Our projects
Department of public expenditure and reform, Ireland.
2024. We delivered our two day training module on designing and delivering productive workshops to staff in the Policy and Delivery Teams.
Public Health Reform Expert Advisory Group, Department of Health, Ireland.
2023. Advising and coaching the core team supporting the review, and facilitating the key face to face sessions of the Advisory Group – a major review set up in the light of Covid to identify key learnings from the COVID - 19 pandemic with a view to strengthening public health protection systems and structures. I followed this up by supporting the Public Health Division as they carried out in their strategic review and team building workshops.
Cabinet Office and the Department for Education
2023-24. Advising and coaching the Cross Government Policy Making Profession team that is creating a peer lead policy making capability review process.
2020-21. We provided expert input and advice to the exemplar (virtual) collaborative problem solving review exploring at how best to improve the quality and capability for open policy making in the civil service.
2019-20. We provided expert input and advice to the well-being strand of the Cabinet Secretary's reform initiative: the National Strategic Framework. This aims to build greater leadership capability for collaborative system working across and beyond the civil service. The resulting proposal received £0.5m funding from HMT for a number of local demonstrator projects.
Sheffield City Council
2022. Working with the Cabinet and Executive Committee to help the new leader and chief executive to explore and review the culture, strategy , delivery and leadership arrangements. After an initial period of interviewing, analysis to develop the initial story and identify the key issues I moved into an extensive phase of engagement and co-production with the top 50 managers that co-produced their statement of priorities, clear ambition for success and outline of action required.
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Ireland
2020-21. Advising and coaching the core team charged with leading a collaborative, cross system pathfinder project to develop a National Model of Parenting Support Services. We drew on lessons from previous pathfinders in Ireland, and co-designed key elements of their project.
West Sussex County Council
2020. Commissioned by the newly appointed Chief Executive and Leader of the council to validate existing diagnoses of how the Council works internally and with others. The project was designed and run as a positive, forward looking project working collaboratively with the council, its members and officers to help them develop a clear picture of what good governance looks like and how they need to work better together.
City of Birmingham
2020. Providing advice and support to the new CEx of Europe's largest local authority to help him engage with the organisation in order to shape and co-develop a refreshed ambition for the City which will become the guiding star for the collective leadership of the City.
This included a programme of engagement, listening and collaboration to help senior leaders focus on the capability they need to succeed. In support of this I designed and facilitated a sequence of virtual workshops with the senior leadership team and wider leadership group. This formed part of wider analysis of key enabling and constraining factors and how best they can be addressed.
Education and Skills Funding Agency
2019. We designed and facilitated the key elements of a three month push to identify the key strategic issues for the agency. Providing specific support to their new model of collective, collaborative leadership to dig into those key issues and develop specific propositions and choices to test with the senior leadership group.
Young Women's Trust
2019. Supporting the new Chief Executive from day one in her eight week drive to create an ambitious new mission and strategy - and identify the key projects that will make the first steps towards success. I designed and facilated extensive engagement over that 8 week period with staff, young women from the advisory group, and the board. That strategy and key actions were strongly endorsed by the board. I provided ad hoc advice and support to the Chief Executive through the period.
North Norfolk District Council
2019. We carried out a fast paced project for the incoming Liberal Democrat Administration: they asked us to assess the capability of the organisation to delivery on the administration's emerging priorities. We tailored our capability, leadership and delivery frameworks to ask the critical questions of the council. We worked in an open way, engaging very widely across the organisation and beyond. We co-opted two excellent colleagues from with the Council to work as an integral part of the review team.
London Borough of Newham
2019. The project was commissioned by the elected Mayor to take stock of progress 12 months into her administration: with a view to identifying where and how to increase the effectiveness of her administration in pursuing their top priorities. This included close working with Cabinet, the Mayor and incoming senior officials.
Institute of Public Administration, Ireland
2018-19. Part of the IPA core team evaluating the GOAL programme funded by Atlantic Philanthropies. The Goal Programme is designed to support the public service reform agendas in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The evaluation is intended to make an important contribution to learning and disseminating the lessons from attempts to bring about systemic change in public services in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Sense Charity
2018-19. Working closely with the Director of Strategy and Chief Executive to develop and facilitate a key senior leaders conference. It was carefully designed to get strong engagement, input and ownership around the emerging strategy for 2019-2022.
Centre for Effective Services
2018. Part of the team evaluating the GOAL programme funded by Alatantic Philanthropies. The Goal Programme is designed to support the public service reform agendas in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The evaluation is intended to make an important contribution to learning and disseminating the lessons from attempts to bring about systemic change in public services in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
2017. Co-presenting the case study on the Youth Mental health Pathfinder at the cross border learning conference in Newry.
2016-17. Running a 16 week cross system collaboration to target actions on core problems in the mental health system for young people. We worked with a core team 3 to support a wider project team of 13 to scope, explore, analyse and propose a small number of key interventions. This was one of 3 high profile pathfinder projects at the heart of its ambitious Civil Service Renewal Plan. We were commissioned through the Centre for Effective Services to develop, design and delivered the project process. We facilitated all the plenary days, and provided extensive support and coaching to core team members throughout the process.
West Midlands Academies Regional Development Group
2018. Working with the Regional Schools Commissioner to design and facilitate a cross system intervention to help key players in the part of the region to take stock of the health of the system in their area and reflect on the best options for improving the problems they had identified.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
2018. This sensitive stocktake of the relationship between the Ministry and the Homes England agency was jointly commissioned by both parties. We drew on the tailored framework we have developed for looking at arms length bodies – and another framework for assessing the effectiveness of senior leadership teams in the public sector. We worked with a small joint team from the department and the agency gaining engagement and commitment of key senior leaders to the diagnosis and areas for action.
Homes England
2017. A rapid stocktake of the health of corporate performance management and corporate leadership for incoming Chief Executive. We working with a small team of part time seconded staff form across the organisation to carry out extensive interviews, regional and central focus groups, and a tricky sequence of sessions with senior leaders to share, test and act on the diagnosis. We used our leadership effectiveness model as well as our corporate performance management framework to provide a structured, comparative view of capability.
Department for Education
2018. We carried out a short evaluation of progress of cross cutting policy and project working in the Academies and Regional Development Group. We used a highly productive half day reflection and learning event with senior staff to both generate and respond to findings.
2017. Two day transformation event with 90 staff from two Directorates General to develop a focus of potential integration and transformation of their relationship with schools and trusts. This involved extended discussion and planning with senior officials to ensure it sat within a longer term process of transformation with strong engagement and visible leadership from the two directors general and permanent secretary - rather than just being a one off 'good event'. We curated a challenging set of internal and external stimulus to fuel thinking differently about the department and its relationship with schools and young people.
2017. This stocktake of the health of the senior leadership team was the new National Schools Commissioner and his Chief Operating Officer. It required extensive 1 to 1 interviews, focus groups and sequence of session and awaydays with senior leaders to understand, validate and act on findings. We used our 'characteristics of effective leadership teams' diagnostic, tailored to reflect he fact they operate in a highly regionalised structure. We carried out the work with two part time seconded staff from the group.
Norfolk County Council
2018 We ran a half day awayday for leadership team of the strategy and delivery unit to help them take stock of progress and their delivery model.
2017. An intense project over 4 weeks designing and facilitating cross cutting delivery 'kick off' workshops for each of their 7 key corporate priorities. A key part of this was working closely with the SRO and sponsor director to help them use the sessions to clarify or establish the scope of the work - and to help build productive and purposeful cross system teams on each priority. The sessions also included briefings and case studies on successful cross system problem solving and collaboration tools. For more advanced projects we were able to get into use of issue trees to structure and focus what might be the most valuable lines of enquiry for the projects.
2015. Induction and training for the newly appointed staff in the Managing Directors Delivery Unit.
2015. We carried out a stocktake for the Managing Director of corporate performance management and corporate leadership capacity. We used our framework for 'good performance planning and performance management' as well as our diagnostic of the capability of corporate leadership. The project involved extensive interviews, focus groups, bilateral with senior leaders and a sequence of session with senior leadership team to test, validate and act on findings.
States of Jersey
2017-18. Carrying out a fast paced due diligence stocktake of corporate planning and performance management, policy making and governance for the incoming Chief Executive. This involved a sequence of workshops, survey, 1 to 1 interviews and small group discussion to refine and land the finding - and a workshop with the Council of Ministers to test, challenge and reflect on initial findings. We worked with colleagues from finance, policy and performance to co-design the new corporate planning and performance approach.
Kaleidoscope Health and Care
2017. Codesigning and part-facilitating 3 day network event for the UK Improvement Alliance (health), develop and share improvement knowledge and insights from inside and outside the health sector.
Public Health England
2016. Working closely with Kaleidoscope Health and Social Care to co-design and facilitate a series of 5 cross system events around the UK to inform the development of guidance on effective mental health services.
Department of Health, Ireland
2018. Supporting the SATU Pathfinder 2 in the Department. A rapid review commissioned by the Minister to look at the Sexual Assault Treatment Service. I advised the core team, co-designing and co-facilitating sessions with stakeholders, the challenge panel and some of the core team days.
2018. We delivered our two day training module on designing and delivering productive workshops to staff in Organisational Development, Corporate Services and HR.
2018. We ran our two day training programme for core policy and strategy staff on how to design and facilitate productive workshops.
2016-17. Commissioned by the Department, but working with the project funder, the Centre for Effective Services we designed and facilitated a 16 week cross system collaboration to target actions on core problems in the mental health system for young people. We worked with a core team 3 to support a wider part-time project team of 13 drawn from across the system. We moved swiftly to scope, explore, analyse and propose a small number of key interventions. This was one of 3 high profile pathfinder projects at the heart of its ambitious Civil Service Renewal Plan.
We facilitated all the plenary days, and provided extensive support and coaching to core team members throughout the process.
Head of Government's Office, Tunisia
2016. Developed and co-delivered a two programme for key staff in the new Chief Of Staff’s section. Modules included: governance. Decision making, policy making, ministerial support, delivery, capability and case studies of UK reforms.
Government Apparatus, Kyrgyzstan
2015-17. Scoped, designed and co-delivered a 6 month programme to develop the capacity of the top 20 civil servants. This involved iterative research, discussion and focus groups with the staff and partners of the government apparatus to diagnosis the key areas where they most wanted to build their capability. And careful negotiation to ensure the proposal met the needs of the host government but was balanced with the priorities of the funder. We then designed a programme that would work with a first cohort of senior officials drawn from the government apparatus and the ministry of economy - in a practical, learning by doing way. The heart of the programme focused on scoping and undertaking problem solving reviews of three key government priorities on water, energy and public sector pay. The programme involved a mix of plenary days, working in smaller teams, and ongoing support from the local team.
London Borough of Haringey
2016. A challenging project to to take stock of how well, and how best, the council can provide system leadership. Included interviews with key partners, literature review and workshop with senior leadership group.
2016. We designed and facilitated an away day for the senior leadership team of the Deputy Chief Executive.
2016. This commission required us to co-developed and delivered a 6 day programme over 4 weeks to develop the capacity of the corporate policy team, including delivery methodologies, stocktake of skills and development priorities, business model, behavioural insights, training to design and run productive workshops.
2014. Designed and facilitated event with 200 partners of the Council to take stock of borough priorities.
2014. We carried out an evaluation the effectiveness of their PMDU style corporate delivery unit with a view to refreshing their approach and identifying key areas fo focus on to continue their development. We applied our framework for evaluating effectiveness of delivery units, carried out in depth one to ones with key staff, politicians and partners, observed stocktakes, ran focus groups with clients and the delivery unit, sessions with senior leadership team. We ran a final session at the wider senior leadership group away-day to test and reflect on findings and areas for action.
The Health Foundation, London
2016. Co-designed and delivered an innovative and highly interactive 5 day ‘methodology week’ for the policy team. This involved a mix of visits to exemplar organisations in public and private sector, master classes, team development and coaching session. We tied this together with work on their business model, usps and future plans. The week included a masterclass on designing and facilitating productive workshops.
2015-16. Stocktake of fitness for purpose of the policy team. Working with the new head of the team to run a one day awayday.
2015. Designed and facilitated a series of roundtable workshops for primary care, expert patients, voluntary organisations, NHS providers and others reflecting on what worked and what didn’t in governments performance management of the health and social care system. This formed part of one of the foundations research projects.
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, GHANA
2015. Advising the Office of the President on reform, delivery and effectiveness. This involved designing and running scoping and briefing session with officials on potential use of the priority review method to look at accelerating the impact of the primary health care programme.
Institute for Government
2016. Research project and publication on the global lessons from UK public service reform.
2015. Research project and publication of our evaluation of the delivery unit set-up by Haringey Council.
2014; 2015. Seminars and case studies on civil service reform for leadership development cohort of Ottowan civil servants.
2016. Seminar and case studies on civil service reform for leadership development cohort of Israeli civil servants.
2014. Seminar and case studies on civil service reform for leadership development cohort from the Hertie School of Government.
2014. Seminar and case studies on civil service reform for leadership development cohort from Indian Civil Service.
2014. Seminar and case studies on civil service reform for leadership development cohort from Malysian Civil Service.
2014. Seminar and case studies on civil service reform for senior leaders from Malawi.
2014. Seminar and case studies on civil service reform for senior leaders from Ghana.
2014. Seminar and case studies on civil service reform for senior leaders from the Kurdistan Regional Government.
London Borough of Barnet
2014-15. Provided a mix of external challenge, expertise, facilitation and support to help Barnet’s strategic commissioners and staff develop management agreements with their respective delivery units. We balanced a tricky blend of delicate brokering, negotiation, coaching and challenge.
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
2015. Programme to develop capability of the CEO's Delivery Unit. This involved a mix of induction to delivery unit tools and case studies, incubating work on their initial set of leaders priorities - and training to equip them with workshop design and facilitation skills. A sequence of 6 development days over a sequence of 3 months.
2015. Supported the incoming Chief Executive by taking stock of his leadership team and capability -providing personal advice and challenge to his approach to carrying out the transformation of the council. We then worked with him and his top team to develop their Ambition 2020 strategy in a way that engages and energises their staff. The initial stocktake including 1 to 1 interviews with all senior leaders, focus groups with a mix of staff. We then tested and refined findings with the Senior leadership in successive awaydays, leading to a conference with the top 200 staff to validate and develop the outline strategy. The council subsequently won Council of Year award in 2018 on the back of their impressive implementation of the 2020 strategy.
Open Data Institute, London
2014. Developed and designed products to be used for engaging high ranking government officials around open data in international governments.
Public Administration International, London
2015. Half day seminar and interactive workshop on civil service reform in the UK to international cohort of civil service commissioners.
2014. Half day seminar and interactive workshop on civil service reform in the UK to international cohort of civil service commissioners.
Department of Energy and Climate Change, London
2014. Ran a two day training programme for the strategy team on how to design and facilitate engaging workshops.
Said Business School, Oxford University
2014. We developed an interactive module on Civil Service reform to be run twice for delegates from Abu Dabi.