Alliance
Centre for Public Impact - Transforming Regulation through Collaboration insights report 

 

You can watch back the full masterclass recording here.

 

View the remaining 2023/24 masterclass programme here.