Building culture for the future

Full contents table

Introduction

Co-production is intimately linked to the Well-being of Future Generations Act and the Inner Development Goals are central to both. All of these support sustainable development, improved delivery and a range of leadership models and methods.

In 2012, the Welsh Government established the Culture Change Service, a long-term programme that explores how we can change our behaviour and create cultures in which co-production thrives. In 2022, the Well-being of Future Generations Act National Stakeholder Forum explored the links between co-production and the five ways of working in the Act. They concluded that: “Taking a co-production approach addresses all five ways of working.”

With huge thanks to everyone involved, what follows is a selection of the most successful and popular practices based on the latest scientific evidence and over a decade of experimentation. Different people in different places and at different times will need different things. For best effect, treat this manual not as a set of instructions but as a menu of suggestions and an invitation to be creative. Weaving new ways of being into all the wonderful ways you already apply the Act and replacing any habits that need to change with others from here or elsewhere.

If you can’t find what you need, have questions or feedback or you just want to know more about the Welsh Government’s Culture Change Service, let us know! Please contact us by emailing: Sustainable.Futures@gov.wales.

For best results, make time to develop your compassion practices to support yourself between meetings. By looking after ourselves we can support others better.

Be creative and kind! This guide has been designed for use in virtual, hybrid or face-to-face meetings. For all meetings, seek out creative ways to value diversity, fulfil participants’ needs, minimise negative environmental impacts, and involve nature.

Everything starts with a pause. Research shows that even the briefest of pauses can help us make better decisions. It takes only about 120 milliseconds for the brain to shift focus and block out distractions to make a more accurate call. We can use pauses and short meditations (for example, a body scan) to help pace a meeting.

Sitting in a circle (of chairs and sofas) physically represents the equal importance of everyone in the room. It also allows us to ensure that everyone gets a turn to speak, be heard and to listen. In a virtual space you can recreate this effect by drawing the circle of participants during the first round. The circle is easily recreated in the virtual environment.

A round means everyone taking a turn to give a short response, either by taking turns round the circle or by allowing each person to offer their answer when they are ready. Getting everyone’s thoughts into the room can lead to more options, more creativity and better decision making.

Your meeting will have a specific purpose. The questions you use will need to relate to the purpose of the meeting and will be unique. Sometimes you may want to co-design your questions live in the meeting.

Familiarise yourself with the process as described above and below. Think about how this might work best for you and your participants - adapt, use, reflect, try again.

Find a friend (or 2) to support your chairing – do you need someone to take notes or move people into and out of virtual rooms? Or just to take a turn at hosting?

Consider the questions you will use. Maybe discuss these or ask others for their ideas? Decide when you will share the questions. Some people prefer to see them before they meet other groups, others may like to be surprised.

Immediately before the meeting, make time for yourself in whatever way helps you.

Welcome everyone to the meeting. Describe the etiquette and structure of the meeting. This might include confidentiality, the need to speak concisely to allow everyone to take their turn, the fact that no-one is required to contribute verbally and the importance of listening and attention, as much as speaking.

You may want to use an optional grounding exercise to bring everyone fully into the room. Many people use a tapping meditation, a body scan or a short silence. Try to choose something suitable for your participants. Shorter and gentler exercises are best for beginners. Pauses to collect your thoughts can be better than feelings-base pauses for those who are under pressure.

Research tells us that people think better when they are in a positive or appreciative frame of mind. So, use your first round to invite gratitude into the room.

You might invite people to share; one thing that is going well for them outside work, what motivates them to work on the topic we are about to discuss, or something they have learnt or appreciated about the Well-being of Future Generations Act.

Choose one question and explain how the round will work, for example:

“Start by saying your first name and then share one thing that is going well for you outside work. It doesn’t matter how small the positive is – even being here might be an achievement, or you might want to share something nice in your life that you take for granted; but you can always feel free to pass. If you pass, we’ll come back to you at the end of the round to give you another chance to participate, but it’s fine to pass a second time. Just being here and listening is really valuable in itself. When someone is ready to begin, please do. Please share your first name and one thing that you are grateful for outside work.”

If you are in a physical room, you might continue to take turns round the circle. If you are in a virtual room (or want to let people take their turn when they feel ready) you may want to keep a note of who has spoken. A good way to do this is drawing a circle and adding each name, as people speak. 

Depending on the number of people in the meeting, you could cover each of your agenda items by:

• completing a fresh round in the same way as above, using a suitable question and following up with a more open discussion
• moving people into pairs or 3s (using breakout rooms, if working virtually) to take part in listening without commentary, followed by an open discussion and an opportunity to feed in their main thoughts (via the chat bar or verbally in a virtual meeting) when the whole group comes back together.

Remember to be creative and use different approaches to suit different items. Remember to use rounds and pauses to help you hear everyone’s voice.

You can even hold a meeting entirely without any agenda by using the question; “is there anything that you want to bring into this meeting today?” either with another question as part of the first round or to start a second round. Once everyone has spoken, open the floor to discussion by asking; “are there any threads anyone would like to pick up, with a question, comment or thought?”

If you are not sure whether the meeting is ready to close yet, ask the classic question: “is there anything else that needs to be said, heard or asked before we check-out?”

Once complete, it is time for the final pause and round of the meeting.

If action is required, you might use gifting and requesting for this final stage or you could invite people to check-out with another question or prompt such as:

• “One word for how I feel just now is…”
• “Something that interested me during this meeting is...”
• “A learning point for me is…”

Thank everyone for being here – for listening and contributing.

When you reach the appointed time, the chair or facilitator draws the meeting to a close and begins the exercise of gifting and requesting.

Have someone ready to write down any actions that are shared and who offered them.

Stop the workshop or meeting to consider the actions you will take as a result of what you have heard.

Silence is held.

Anyone can speak but only to the whole room.

You can only say things which are:

• gifts: offers of help, actions that you are willing and ready to take

or

• requests: invitations to help, things that you feel others might be able to do to assist

Continue to hold the silence until all the offers (however sparse or meagre) have been made or you have run out of time.

Thank people for each offer as they make it.

It does not matter which people or how many people respond, only that their offers are genuine.

As you practice, people will start to link their offers together to create joint actions.

Introductions

Start the meeting with introductions by asking people an unusual question, such as: inviting them to describe something they feel grateful for, tell us what motivates them, describe something creative (they say or did) or tell you when they last interacted with nature.

Scene setting

One person briefly describes the topic or challenge on which you are going to work.

First round

Everyone takes a turn to provide one sentence or one question within the rules below. It is ok to pass or to have your go later in the round. A note taker makes a note of each of the sentences or questions using the exact words of the speaker.

The rules

You can only say one sentence or question, either a description, proposal, or suggestion:

• Descriptions should be about something you have noticed about the situation.
• Proposals should start with Could I..? Could we..? or Could they..?

Stop once everyone has had a go and decide whether a second round is needed (same rules). Once you have had enough rounds (often one for a large group but sometimes 2 or 3 for a small group), go to the next step.

Discussion and decision

Pause and breathe.

Reflecting on the round (or rounds) and attempting to retain any clarity that has emerged; discuss and decide on what you want to do and who will do it. As your discussion comes to an end your actions may become clear or you may find it useful to use gifting and requesting to clarify them.

Note takers and facilitators my also find this facilitation guidance useful.

What is three question chairing?

Three question chairing is a way of increasing focus, effectiveness and practical outcomes for any meeting. The chair (convener or facilitator) simply asks three, well prepared, genuine questions.

Remember to pause peacefully before each question for best results.

Question 1: (how is this meaningful for me?)

The aim of question one is to start the conversation, deep in the middle of the topic that you are planning to discuss and with good listening. Each person in the room is invited to introduce themselves by answering this question, starting with whoever is ready first.

For example, what inspires you to do the work that you do? If I could grant you one wish to change just one thing about this organisation; what would it be? What is, in your opinion, the biggest opportunity in the work [specific project] that we are doing together?

Question 2: (how is this meaningful for us?)

The aim of question 2 is to deepen our joint understanding of the topic on which we need to make decisions or take action. This is a specific, open question to everyone in the room.

For example, how could we maximise good health in old age? How could we replace fossil gas with other sources for those industrial operations that cannot be carried out using electricity? What do we know already about cost effective, efficient transport which does not increase the environmental footprint?

Other questions and answers will develop during this stage of the conversation. Make sure to invite quieter voices to join in, when necessary.

Question 3: (so what are we going to do about it?)

The aim of question 3 is to bring us back to action.

For example, what small step could we take in the right direction? How could we pull these (apparently diffuse) ideas together in a simple, experimental action? What do we want to do next?

Once everyone has decided what they will do together, you may want to ask one more question: how will we invite others to join in?

For larger meetings you might like to try Open Space, World Café or Sociocracy. See also the facilitation chapter.

The issue

A problem arises as we develop better, more human ways of meeting. Many people find it hard to justify going to ‘really nice’ meetings and yet these are increasingly the most important meetings that we need to attend.

Even the most dedicated reflective practitioner can find themselves feeling guilty about enjoying an action learning set, an appreciative enquiry, or a Welsh class.

Kindness and compassion are often described as 'acts'. However, we are increasingly finding it useful to think of them as attitudes or stances that we adopt. In an interconnected world, an act of kindness implies that it is optional and can be turned on or off. This allows us to justify ourselves colluding with abusive systems whilst apparently still remaining kind and compassionate to the individual.

The analysis

As human beings we often have a strong sense of fairness and determination to work hard (subconscious or conscious) for various reasons. Having attended a wonderful programme meeting in beautiful woodland we find ourselves naturally slipping the next of these meetings to the bottom of priorities. This appears to have more to do with our guilty feelings and reluctance to be kind to ourselves than with any rational assessment of strategic importance.

Holding meetings differently is one thing, but the work on the wards still needs to go on. How can we bring this agenda to task orientated roles so that we improve everyone's working lives rather than those who are fortunate enough to sit in meetings? Not including the staff on the wards or the teachers in the classrooms are divisive and disrespectful.

The invitation – time banking for your conscience

We propose the following simple solution for those interested in these problems.

Every time you have a meeting which feels good, log the time it took and pay it back.

You can ‘pay back’ by working or volunteering on the front line or by meeting with front line staff to facilitate or provide time for them to think together. Most managers start with 'no funds yet banked' while many front-line staff are already owed large amounts of good meeting time!

The objective

As long as we also actively convert the meetings we have control over good meetings, eventually, we might end up with a combination of beautiful meetings and compassionate action, as old fashioned unproductive meetings get squeezed out of the system.

“Power and vulnerability are always two sides of the same coin. It is vulnerability, sensitivity that allows you to have a truly powerful experience. When you feel vulnerable, it is because you are both powerful enough to be able to feel it, and because power is speaking to you, telling you what you need in a given circumstance to take care of yourself and remain in your centre.

When you feel vulnerable, ask yourself: What is the message here that is telling me how to protect myself, how to care for myself in this situation? When you feel powerful, notice if you’re moving into edginess, untouchability or entitlement in that power. Soften into your power, melt the edges, and sit back into being nourished and upheld by power rather than using it to hold yourself apart, above, untouchable, or entitled.”

Jumana Sophia

Realising our potentials as individuals and organisations, in part, comes from understanding our place within the system and understanding the very positive impact we can all have if we shift from a reductionist to an emergent and holistic mind set.

We need to not only survive the brutalities of the system but understand that we are an integral part of the system. Being resilient should not be the duty of the individual as if they are in some way to blame for their weakness, need to be hardier and improve their resilience skills. We all have a responsibility for creating a healing and enabling environment. Here are some of the first steps that we might take.

Fear of failure, shame, and humiliation are important natural emotions that we should listen to, but our responses to these feelings (in ourselves and others) are not always helpful. How we understand and manage these emotions informs, either directly or indirectly, what we do, and directly impacts on the cultures we work within.

Hiding mistakes behind technical errors and ‘slipping on a mask’ to hide our vulnerability are common. We need to tackle the underlining causes which are:

• denying vulnerability exists – leading to an unpleasant culture of blame
• thinking that showing weakness somehow signifies that we cannot lead

We have learned that the opportunity to take risks and make mistakes is important for individual and organisational learning and effectiveness. Evidence shows that an environment where people do not ‘own’ mistakes and human imperfections severely hinders creativity and clear thinking. Trying to ‘hide’ mistakes takes a lot of energy and puts people into a ‘fear’ brain pattern, engendering an unproductive working environment that becomes a workplace to avoid, rather than a place to be creative and innovate.

We need psychologically safe environments where people can work in a relaxed way, know that their work is meaningful and valued, speak freely, have difficult conversations, increase our understanding of our uncomfortable feelings, experiment, and create the diversity of ideas that can lead to better solutions.

We need somewhere for people to work where failure is an essential part of learning, where leaders admit mistakes and show how they learned from them. We need mechanisms where people can ask for help from anyone in the organisation and bring people together to share ideas, give clear feedback, and tackle our most difficult feelings with calmness and compassion. We need to build enabling environments that maximise people’s contributions toward common goals.

We can only create such spaces by working with our own vulnerability and helping others to work with theirs. It is not feasible or desirable to ‘put on a mask’ or ‘take on a persona’ as this stops us connecting and responding to the reality of what is happening.

To do this we have to be fully present and bring our whole selves into situations which are difficult, challenging and (in some cases) potentially dangerous.

Central to being present is taking time to reflect on the nature of the vulnerability we feel. For an excellent introduction based on academic evidence, see Brene Brown’s work which demonstrates how successful people are vulnerable people.

Our vulnerability in action comes in 3 main flavours:

Before – We feel nervous and that we do not want to go ahead.

During – there is a moment (sometimes a long one or more than one) when everything seems out of control and we don’t know what to do next. It can feel strange and is the hardest time to take on board any advice, simply because we’re in the thick of it. Whether this is viewed as a positive or negative is very much cultural – at our most creative we may perceive this as a good place to be.

After – we are hit by a sudden wave of anxiety and shame.

All 3 of these may be utterly necessary for a successful encounter:

Before – our body is telling us that there is something which is unsafe. The threat may be real or imagined but the feeling is very real. We need to show respect towards our self as well as towards the other people involved, ensuring that we have the right safety measures in place and taking time to reflect; “how does my relationship with these people, in this context, make me feel unsafe?” “What would be a wise response for them, for me and for the situation?” This is precious enquiry as it might really start to change things in the longer term.

And when it comes to the moment for action; keep breathing gently.

During – remind yourself to breathe and slow down. Wisdom can only come from not knowing; hold the silence, something will happen. The danger is that someone always comes in to ‘fix’ the silence or the not knowing. Take time to reflect on what is happening in terms of knowing, not knowing, and the emotional response. This is that moment of presence from which something new might emerge, if complexity and uncertainty are given permission to be there.

After – our body is recovering from the stress response and integrating and digesting this experience. It is important to give it time. This experience of vulnerability has an element of trauma and as mammals and sapiens, we need time to release the physical effects of this. What we learn from this stage can inform what we do next – what can we learn from this experience?

Here are just 3 of the many possible ways we can respond to ourselves and others:

Awareness - is recognising our attention without judgement, noticing how it moves about, where and when it occurs or does not, and how it is being drawn by what is happening around us.

Empathy – we naturally share and mirror the feelings or experiences of other people (through our mirror neurons), but this can become draining or overwhelming.

Compassion – is being able to be with a feeling, emotion, or experience (ours or others) without being overwhelmed by it. This is more like sharing the feeling or experience in a space between us, allowing us to recognise the humanness of the feeling, allowing it to be as it is in this moment, and enabling us to enquire into and explore what is going on.

Empathy alone can increase our chances of both walking away from our conversation holding difficult emotions but adding in compassion and awareness can increase our chances of reducing our shared burdens.

Compassion and awareness are skills that we can cultivate. Patience, practice, reflection, sharing and supervision are central to improving our skills.

To enable us to have the best chance of waking up and showing up in this way, we need to take care of ourselves as well as others. See How can I improve my personal resilience? for suggestions.

There is increasing evidence that being in nature can improve our comprehension, thinking and decision making, as well as making a substantial contribution to our wider health and wellbeing. Here are 4 ways to try it for yourself:

Walk your ideas out

When you have been sat at the desk with your head down while concentrating hard, give yourself a break. Take yourself for a short mindful walk and bring your creative, strategic mind back into the office with you.

Be active in one-to-one meetings

“When I managed staff, I held a number of meetings with them outside. With one of them, they sometimes came into work quite edgy and surly, so I used to take them down the avenue and back again and let them get it off their chest. They found that very beneficial and we agreed that all one-on-one meetings arranged between us would be held outside where practical. They told me that holding meetings like that made it appear less formal and that they felt more comfortable and able to open up. My manager was fine with this approach, as they too saw the benefits it provided. A separate member of my team didn’t feel so comfortable with that approach, so we reverted to meetings in the workplace. Another member of my team was happy for us to have our performance management conversations outside.”

Take a team thinking walk

“We are a strategic team who look at data, charts and ‘sectors’ all day, every day. As part of our team building, we try to circulate meetings between the different office locations occupied by the team. For the team meeting in Pembrokeshire, I decided we needed to get outdoors and look at the landscapes and the way people are using the landscapes that we talk about in our work.

We planned a two hour walk. The first hour was our wellbeing hour, where we walked and talked, looked at the landscape and did some botany, as one of the team is knowledgeable about the coastal flowers that were beginning to bloom.

For the second part of the walk, we looked at the historical evidence of how people had used the landscape in the past. From a good vantage point, we could start to look at modern day uses of natural resources including habitats, farming, communities and tourism. As this was a seascape as well, we were able to think about fishing and power generation. Although we did not come to immediate conclusions, just looking at the landscape and how closely linked all the activities are to each other, really helped to put our work into context and brought into focus the practicalities of the activities we talk about every day.

Feedback from the team was very positive; bringing to life the issues we are working on, understanding how landscapes function as a complex system and reconnecting with what we are trying to achieve and understand in our work.”

"We strive for consistency to ensure that people can have the same expectations and experience of walking alongside a Local Area Coordinator no matter which community they live in. But also recognise the variations in every person, every team member, every community and the subsequent relationships between them all. Which means there can rarely be standardisation. The points below have helped me understand it in these terms.”

Ronan Ruddy

Consistency does not mean standardisation.

Projects, services, reports and actions will look and feel different in different places.

We achieve consistency through:

• peer review to create assurance
• having an emergent plan that is clear on the core objectives and first steps yet allows responsiveness and flexibility
• everyone signing up to the plan, sharing learning and reviewing progress together at regular intervals
• returning to sharing our purpose and motivations regularly

Over time, this will create consistency in:

• process (core areas and flexibility)
• accuracy
• style of language (hard and soft)
• internal challenge
• honesty and saying it how it is
• use of specific wording and terminology

Which is enhanced by:

• sharing ‘lines to take’ (creating a bullet point list together)
• when asked by stakeholders and you don’t know the answer, it’s ok to say: “I don’t know; I’ll find out” or “I don’t know; what do you think?”
• asking questions, telling people what you feel or notice and asking them about their questions, thoughts and feelings, so that you can understand what to ask of each other next
• valuing and appreciating diversity; harmonise rather than standardise!

We are gradually realising just how increasingly turbulent, uncertain, novel and ambiguous (TUNA) our world really is. It is no longer possible or desirable to plan in comprehensive, time bound, target-based ways. We have to develop more agile, flexible planning mechanisms. One way to do this is to establish and use emergent planning.

“It is definitely a less stressful way of working (even for someone who likes to plan like me!) It is likely to lead to less procrastination, delay and lack of confidence.”

How does emergent planning differ from what we used to do?

We still gather and consider a wide range of information, together with others.

We still pause to consider this information deeply and engage our creativity.

But…

We only identify and describe the first few (one to three) steps that we will take.

We regroup at regular intervals during these steps to consider progress, share learning and agree next steps, making adaptations to steps, or agreeing a small number of relatively immediate new steps.

We love scrutiny – creating a clear audit trail as we go, gathering feedback, considering it carefully and rapidly taking new ideas on board.

…and repeat….

For more details, see:

From hammer to dance

Governance

What principles can be helpful?

Funding streams that are long term and outcome focused.

Collaboration and sharing of different (apparently irrelevant) information.

Making connections and drawing new people into our discussions.

Putting the emphasis on relationship building through learning by doing.

Making time to get feedback from the edges of the system in which we are working.

Getting started

Often, we are faced with multiple complex potential future scenarios. There may be a large number of distinctive ways in which the future might develop.

Look across what you know about all these possibilities.

What are the ‘do anyway’ actions?

These are the (very) few steps that, if you were to take them, would most likely help in all of the identified scenarios.

Then aim to create a prototype that brings these together.

“You need two things to get started: an outcome and a first step.”

Anon.

There is your outcome, vision or hope for the future and then there is your prototype.

A prototype is a practical, testable action, focused on learning.

A prototype translates an idea into a concrete first step. It is not the final product but an experiment which allows us to generate valuable feedback. This feedback will then help us refine our understanding and develop second, and third stage prototypes.

Prototypes work on the principle of ‘failing early to learn quickly’.

A prototype is not a pilot. Unlike a pilot, our expectation is not to 'scale up later' but, rather to 'inspire across during', both being inspired by others' learning and inspiring them with what we are learning.

“Geographically circumscribed and time-limited pilots can often fail to reveal unintended consequences that arise as a result of scale, duration, or context. There is also a tendency to conduct pilots with partners who are highly committed and comfortable with innovation. Success in a pilot therefore does not necessarily indicate that a policy will be successful at a larger scale.”

The Best Laid Plans? Avoiding unintended consequences in public policymaking, by Lindsay Iversen, Stephen Whitehead and Robin Wilkinson, Arium 2011 (unpublished)

Choosing a prototype: 7R criteria

Prepare: if working alone use these questions to identify, consider, or develop your ideas, maybe journal your thoughts in response to each question. Then discuss with a friend, coach, or colleague and commit to creating your first prototype.

If you are working as a team, you could read these out to the team while asking them to complete the simple table overleaf. Then discuss how each of your prototypes might fit together to make a whole.

1. Is it relevant?
   • Personally?
   • For the organisations involved?
   • For the communities most affected?
2. Is it (potentially) revolutionary?
   • Is it new?
   • Could it be transformative for the system?
3. Is it rapid?
   • Can you begin it quickly?
   • Can you start experimenting right away in order to get feedback and iterate?
4. Is it rough?
   • Can you do it on a small scale?
   • Is this the lowest possible scale you can do it on to allow for meaningful experimentation?
5. Is it right?
   • Does this idea allow you to put the spotlight on the most meaningful variables?
6. Is it relationally effective?
   • Does it leverage the strengths, competencies and resources of existing networks and communities?
7. Is it replicable?
   • Can you scale it?
   • How will we inspire across?

Share: If you are working on more than one prototype – why not share and compare them? Ask each person:

• what’s the big idea?
• why does it matter? (systemic impact)
• who needs to be involved? (stakeholders)
• how can you translate your big idea into a small actionable prototype?
• where do you need help?

Pause

Getting under way

Who will you work with to make this prototype real?

From whom and how will you generate feedback?

When and where will you reflect and review our progress?

What will you do in the next 24 hours to make a start?

For more on prototyping and Theory U, see Leading from the emerging future

“When reviewing the lessons learned from our project we spotted an interesting pattern. Several of the things that had slowed us down were due to a similar mistake and it went like this.

A team member (1) goes to a manager (2) to ask for advice. In response, the manager quotes another manager or stakeholder (3 = the third party). The words of the third party are relevant and the team member then goes away ‘to make it so’.

What we hadn’t spotted was that we had inadvertently cut off the discussion by accidentally ‘pulling rank’ on the team member by mentioning the third party who was not present.

When we discussed it later, we discovered that team members had possessed additional information that they had not shared because they felt under instruction to fulfil the third party’s vision. This additional information would almost certainly have helped us to make a better decision, saving time and energy.

Individually each of us has made a personal commitment not to quote third parties and instead to:

• listen carefully
• share our own views (which might include ideas we have taken on board from others)
• ask people to speak directly with others to get their views (even when we think we know what they will say)
• remain alert to subconscious biases in ourselves and others.”

“All of us need to reframe feedback as being a useful set of data as opposed to a criticism that we take personally and ruminate on. It’s that “getting comfortable with being uncomfortable” stuff!”

Welsh Government official trying this for themselves.

Future, Engage, Deliver supports and challenges us to improve through the underlining philosophy which is one of:

• helping everyone to be their best; through people being their best, they help others to be their best by understanding who they are, their background and experiences and the existing (unfair) social and historical constructs in which we live
• valuing everyone; everyone matters and can be a leader; leadership can come from every level of the organisation
• believing that leadership happens inside mutually respectful relationships, and that through building bigger relationships people not only are helped to be their best, but also deliver bigger and better results.

Managing your impact felt is key to building bigger relationships, to being in partnership with people - to involvement, equity and valuing diversity.

• First get clear on your impact intended - ask yourself the question; How do I want people to feel around me?
• Then think about your leadership behaviour that will have people feel that they matter – how will you create involvement, equity and diversity? Which of your strengths will you bring to this task?
• Ask people for their felt experience of you, make it easy for them – “What is it like around me on a good day?”, ”What's it like around me on a bad day?”, ”What helps you feel involved and in partnership with me?”, ”What could I do more of, less of, or differently?”
• Pause: You may not like what you hear. Do not comment on what has been said.
• Thank them for their feedback - remember, it is important data! It is their felt experience of you.
• Create a space and time to reflect on the feedback you received. Keep an open mind. Be honest with yourself. Work with a coach or mutual mentor. What new information do you have about yourself? What can you learn?

Here are some questions to ask yourself in a reflective moment. Some of them might be suitable to work on as a team as well:

• how could you spend your life learning to be yourself more effectively?
• how can you be clear about your values(you will need to spend time working out what they actually are)? What does it mean not to compromise them? How can you find ways to consistently apply and engage with them?
• how can you seek to understand before seeking to be understood?
• You are a powerful role model and people will have “names” for you (including when you are not in the room). Do you leave people with more or less energy? What’s it like to be on the receiving end of me (you can only know if you seek and get honest feedback)? Does the room light up when you enter it or when you leave it?
• what you permit, you promote. What are you permitting?
• clear is kind, unclear is unkind (Brene Brown). How clear are you?
• if we want to change ourselves, change our attitude. If we want to change others, change their environment. What sort of environment can you create?

Here are some topics for a team conversation or maybe for 1-2-1 check-ins.

• Consider “in your shoes” sessions with staff. What does a good day with me look like? What does a bad day look like? How can we have more good days together?
• What’s our mutual understanding? What am I getting? What are you getting?
• What is our collective sense of purpose? Where does our individual sense of purpose overlap?
• Reflect on “what does a good day for me look like?” How does it look for each of you?
• “Here’s what I’ve understood. What have I missed?”
• “If something isn’t working, tell me and then let’s talk about it.”
• “Tell me what’s gone well and what I could do better.”
• “Are you getting what you need from me and if not, what do you need?”

For more on Impact Intended and Impact Felt and Future Engage Deliver, see Leadership Plain and Simple by Steve Radcliffe, edited by Anthony Landale.

Perhaps it is counter intuitive but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that our maximum productivity and strategic edge come, not from working as fast and hard as possible but, from balancing and pacing our lives. See also five ways to wellbeing.

Are you working ‘in flow’ or ‘at pace’ or ‘on tilt’?

In flow

A ‘flow’ state (also known as being ‘in the zone’) is the mental and physical state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Flow is characterised by complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one's sense of space and time.

It is not usually possible to remain in a flow state for long periods but it is possible to develop a continuous practice of repeated use of flow in sports, music or work, etc. Flow states can be highly productive, effective and creative.

At pace

When you are working ‘at pace’, you are working hard and fast for good reasons. There may be a crisis of some sort, a series of rapid external deadlines or continuous or increasing delivery pressures.

You are aware of your overarching strategic purpose.

You have built in ‘team time’ that allows the team to talk about purpose, personal motivation and emotions, as well as practicalities and tactics. Your secret weapon is the diversity on your team; everyone is appreciated for their unique talents, and you use ‘bird table’ or other mechanisms to ensure that you are all well informed and focused on the right tasks. Everyone is comfortable to ask for help. You work together to ensure that each individual has built in personal recovery time between bouts of ‘full on’ engagement and you use re-entry after recovery (holidays, training courses, etc.) as an opportunity to spot and act on improvement opportunities.

On tilt

Everything is going very fast! You are beginning to feel out of control, or you may have for some time. There are self-imposed and external deadlines, but it is hard to tell which are which. The goal posts seem to move around. You cannot remember the last time you discussed your purpose or strategic aims.

No one is asking you how you really are, and you haven’t got time to ask anyone else. Delivery pressures are continuous and increasing with no time to assess your progress. Introducing short spacious and caring practices could make a big difference, but it is hard to see how to fit these in.

Summary

As long as you have built in reflective periods and learning time, ‘in flow’ or ‘at pace’ are likely to see you succeed. ‘On tilt’ will always hold you back from your best results.

It is possible to shift between these states.

What can you do to shift your working patterns from tilt to pace to flow?

Afterthought

What would happen if every moment where you felt resistance to the work at hand or weren’t in the flow, you put your pen down, closed your laptop, and meditated?

What if you made it your priority to listen to your intuition and reconsider before continuing? What if this were policy? And everyone did it? What if it were the norm to say: “I really feel this isn’t the best use of my energy”?

How can we enable the people of Wales to use their strengths and energy well? How can we encourage good collaboration where people do what they enjoy doing and do it well, continuously learning and providing their flow in service to others?

Everything has to start somewhere. Here are some pointers for beginning your activity, project or intervention:

• Begin with the Sustainable Development Principle and the 5 ways of working. We are duty bound by the Well-being of Future Generations Act to apply these ways of working to all that we do and decide. What are the first 3 things you can do that will embody the 5 ways of working?
• Next, take a look at the Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA). How can you engage with people in ways that will help you answer questions in the IIA?
• Make sure to set up a Lesson Learning Log early on, so that you capture thoughts and experiences as you progress. Review this log at regular intervals during your project.
• Set up a continuous evaluation process for your project from the start.
• Set up a good, simple way of keeping people updated and gaining on-going feedback.
• If your project is related to other projects, keep in regular touch to make sure you maximise synergies and efficiencies.
• As you get up and running, make use of emergent planning and prototyping to maximise your positive impact and responsiveness to changes in the external environment.

Project and programme boards

Bring the project leads together for a programme meeting or action learning set at regular intervals. Those who cannot attend in person should send a deputy who is also active on their project. Work in rounds using the following questions or similar.

Context – much like an ordinary check-in (i.e. each individual takes a turn to answers the questions for their project):

How am I?

How is my project (the element of the programme for which I am responsible)?

How does the programme feel to me?

How are the programme team?

What are other people saying and doing?

Progress – since last meeting (again, each participant takes their turn to answer this set of questions):

What have we achieved?

What is causing us difficulty now? (issues)

What might go wrong soon? (immediate risks)

What might we have missed? (long term risks)

What have we failed to understand?

Resource (as a circle but them moving into a more general discussion):

What have we learnt? (from this phase of the project and this discussion so far)

What interdependencies do we need to be alert to?

What changes do we need to make to help move the programme forward?

Action (make sure everyone’s voice has been heard in the resource discussion, then ask people to offer or request under the following headings):

Allocations and adjustments

Timescales and next steps

(Agree and note actions as they arise.)

Messages

Who else do we need to tell about our decisions?
How will we do this? (straight away!)

Check out – how do we feel now? Who do we want to thank and for what?

Executive and scrutiny boards

This technique can be used for boards of directors or other high level groups such as programme boards or stakeholder reference groups.

Hypothesis

Any board has (at least) 2 main ways in which it needs to engage with the materials presented to it - collaboration mode and challenge mode. It is important to choose the correct mode for any given situation. Many boards identify one of these modes early and develop strong skills in this area but this can lead to a loss of skills and practice in the other mode.

Collaboration mode

In this mode you are working together as equals, everyone brings something useful to the discussion and your focus is on solving a problem together. Here you are looking for what might be possible, what are the innovative opportunities, what action could you take to support the management?

Challenge mode

In this mode the executive is seeking to challenge the management to test the practicality, sustainability or effectiveness of a proposed operation, project or programme. Here you are looking for what might go wrong and how this can be changed into an opportunity to do something even better.

Useful tips in both modes

• Start from a position of not knowing and be humble. There are no ready made answers and there will be a myriad of different answers for each situation.
• Develop a spirit of curiosity. This will encourage questions; enjoy the discovery and learning.
• Learn to be more comfortable with ambiguity. Get started anyway!
• Keep the Disability Equality principle ‘nothing about us without us’ at the front of your mind. Make it possible for people to be involved from the very start.
• You are not alone, find others seeking to learn and work with them.

Simple ways to improve effectiveness

For each agenda item, indicate whether challenge or collaboration mode is being requested (for example, with a suitable emoticon).

Hold away days at which the board can practice one or both modes of working to hone their skills.

At the beginning of any project or programme

Establish your first set of 3 main messages at the start and share widely.

• Agree and disseminate a clear start-up message including answers to these questions: What is this programme for? Who will make decisions and when? How can people assist, join in or be kept informed?

During the project or programme

• Add a final agenda item called 'main messages' to all meeting agendas (programme boards, project boards and regular stakeholder meetings).
• During each meeting, agree a maximum of 3 main messages.
• Circulate to meeting participants by email the same day.
• Translate and make available via the website within a week from the meeting date.
• Invite meeting participants to disseminate the email message to their organisations and networks, discuss it and bring back any feedback to the next meeting.
• Discuss this feedback at your next meeting.

Context

The Sustainable Futures Architecture provides details of the changes we are seeking to make throughout the Welsh Government in order to implement the Well-being of Future Generations Act. Here is what it says about risk:

We need to move away from:

Risk documentation where we put our faith in carefully designed risk logs and detailed processes that protect us from criticism and help identify the cause after failures have occurred. We tackle symptoms rather than underlying causes.

Towards:

Risk management where we can learn and improve only by taking risks. Increasing our understanding of the substantial long-term risks facing us now and in the future helps us to increase our appetite for taking appropriately managed short term risks immediately.

Risk processes

It isn’t the paperwork that is the most important aspect of risk management but the way in which we discuss, process and respond to that paperwork. We can improve this aspect of what we do by improving the quality of our risk meetings:

• How are your risk review meetings?
• Do you (and other participants) feel engaged and involved?
• Are you acting to prevent, as well as to respond to risks?
• Are you taking action to improve things now, in ways that also increase our chances of a better future?
• How are you incorporating Future Trends into your risk management?

Use your responses to these questions to re-design or re-prototype your risk process.

One of the most important things to do is to maintain meeting momentum. Don’t cancel a meeting because only 2 of you can get there. Instead use this smaller meeting as an opportunity to go deeper or to reflect on the risk process itself.

Risk review meetings

Here are some of the questions you might want to ask (using rounds) during your risk review meetings. Select one to three to share in each meeting.

• What is the biggest current risk that each of us is actively managing?
• Whose help do I or we need to manage this (particular) risk?
• What is the biggest (overall) risk we currently face? How are we building tackling this into our other risk responses?
• Which risk am I most concerned about today?
• Which risk am I feeling most confident about today?
• How well is our management of this risk integrated into our ordinary management processes?
• Which of these risks is really an issue (i.e. it has already happened)?
• What is (still) missing from our risk register?

Think of your own specific questions that suit your circumstances.

Give everyone present the opportunity to respond. Use some of the general advice on improving the quality of your meetings to help you.

Everything has to have an end as well as a beginning and nothing is totally linear. Here are some top tips for closing your activity, project or intervention. Some of these activities might be combined for small projects but don’t confuse or muddle them, as you need all the pieces.

• Continue your natural team meetings longer than you think you need them. You will need at least a couple to cover completion and closure of your project documents and manage the final stages of your evaluation process. In addition, you will want to hold a number of main workshops.
• Hold at least one Lessons to be Learnt workshop. Invite everyone who has been involved. Share the latest lessons learning log with participants and ask them to reflect on this and their experiences and bring along the 3 top lessons that they think they need to learn.
• Hold at least one Stakeholder Sharing workshop to discuss how the project has developed, what it has achieved and receive further feedback for future.
• Complete your Summative or Final Evaluation.
• Use the 5 ways of working to ensure that your lessons to be learnt are embedded in any new structures and processes for whatever you and your team members are going to do next.
• If the team is breaking up, hold a final session to acknowledge the success and challenges of your project before you move on. If you will continue to work together this can simply be a team meeting. Recognise losses as well as gains, maybe setting some good questions using this method.
• Say thank you and goodbye and wish everyone well.

Here are 2 lessons from nature:

Generosity

“One day, I was picking delicious, sweet-smelling raspberries from our raspberry canes, when I was struck by the huge number of fruits all around me. I was picking plenty of juicy, bright red raspberries myself, but the blackbirds and our chickens were also taking their share of the crop. It occurred to me that nature doesn’t decide how much to supply and then produce exactly that much; it simply produces as much as it possibly can with whatever energy it has got!”

Patience

“I walk to work most days; 2½ miles each way, up and down a big hill. One month, there was some work going on to replace the water pipes that run under the field at the very top of the hill. To allow the work to commence, the water board fenced off the area that they needed to use, so that the horses and sheep could not enter. As I passed each day, I noticed not only the progress of the work, but also a change in what was growing around the work. In the field that had been temporarily cut off from being grazed a fabulous display of yellow iris and pink orchids has suddenly appeared. When I asked a colleague, I was told that the seeds could have been lying dormant for years!”

How can you weave these lessons from nature - patience and generosity - into your daily work?

An exercise to try as a team

1. Someone tells their own story about a real-life example of something they noticed or appreciated in nature and are attempting to incorporate into their daily life. (Or use one of the stories above.)
2. The question is posed: what have you learnt from nature? What have you noticed in nature that might inform your work? (no need for answers yet, just a pause for reflection.)
3. Then participants are asked to pair up with someone they know less well or haven’t yet spoken to today.
4. Pair discussion: tell each other of a time when you noticed or learnt something from the natural world.
5. Moving through a pyramid (for example, pairs to fours to eights) or into a plenary session; share your thoughts and/or begin to consider what you might do differently, now you’ve re-called or re-noticed these things.

How can we best support organisations, individuals, departments, or communities to deliver the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act? Let’s take a systems approach!

• Stop trying to design the solution and instead design for the conditions that enable the emergence of many solutions.
• Fostering more quality and trusted relationships is a critical enabler of that emergence.
• For the catalysers of complex system change (including government) that means starting to value relationships as a central outcome.

Adapted from The new zeitgeist: relationships and emergence by Bill Bannear).

What is a systems approach?

Making use of this free systems thinking mini course.

Applying User Centred Design for example, with the User Centred Design Laboratory.

Proactively choose methods of involvement that:

• focus on creating a network of relationships NOT a collection of things, activities, services
• decrease dependency
• increase enthusiasm and collaborative effort
• embody the 5 ways of working
• show confidence in being creative
• strengthen relationships
• encourage new connections
• use minimum effort to achieve maximum effect
• provide fishing rods (or develop community-based fishing rod manufacturing) instead of providing a fish
• change processes and interdependent relationships NOT structures or outputs

Applying these 3 important learnings from Welsh Government:

• continuously re-prototype or re-design our offering based on deep and rapid feedback
• step back; delegate by facilitating facilitators instead of task-by-task
• establish a variety of support (for ourselves and others) so that people can choose how to engage with and enable change

Focusing your development on these areas identified in research on the key skills for public health leaders:

1. seeing the bigger picture and choosing suitable approaches
2. effective collaboration and boundary spanning
3. empowering others to lead, building on the concept of distributed leadership
4. maintaining strong underlying motivations and values, including the need for humility and a learning mindset

See full details here.

What is not a systems approach?

• Thinking that one person, team or organisation has the answer
• Thinking we are part of the solution but not part of the problem (we are all part of both)
• Imagining that we are outside the system that we are discussing
• Appointing consultants, instead of meeting people directly ourselves

In these increasingly turbulent, uncertain, novel, and ambiguous (TUNA) times, we need to take care not to repeat the mistakes that got us into this situation.

TUNA is Tim Benton’s term.

Here are some top tips from a systems perspective.

Applying models

All models are an approximation of the real world.

No model is ever complete or completely accurate.

This includes:

• the models that we hold in our own minds of how the world works
• the collective models that we create together through conversation
• all the computer models we ever use

Use your model to make the best guess you can but always seek real world evidence by prototyping your solution to find out more.

Using population-wide data

Population-wide data is also a model, so it only approximates the real world.

Population-wide probabilities tell you what the big picture might look like.

Population data cannot tell you what is impossible at a local level.

It cannot tell you what to do in a specific place.

It can tell you some of the questions to ask about that place.

It can only tell you about what might be likely or unlikely. Local factors will have an impact on these probabilities. The unlikely will still occur.

So, stay alert to all possibilities.

Population wide data cannot make predictions: it will not tell you what your experience will actually be.

Our relationship with knowledge

What has not changed is that we are still interested in evidence!

But…

The types of evidence we are interested in have broadened. It is no longer okay to over-rely on a particular source of evidence. Lived human experience is particularly important. Some sources of evidence are useful in many instances but can also be a limit on our perspectives for example, random control trials creating false dichotomies.

The way we interpret the data has changed. For example, in the past we might have said ‘oh that’s just the placebo effect’ but the effect of placebo can be quite large, so we might investigate how we can use it ethically and safely to get results.

Our understanding of what it means when someone asks for more evidence has changed. All decisions are based on an emotion. (Yes, really – you cannot make a decision without an emotion!) But sometimes our emotions get the better of us and we demand extra proof to avoid our own difficult emotions or to delay making a decision. Previously we would have accepted such a request. Now we would want to help with the underlying emotional challenges, as well as generate useful (probably new) data on the topic.

Our relationships with each other

Everything we do should always be informed by collaborative application of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.

Questions to focus our observations might include:

• how are we understanding and applying the 5 ways of working?
• are we rushing? What are we avoiding?
• how are we assessing risk? Which risks feel small or large just now?
• are we using the basic tool kit for better meetings?
• how can we work with ourselves and others in ways that increase reassurance and comprehension?

Project design

Many of our responses to the world around us are far more reasonable than they seem at first glance. Always apply the social model (not only a medical or therapeutic model) to the challenges you face:

How is the system itself unwell or unhelpful?

Everyone is unique and has their own logic to their responses and decisions. Other people’s logic may be similar but will rarely be identical to yours.

Very few things are linear. Most of the systems you are dealing with will be complex webs. Instead of thinking about pathways (through which you can channel multiple people, places, or activities etc) think about relationships between the aspects or individuals in the system or envisage circles or spirals.

• Can you create a menu of options from which people can choose?
  (Do not overstress people; 3 options are plenty!)
• Can you increase opportunities to walk with me – where a trusted other helps you through to a solution that suits you and sticks with you till you have someone to work with and something practical to try?

Evaluation and review

When evaluating progress, you want to know what happened, but your mind model (our predictive mind) has already limited the sorts of data and possibilities that you are likely to see.

Can you find ways to free yourself from this dilemma?

• Ask different people: talk to people you would not normally hear from and explore what happened together.
• Ask bigger questions: ask some deepening questions and pause over these for longer.

A 3-point plan

Leadership, good policy, and effective delivery all rely on us being the best we can be. Looking after our wellbeing and the wellbeing of others makes this possible. Becoming and being well is central to success.

Here is our 3-point plan.

1. Cover the basics

Eat well, be active, be creative, take rest and sleep well

2. Use the 5 ways to wellbeing in your personal life
3. Use the 5 ways to wellbeing in your work

In our personal lives

Ymgysylltwch… Connect…

With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues, and neighbours. At home, work, school, or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

Byddwch yn egnïol... Be active…

Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

Cymerwch sylw ... Take notice…

Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.

Daliwch ati i ddysgu... Keep learning…

Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.

Rhowch... Give…

Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

In our work

Ymgysylltwch… Connect…

How does your work relate to other people? How can you build and strengthen relationships? How can you make connections that help nature and support and enrich people’s lives? Try using exploratory talk.

Byddwch yn egnïol... Be active…

How could your work benefit from movement? Can you build a walking meeting into your day? How could your work encourage others to be active together?

Cymerwch sylw... Take notice…

Be curious. What is beautiful about your work? What is going on in the world around you and what are you feeling? What is happening around you? Reflecting on your experiences will help you improve what you do.

Daliwch ati i ddysgu... Keep learning…

Try something new. Take on a different responsibility or approach a current one from a new perspective. Take a managed risk. Work to reality. Experiment.

Rhowch... Give…

How could your work make use of volunteer time, time banking, or co-production? What could you contribute that might spark others to join in? Have you tried gifting and requesting?

More about Five Ways to Wellbeing from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

People often ask: "how can I be an ally to the trans / black / traveller community?" Being an ally to any under represented group is most effective when your actions are centred on important principles that recognise the connections between marginalisation and where the power lies. These principles are far from unique and are articulated by many marginalised groups.

Overarching principles

Do not try to be perfect. Aim to learn or understand something new.

Speak calmly and respectfully from the heart, speak to the marginalised person first (to acknowledge their experience) and then to the person with power (to show your understanding and to engender learning).

If no marginalised person is present, take the lead in responding to the incident.

If someone has directly received an inappropriate comment, support them to lead.

Your actions with the community you are supporting

• Listen with an intention of understanding - challenge and debate is more appropriate with the powerful, not with the powerless
• Learn and do your own research - your education is your responsibility, not the community
• Engage with the community you are allied to - your understanding and learning should be kept centred on the community, but you will also discover things about yourself
• Ask how to help - otherwise you may be advocating for your needs, not the needs of the community

Your actions with those outside the community you are supporting

• Be an ally when no-one is watching and when it is inconvenient - being an ally is not about rewards
• Understand but do not defend the intentions of others - those without power should have their poor treatment acknowledged first. Acknowledge impacts before exploring causes.
• Use your privileges to advocate for those who lack them - when a community is being separated from the whole, dehumanised and othered, work to connect people together.
• Amplify the voices of the unrepresented and fight for them to be represented - where the community is not represented, first speak of their right to representation and only then advocate from what you have asked and learned.
• Create bridges of understanding between people – observe what people have in common and tactfully speak to this.

Food for thought…

• The social model of disability – how can we apply the social model to everything we do?
• Intersectionality – how can we develop a joint voice across all oppressions?
• Mindfulness – how can we notice, and actively work with our biases?

“Do not confuse your bad days as a sign of weakness.

Those are actually the days you’re fighting your hardest.

With kindness, bad days become an opportunity to learn your most”

Anon

Who is kind?

People need to feel safe to be kind.

When we are paying attention, we are all kind.

When we are at our best, we find it easier to be kinder to a wider range of people.

We all have times when we struggle to be kind.

Kindness is a responsibility

We asked ourselves who kindness is for and came to the conclusion that kindness is

a responsibility that we all hold, not a right that we have

Kindness is not something we can or should expect from others.

If we do then we end up in an unkind tit-for-tat; ‘She wasn’t kind, so I won’t be kind’.

Kindness is unconditional

Kindness needs to be a personal policy, a way of being, independent of how other people are behaving, including ourselves.

Kindness can also be a public policy.

Kind policies cannot be conditional on people behaving in a particular way.

Currently many of our policies are conditional on ‘good’ behaviour.

What would it mean to design truly kind policies?

Who is unkind?

Most people are not trying to hurt others. They are not meaning to be unkind.

People with a different point of view are not necessarily horrible people.

Some people may not have seemed kind for some time. What are they going through that is making them feel so unkind?

Sometimes people who seemed kind suddenly behaving in unkind ways. What happened? How can we help them rediscover their kindness?

Boundaries are needed to keep us safe: how do we build kind boundaries?

When we reach rock bottom, we sometimes make the decision to be kind to ourselves. This is a good decision.

Be kind to yourself to be kind to others

If I look after me then I am (sometimes) strong enough to look after you, too.

If I forgive others, then I can let go of them – we may never meet again but that is okay.

If we can forgive each other and ourselves, then we may overcome our difficulties or differences, and our relationship may become stronger.

As we develop the skills to be kind to ourselves, we can use these to respond kindlier to others.

As we develop skills in kindness for others, we can use these to become kind to ourselves.

(You can start either end of this virtuous spiral!)

How kind are we being?

Important questions to ask yourself:

• where have you been noticing kindness in others?
• how have you been showing kindness to others?
• how are you being kind to yourself?
• how does your policy area (or other area of responsibility) reflect kindness?

Top tips / kindness is a skill

See: Competency framework for leadership

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

“Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without courage, you cannot practice any of the other virtues consistently.”

Maya Angelou

Imagine being in the unkind person’s shoes and seeing from their perspective that they were being kind, and that it is you who’s being unkind. Maybe look at Byron Katie – “The Work”.

Physiology Anxiety UK suggests practising the "Apple" technique to deal with anxiety and worries.

• Acknowledge: notice and acknowledge the uncertainty as it comes to mind.
• Pause: do not react as you normally do. Don't react at all. Pause and breathe.
• Pull back: tell yourself this is just the worry talking, and this apparent need for certainty is not helpful and not necessary. It is only a thought or feeling. Do not believe everything you think. Thoughts are not statements or facts.
• Let go: let go of the thought or feeling. It will pass. You do not have to respond to them. You might imagine them floating away in a bubble or cloud.
• Explore: explore the present moment, because right now, in this moment, all is well. Notice your breathing and the sensations of your breathing. Notice the ground beneath you. Look around and notice what you see, what you hear, what you can touch, what you can smell. Right now. Then shift your focus of attention to something else - on what you need to do, on what you were doing before you noticed the worry, or do something else - mindfully with your full attention.

In general

Get Help - Anxiety UK

For specific information relating to the COVID-19 virus

Mind: Coronavirus and your wellbeing

For specific support regarding Climate and Biodiversity Emergency

Find Support (climatepsychologyalliance.org)

There is such a thing as healthy shame

Healthy shame calls us to become awake to the ways we are living from false positions of superiority or dangerous disconnect.

Like a moral compass, this kind of shame can guide us and support changes in our behaviour to be more open hearted, less prejudiced and more challenging of discrimination or oppression.

If we ignore or deny healthy shame, we risk staying segregated, closed-hearted and disconnected.

There is also something called toxic shame.

Toxic shame refers to excruciating ideas and feelings of worthlessness, beliefs of being innately flawed, and is passed between people consciously and unconsciously as a way to reinforce power dynamics in families, communities, cultures, and systems.

It can cause us to compartmentalise, keeping parts of ourselves private, hidden and alone, or conversely it can drive us to overcompensate, proving that we are indeed ‘more than enough.’

In summary

Paradoxically, we will not be able to heed the call of our healthy shame, unless we are willing to bump up against, and face the toxicity of the toxic shaming messages that we have ingested. Unless we listen and respond to our healthy shame, we will continue to perpetuate unconscious power dynamics, abuse our privilege, and remain ignorant about how to respond to what really matters. So, here’s the question:

how can we gently welcome healthy shame and ask; what is your message?

Conclusions

Reuniting with parts of us that have been buried under the protectiveness of shame can be akin to finding long lost loves as it is often our most precious parts that have gone underground such as our sensitivity or our power.

For many of us there will be times when the shame storms are simply too overwhelming to process alone. This is not a sign of weakness, it is more a sign of the scale of what you have been asked to carry in your being. Having a therapist or really good friend walk alongside you as you do this work can be incredibly supportive to the process of disentangling from shame's glue.

Take care of yourself and others by doing the small things.

For a simple and effective approach to processing shame, see RAIN by Tara Brach.

Important context

'Sitting with' our experience is a way of approaching our thoughts, feelings and sensations that is rooted in kindness, curiosity, and patience.

Sitting with is not always the right thing to do. Make sure you choose the right time and place, feel ready and able to be caring towards yourself. If it does not feel right, try something else instead. (For ideas, see video clips below.)

Sitting with focuses on being with our process rather than on trying to change or fix something. It requires us to get closer to ourselves, to put down distractions, and to grow the muscle of tolerating more discomfort and uncertainty.

Some people find it helpful to notice their breath. Joanna Macy talks about ‘breathing through’ to help be with difficult emotions or situations.

Some people find it helpful to connect to their feet on ground, sensing legs, arms, or belly.

What helps you to hold or sit with your difficult emotions?

The time it takes to grow this muscle will depend on the levels of stress we are under and the ways that we are wired from experiences that we have already had in life.

Building capacity for 'sitting with' is an ongoing life practice. Take your time. Be kind.

Practicing 'sitting with'

Make a commitment to try it out over a period of time.

Initially you will notice all the ways in which you do anything but 'sit with'. This may feel disheartening but gaining this awareness is a really important step.

Choose something specific to sit with - a physical sensation, an emotion, a thought pattern, a mental narrative.

Play with the question - 'what is this like?' and see if it is possible to receive your experience honestly - knowing that ultimately, whilst you may want to feel differently, you cannot get this experiment wrong.

Try a 5 or 10-minute rule - stay present and curious to your chosen focus for 5 or 10 minutes. If at the end of time you have capacity to stay with it for longer, then expand your 'sitting with' time. If not, it is time to do something different.

Journaling your experience can be helpful, as can sharing with a trusted ally.

Guidelines

Do not dance with difficult emotions on your own; enlist the help of nature, small tasks, creativity or a trusted friend.

Be kind to yourself in whatever way you can. You are supported and you are enough.

Take breaks do small tasks, move your body (for example, drawing or walking) and be in nature.

Articulate describe what you are noticing or feeling to a good listener or safety buddy. (Ask your buddy to listen without commentary and invite them to share similarly.)

Further information

Settling back into yourself

Settling Back into Yourself is a series of 5 short, guided recordings to support you to come closer to your experience. If you are new to the practice of ‘sitting with’, these recordings might be a useful aid to cultivating a foundation from which to practice. They take you through the steps of:

• pausing
• noticing
• receiving
• settling
• deepening

You can receive them for free here from Jenny Rose Smith

Being your best self

When good stress turns to distress

Why recovery time is so important

Setting goals in challenging environments

Working through fear

What happens to your body and mind when you are frightened...and how to cope

Working with our responses to climate and ecological crisis

Disavowal - everyday denial

Climate distress and anxiety

Loss and grief

Supporting others

Hope and despair

While you are reading the following, ask yourself: which of these work for you? Which do you feel like focusing on next? Which have you never tried (yet)?

What helps us thrive?

• Building habitat integrity, being in nature
• Noticing our privileged position – we are super-informed and empowered to do something about it
• Using the 5 ways to well-being to remind ourselves of what we need
• Engaging in narrative leadership and listening (see more below)
• Being curious, fascinated by the system we are in
• Noticing and acknowledging how things really are
• Actively trying to understand other people’s experiences
• Learning new things and understanding things from new perspectives
• Understanding why our situation is so difficult, why humans do not just do it right
• Having autonomy, individually and collectively
• Integrating not compartmentalising aspects of our being
• The power of connection – gathering evidence from each other, together
• Using humour to explore difficult things
• Teamwork – using our strengths to sustain each other
• Experiencing the energy between us, sparking curiosity in each other
• Building our confidence to be present to the people in the room
• Being playful and creative instead of tokenistic and transactional
• Designing simple, interactive processes that embody the 5 ways of working
• Trusting these processes and allowing the emergent and unexpected to surface
• Trying and re-trying practice-based change

What is narrative leadership?

Based on text from Telling the story: the heart and soul of successful leadership by Geoff Mead.

Our sense of identity – who we are – changes when we change the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves.

Organisations, groups, and communities change when the stories and storytelling dynamics (i.e. the processes by which stories are told and made sense of) between people change.

Our view and experience of the world changes as we question the prevailing meta-narratives and imagine new possibilities.

There are 3 elements to narrative leadership:

• know thyself: knowing one’s life stories without being their prisoner – letting go of degenerative and dysfunctional stories and finding positive ones
• stand for something: developing and telling authentic, compelling leadership stories that are grounded in reality, and that help people connect with worthwhile purpose
• only connect: building relationships and communities by creating and sustaining a healthy flow of stories between diverse people and groups

An exercise to try…

1. Sit under a tree or in some other bit of outdoors that you like.
2. Draw a tree, any tree, big enough to write into and around.

Notice how tree roots share sustenance with the rest of the earth. Notice the strength and flexibility of the trunk. Notice how the canopy absorbs light, creates and responds to energy.

The metaphor of the tree expresses the relationship between the 3 elements of narrative leadership:

roots = know thyself

trunk = stand for something

branches and leaf canopy = only connect

3. Add some words, just for you, about these 3 elements of your own story.

No need to share unless you want to.

Conflict, like collaboration, arises naturally in any system. Conflict wants to become learning. Conflict is full of potential learning.

When we are in conflict, we often feel lots of difficult emotions such as guilt, embarrassment or shame. Our minds also tell us stories to explain what is happening. To allow conflict to transform into learning, we need to give these thoughts and feelings space to be and to change.

Minor conflicts, referred to as micro-conflicts, are more readily resolved before additional emotional and cognitive layers accumulate or challenging interactions become habitual. By fostering supportive and courageous environments, we can prevent micro-conflicts from escalating and, in some cases, facilitate their transformation into valuable learning opportunities.

If a micro-conflict remains unattended, it may naturally dissipate or it may ‘flare up’ into something bigger. This is when we need help from others to mediate, witness and support the transformation of our conflict. This takes time and patience and often involves the transformation of a wider group of people.

The aim in all of the suggestions below is to find ways to deepen and strengthen our relationships, to add more tools to our compassionate practices tool kit and to notice and take on board any changes that are needed to wider systems, using the social model.

Just to clarify; we are not trying to prevent conflict from occurring. Instead, we are trying to enable conflict to transform into some form of learning. We don’t know what form this learning will take, but we are learning how to help it emerge.

Prevention involves addressing group and individual needs, even conflicting ones, as early and compassionately as possible.

This often means changing how we meet and speak with each other. Here are some of the ideas that we have tried. Many of these ideas arose from conflict transformation processes that are described in the next section.

Ideas for ways in which to prevent conflict arising:

• embed compassion practices into your meeting procedures; develop a rhythm and form habits that work for your whole team. Flex these when you feel ready to try something new.
• agree guidelines for how you expect the team to engage and interact with each other in team meetings. Keep this guide at hand, so that you can use it to inform decisions in respect of this topic. Reflect on it at intervals to check that it is working for everyone.
• introduce timers into your meeting or sharing circles and have a compassionate way of indicating when the time is up.
• appoint a ‘vibe-watcher’; a person whose role is to check for when the temperature of the meeting rises or the conversation becomes heated. They can then call for a minute of silence to reset and/or invite all participants to ‘call time’ if they need a break at any point during a meeting or sharing circle.
• when the group checks in at the start of meetings, allow members to request more time for sharing, especially if they feel the need for additional consideration, e.g. if they feel like they have a personal challenge that would benefit from a longer time to speak, be heard and/or get feedback. Part of the meeting should then be allocated to the task of listening to anyone who feels they need to be heard and, if requested by the individual with the challenge, for feedback. This may include requesting time in a breakout room with someone specific, or not, in order to have the necessary attention in a timely manner.
• hold occasional ‘spotlight’ meetings when one particular person is given the opportunity and space to feel heard and where they can talk about what is important to them and why they have attended the meeting.
• you may wish to agree certain visual clues that can be used instead of breaking into the flow of someone’s words, such as:
  • a self-hug to indicate sympathy and understanding
  • a finger over the lips to ask for silence
  • heart-shaped hands or a thumbs up
  • drawing a big circle in the air (signalling "Wrap it up!") when a person's time is up

Conflict is an inevitable part of life, and we will all experience it.

Provided we are not in danger, conflict is not always a sign that something is wrong. It is however, always an opportunity to learn and grow.

Listening isn’t agreeing.

How can we agree to disagree and/or agree to talk more deeply?

What are we trying to do?

When we are trying to respond compassionately to conflict, we are experimenting with practical actions that might:

• maintain curiosity and increase understanding
• help us with co-regulation of our physical and emotional states
• help us work out how to agree to disagree and still work together productively
• help us explore how our different realities inter-relate

Self-protection and safety

There is no learning without risk. Just learning something is unlikely to feel entirely comfortable until we have got a real appetite for putting this learning into practice.

Not all days are as good as each other. It is important to assess the situation, to choose when we are ready to engage in attempting a deeper compassionate response and when we need to gently retreat to a recovery space.

We spot conflict with someone else by noticing conflict inside us. Possibly the most important thing we have noticed is that when there is a conflict with someone else, we are only able to spot this by noticing a conflict feeling inside us. That internal conflict is something we can work on either at the time or later, either with others or (to some extent) alone.

What can I do for myself?

Here are some of the things we are trying, to help us remain in the moment, as calmly as we can, when we have just realised that we’ve noticed a conflict:

• feel our feet on the floor or our body on the chair
• safety Position, i.e. hand on heart, hand on belly
• butterfly Hug, i.e. crossed arms, tapping fingers on our clavicle
• calm the amygdala by slowly looking around the room, soaking everything in
• counting to ten before responding
• asking for time out or a moment to breathe

Using these methods or otherwise, we can attempt to notice where in the body we are feeling conflict. Then we can politely excuse ourselves or we can re-engage in listening or conversing.

How does this internal conflict feel?

What is it trying to contribute to the conversation?

How can I invite the other person to join me?

Preparing

We have carried out successful mediations many times. Mediation is an emergent process. Every conflict is unique, and it is important to trust the process, to trust yourself to respond in the moment and to trust in not knowing what will happen.

Stay present to what is happening and allow things to unfold. The centre of the disagreement may clarify and dissipate at any time during this process.

Offer a named mediator and support mediator to the two participants. Are they happy to work with these mediators? If not, offer alternative mediators.

Invite all 4 participants to bring a witness with them, not to take part in the conversation but to watch and listen, to be extra ears for the participants or for the wider learning system.

Before meeting, the lead mediator can provide questions or documents based on the details of the mediation task, separately to each participant. These enable participants to reflect, think, and perhaps write, about themselves, their feelings, style and motivation, before the session.

Make it clear at this stage that more than one session might be necessary to provide the support needed and could be part of a longer process.

Coming together

The process of exploring and supporting change together can be held in a virtual or actual room. Quiet music as you enter the room can be helpful to enable a calm start, with minimal conversation.

The mediator welcomes everyone to the space. In a virtual meeting, they may spotlight the four participants to focus our attention. In a physical room, witnesses may be asked to move their chairs two paces back.

The mediator explains the process we will be using, including the four steps that participants have already seen on the preparation document.

• Motivation - The Story of Us
• Fears and Hopes
• Interaction Styles & Warning Signs
• Appreciation

These are based on evidence from appreciative enquiry. This starts with determining what is working well, and what our aspirations are (rather than what is broken or not working). This can help us to move forward more effectively. We might come back to these more difficult things later in the process.The mediator will explain the following:

the difference between rules-based and principle-based systems.

the challenges of adrenaline in our bodies when we are in a challenging session such as this and how this reduces our ability to hear.

• the role of the witnesses to help overcome this challenge by listening. They are asked to be impartial, fair, observational and kind.

that mediators will be taking notes to share with participants.

the time that is being allowed for this first session, including any renegotiation that is necessary at this stage, e.g. if someone has another meeting immediately after this, then this session should close earlier to allow for transition.

• accepting not knowing quite what is going to happen and trusting learning to emerge.

The mediator checks whether everyone feels good and safe enough to give today’s session a try. If not, we will resume on another day, place or time.

The lead mediator introduces the support mediator who will be helping with time keeping and vibe watching. They will ask people to stop speaking once they have had their allotted time. They may suggest that everyone takes a moment to pause if emotions are running high. The support mediator explains that others can also call for a pause whenever they need to.

(You can share out the tasks in different ways, as suits the mediation team.)

If appropriate, the support mediator provides a grounding exercise suitable to the group.

The lead mediator explains how much you are hoping to cover today, that the pace of the meeting will be slowed to allow more time, if it is feeling too rushed.

Motivation - The Story of Us

This section is about our desire, or just the need, to be together in the same space. What are the reasons you choose to collaborate? Why do you, <<name>>, need to collaborate with <<name>>? And <<name>>, why do you need to collaborate with <<name>>? 

Who would like to go first?

[this person remains first for this and all of the following questions.]

The question is repeated for the other person. Each answer is timed (e.g. 3 minutes).

Silences are welcomed and held. At the end of the time, the support mediator signals, and if necessary, states, that time is up.

The mediator may gently ask whether there is more to say and if/when there is completion, offer a final pause before moving on to the next section.

Fears and hopes

Fears - Explain the importance of fears and the power that fear can have over us if it is not expressed/observed. This is about the fears you have around this relationship. Do you have any fears and what are they?

[again, each participant is given their own time to answer]

Hopes - Naming your hopes will help you to know that you’re on the right track together and to celebrate together when someone’s hopes have been reached.

What are your hopes?

[again, each participant is given their own time to answer]

Interaction styles and warning signs

It is a human foible to see ourselves as the centre of the universe; when someone says something unkind, we think immediately that this is about us but there may be many other reasons that are actually not related to us at all.

Interaction styles - This question has 2 parts, the first part of this question is about how and when you are at your best. Acknowledging that life is hard, and we may seldom be at our best.

On your very best day, what is your natural style when you are in a good place?

The second part is an acknowledgement of your personal style. How do you like to work and be?

[again, each participant is given their own time to answer]

Warning signs - Now for the opposite, again in two parts. Firstly, when things are stressful or difficult, what might other people notice about you, what are the warning signs they might see? What do you need when you are in this state? And secondly (perhaps the hardest part to do) what would help you to feel less stressed?

This is to help with self-realisation, but also to help you to support each other.

When things start to be stressful, I look like this….

When things start to get stressful, I need this…

[again, each participant is given their own time to answer]

Possibly a good point to take a short break, if you haven’t done that yet.

Whenever you are restarting, restart with an acknowledgement of gratitude from the mediator.

This next step is to work on expectations. Is there anything we need to go over before we start that? You may not remember everything, of course, that is fine. We will share notes with you so that you can see each other’s contribution after the session. Is there anything else that needs to be said or heard before we move on?

Appreciation

Coming in reverse order this time (and leaving the agenda for a moment), I’d like to invite each of you to share something that you appreciate or admire in the other person.

[again, each participant is given their own time to answer]

Expectations

The mediator may be able to draw out an example that has already emerged, if so, what else can you do to support and help each other in the future?

[again, each participant is given their own time to answer]

Closing

Thank everyone, note the progress, however small the steps, explain where further support is available and agree the next meeting if required.

Remove the spotlight or move the chairs forward again.

Invite a check out comment from any or everyone in the group.

Notes

Remember that you may not get through all these stages in one session. That is fine. It is ok to meet as many times as required.

We are creating a positive learning space that is just one space on a much longer journey of learning in all our meetings and interactions together.

Learning in the virtual space is preparation for learning beyond the availability of these spaces.

Generative conflict takes practice, be gentle and keep practicing.

Other things that may be useful

Broccoli Seed Agreement – Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures

The Transformative Power of Restorative Justice with Charlotte Calkin

Be fully present and as calm as possible whenever you practice facilitation.

Make time for calm, supported reflection between facilitations to enable continuous improvement. Think about:

arriving – take a moment to settle silently into the room at key points

listening – feeling physically present, listening with your whole self

noticing – accepting what you notice and working with it

recording – the actual words that people use

speaking – short and concise, using I and us instead of you and they

I and you: A common habit is to use a generic ‘you’ (instead of I) when talking about our own experiences. We do this to distance ourselves, a little, from what happened. If you spot it, you might correct it at the time and/or make a note so that you can consider it further later: What was making me feel the need for distance? What can I learn from that experience and the experience of re-telling it?

Us and them: We are all part of one (very big) team! Count people in, whenever you can and facilitate in ways that expand the ‘tribes’ of others. Be careful when you use ‘they’: Are you implying that someone else is in the wrong (but not us)? Are you describing a human failing that we can all suffer from at times? If so, it might be more accurate to say, “we can sometimes…” or, “human beings find it difficult to…”.

For further insights see Tribal leadership by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright:

Movement – Physical movement is crucial to our ability to learn and remember. Make use of art, creativity, simple movement, noticing certain things, such as the fact that you have toes etc, whenever an appropriate opportunity arises. Intersperse this with quiet (sometimes silent) spaces for reflection and consolidation, along with listening and interacting with ourselves and others.

Story – How can we know our (individual and collective) life stories without being their prisoner? How can we use stories to build relationships and communities? How can we tell authentic, compelling stories grounded in reality?

For further insights see Telling the story: the heart and soul of successful leadership by Geoff Mead.

Presentations – Keep them to a minimum. What is the best possible way to involve people in this particular learning, in this particular place, at this particular time? What is the minimum I can say to maximise what these people can find within themselves? What do we really need to ask ourselves?

Open and deepen – How can you open the space for people to understand the issue/problem more deeply? Create time for ideas, personal reflections, experiences and stories? Then create a creative phase to grapple with possible ways forward and develop clear actions? See holding meetings for some ideas.

Introduction

Exploratory talk enables all points of view to be shared and respected. It is assumed that members of the group expect challenge and wants to hear reasons aloud. One of the ultimate aims is to reach a shared agreement; that even if not everyone is totally convinced, they can see the reasoning and the argument for a decision.

Another aim of Exploratory talk is to help people to find out what others think and to explain their own thinking. In this way they can further develop their own thinking and support one another’s learning.

Ask people to establish a set of simple 'talk rules' which will enable this sort of talk to more-readily take place Perhaps your groups could either start by doing this, i.e. could say what they mean by 'a good discussion' and then review and modify it at the end; or end the session by agreeing a set of rules for your next meeting.

Exploratory Talk is effective talk – in which:

• reasoning is evident (‘because’ ‘if’ ‘why’)
• challenge is expected (‘I agree because…’ ‘I disagree because…’)
• ideas are speculative or hesitant
• all information is shared; ideas are elaborated
• all views are respected
• contributions build on what has gone before
• the group works towards making a joint, negotiated decision

Ground rules for Exploratory talk

• are created and agreed by the group
• embody the features of Exploratory talk
• provide a structure for ensuring that Exploratory talk is possible
• are regularly referred to and made explicit
• are considered in plenary sessions and revised when necessary

Room setup: Circle of chairs

Always choose a topic that is important to those discussing it, so that they are committed to the talk.

Think of a powerful question or use talking points or cards to begin the discussion.

Philosophy (should you need it)

• Exploratory talk is one of many tools and techniques that support a good practice of co-production. You can find more here: Co-production knowledge base
• Exploratory talk is based on research – we know from research that it works in practice, and we know some information about the mechanisms of how it works
• Each Exploratory talk is a unique experiment – we don’t know what will happen, but it could be interesting to find out.
• The opportunity to ‘opt out’ is built in. No one has to say anything. It is fine just to listen and never say a word.

Structure

1. Welcome
2. Optional icebreaker (in the round, or in pairs two or three times if a large group): "what do you hope to get from and give to this gathering?"
3. Exploratory talk

How it works

• Put your hand out if you have something to contribute and wish to speak
• The person speaking chooses who will speak next out of the people who have their hand out
• If you say something, say how this is connected to what was said previously
• If you disagree with something, give a reason
• Build on or link to what the last person said

> kick off question:

Seed your discussion with a suitable question!

> (15 mins before end) last words:

• go round everyone with an opportunity to say some last words (can pass)
• go round again if there is still more to say

4. Optional self-reflection (1 min) + share 1 take-away from this session (in the round)

Thank everyone for taking part, for listening as well as talking!

Background and further reading

Exploratory Talk originated in schools. Here is a reference:
Exploring Talk in School: Inspired by the Work of Douglas Barnes

Oracy Cambridge - The Hughes Hall Centre for Effective Spoken Communication.

Further research papers can be found here:

Rupert Wegerif substack @dialogicspace

The Construction of Knowledge in Classroom Talk, The Journal of the Learning Sciences Vol. 19, No. 3 (July-September, 2010

Students’ talk during collaborative group discussion, The Eurasia Proceedings of Educational & Social Sciences (EPESS), 2014

We can’t always provide money but we can often provide one or more of the following instead:

Time

Social contact

Information

Skills and Learning

Spaces or places

Objects or items

What else might we provide?

How can we help each other today?

Visioning exercise

(Adapted from The Work That Reconnects Network) work as a team to reflect and share your thoughts, draw a picture and talk:

1. It’s 2050 and you are sitting quietly with a cup of tea reflecting on the work of your community, organisation or team. You are so delighted with what we have achieved since Covid. What are you most proud of?
2. Back to now: If our beautiful planet could speak (humanity and nature being one), what is it trying to tell us about the role it needs your community, organisation or team to play?
3. What do you need to enable you to make your contribution to this 'great turning' (as Joanna Macy calls it) towards sustainability and a fair society?
4. What is your community, organisation or team already doing that begins to meet the needs identified in the previous questions?
5. What more / different / other / else does your community, organisation or team need to do? What do you need to stop or pause?

Adapted from A Whole New World: Public Service in the time of Coronavirus.

Allowing public servants to be human — focussing the attention of public servants on building relationships with those they serve — to understand their strengths and needs and respond appropriately to both. This means liberating public servants (and those they serve) from attempts to control their work in a hierarchical manner, and instead focusses on building trust at all levels.

Creating continuous learning — in situations of uncertainty, we often do not know what the ‘right’ thing to do is. There is no manual from which to operate. So, everyone must learn, as they go. It is the job of managers to create emergent learning environments and practices; ‘learning by doing’.

Nurturing healthy Systems — Healthy systems are ones in which different actors can co-ordinate and collaborate effectively. Healthy systems produce good outcomes. They are characterised by trust, openness and honesty. It is the job of leaders (at all levels) to create and nurture healthy systems. It is the quality of relationships within them that enables the relevant systems to respond effectively in a crisis. If you have been investing in your relationships previously, you will now be reaping a dividend. If you haven’t previously invested in building relationships between actors in the system, now is a great time to start.

Human Learning Systems is also an approach which can be explored, developed, and applied. See Human Learning Systems

Old normal

This is the normal that existed before the current crisis in which we find ourselves now. It will quickly become hard to remember all the details of this normal. There will be things that you are missing from this time and there will be things that you never liked anyway. There may even be people who you have lost.

When you get a chance, make a note of the aspects of this normal that you would like to let go of and the ones that you might have to mourn, if we cannot return to them.

Transition normal ←You are here!

As your current crisis starts, you will be dealing mainly with the practicalities of emergency response. You may be dealing with emotions such as pain and shock, or this may come later, delayed by the need to respond rapidly and effectively in the moment. There will be moments (however brief) when you have the time to notice what is happening around you. In these moments, ask questions like:

What is happening right now?
What am I grateful for?
How has connection and relationship (unexpectedly) strengthened?
How are we innovating in ways that could be useful later?

New normal

This is where you will land as you come out of your current crisis, perhaps into another crisis or, if you are lucky, into a period of relative stability. From where you are now, you can have only very limited certainty about this normal. But you can make choices now that might influence how it could be.

Identify your baggage and luggage from ‘Transition normal’. (Do this any time during ‘Transition normal’, as you cannot be sure about your travel date into ‘New normal’. Update your baggage and luggage list, as necessary).

• Luggage = the aspects of ‘Transition normal’ that I’d prefer to keep
• Baggage = the aspects of ‘Transition normal’ that I’d prefer to leave behind

Take actions as early as you can that will help you retain or restore your luggage.
Take actions that will help you leave your baggage behind.

Look after yourself and others and the nature around you!

What else do we need to consider?

There is no need to be frightened of change – we and our systems are constantly changing and it is possible to enjoy learning how to change (develop) in a good way, through practice.

Also consider how the social model can focus and assist your thinking in relation to this.

Have confidence in our previous ideas – if we tried something earlier this is not a reason to give up but is a rich source of data which we can use to help us try again by creating a different (potentially better) prototype.

Be open to morphing these old ideas in the face of new evidence – be creative, be innovative!

Take actions that have immediate effect – design your prototype so that it makes a positive difference from the start.

For more details on prototyping.

It is great to discover that we can use technology to reduce our carbon footprint, breathe cleaner air and reduce commuter stresses but it remains challenging to rebuild all the elements of a healthy office-based workplace online.

One of the biggest challenges is how to recreate those informal, chance meetings that can make us so effective when we work in a shared space.

Keeping in contact with your colleagues from different backgrounds, roles and organisations helps your work and your health. Maintaining contact with others can help you feel part of ‘Team Wales’ and brief informal check-ins (especially with people who work on different topics) can improve your effectiveness. It is not easy to do, but remember that we all need to be needed, so be creative and ask for small but definite contributions. You don’t need an excuse to make a healthy choice – whether that is inviting, accepting or declining till next week/month because you are busy just now.

Here is what some of us have been trying. Why not try one for yourself?

• Literally recreate chance meetings: when you notice that you’re missing someone; invite them for a virtual cuppa to acknowledge that: ‘we would have met in the coffee queue by now’ or ‘usually, I get to chat with you in the corridor/canteen sooner than this’.
• Create opportunities for random conversations: check that your colleague is flagged ‘green’ (i.e. free to talk) and ping them an invite for a quick virtual cuppa.
• Recreate a ‘sense of what’s going on by hearing conversations round and about’ by interspersing the daily huddle with ‘what’s occurring?’ sessions where we talk about what we are doing in ways that generate random connections.
• Don’t be shy of instigating or strengthening your personal performance check-ins. Use strength-based coaching or simply take the opportunity to briefly put something to your manager (or another colleague) for their ideas.
• If you have a daily or weekly check in to say ‘hello’ in the morning, invite occasional guests to join you or pair up, every now and again, with another team.
• Make time for a virtual coffee break with some colleagues just to catch up. Having other human interaction (with offline space for yourself in between) is beneficial for you and your work. Talk about how you feel and what you are up to. What can you get up to together?
• Experiment with virtual ‘playtime’ - virtual activities, quizzes, Pictionary, mindfulness, craft sessions, etc. Challenge 2 teams to play collaboratively or competitively.
• Start your day with an on-line exercise class and invite a friend to come along and review it over a virtual cuppa. Or join a weekly mediation session, e.g. Breathing Space
• Begin a new club or society – or bring an old one online.
• Set up a ‘random coffee trail’; a ‘virtual cuppa’ where people opt in to be randomly allocated a partner and each pair finds time for an informal virtual meeting, each month.
• Start every meeting with a check in and finish with a check out – ask how you feel (in a word or a sentence) and ask another good question, too.
• Investigate using the multiple rooms element of Zoom or MS Teams so that you can have pair work in your – formal or informal – meetings.
• Arrange a webinar, make a film, create a podcast, write a poem, write a song or perform together.

Vision

We aim to embody and enable loving responses to our predicament.

See also Inner Development Goals

Principles

We return repeatedly to 3 principles:

• return to compassion. We seek to return to universal compassion in all our work. We remind each other to notice in ourselves when anger, fear, panic, or insecurity may be influencing our thoughts or behaviours. We remember to take care of ourselves, especially when the urgency of our predicament can easily lead to burnout.
• return to curiosity. We recognise that we do not have many answers on specific technical or policy matters. Instead, our aim is to provide a space and an invitation to participate in generative dialogue that is founded in kindness and curiosity.
• return to respect. We respect other people’s situations and the way that they may be reacting to our alarming predicament, while seeking to build and curate nourishing spaces for deep adaptation.

Guiding questions

Four questions guide our approach:

• resilience: what do we most value that we want to keep and how?
• relinquishment: what do we need to let go of so as not to make matters worse?
• restoration: what could we bring back to help us with these difficult times?
• reconciliation: with what and whom shall we make peace as we awaken to our mutual mortality?

Our commitment

We are committed to learning how to become a loving response to our predicament. We have very little idea how to do this, but everyone has something to contribute.

This is how we choose to spend our remaining time, whatever happens.

You can find out more about the Deep Adaptation Forum here or read stories about what we are learning here.

Leadership occurs at all levels and in all places. Good leaders encourage leadership that:

• brings people together to share their knowledge and experiences
• creates spaces in which people can make well-informed decisions together
• makes use of our collective understanding of physical, environmental and financial limits
• uses our imaginations to identify opportunities
• secures integrated, innovative action that is measured, monitored or evaluated scientifically
• increases people’s energy, enthusiasm, and care for each other, the natural and built environment and future generations.

We have a simple theory of change that can be summarised as practice-based change.

Practicing means trying new things, reflecting on what happens and learning to learn.

Practicing new behaviours changes our habits.

Changing our habits changes our relationships.

Changing our relationships changes our culture.

Learning through practice is a continuous process.

Looking at almost any aspect of the state of the world is enough to indicate that change is needed, not just in what we do but in how we do it. Hence the call for a ‘new professionalism’ to suit our times.

What are the key attitudes of the new professionalism?

• Being kind to ourselves and others
• Recognising that we are part of nature, not something separate
• Caring about and trying to make a practical difference (at any scale)
• Knowing that we can’t know everything and being curious to learn
• Paying attention to feedback; inside ourselves, from others, from the world around us, from people we do not usually meet

(Based on the work of Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner)

What are the key competencies of the new professionalism?

• Pausing
• Listening
• Asking a good question
• Learning to act collectively

The competencies are described in more detail in the underlying competency framework.

What did we learn about the new professionalism during Covid?

During the Covid pandemic we learned that interruptions are important.

When welcomed, pauses, distractions and moments away from the task or the screen can help us to feel and think more clearly.

Practicing new-professionals pay attention to interruptions, do whatever needs doing in that moment, and return thoughtfully to the meeting.

How can we perform at our best?

See Am I working too hard?, Where shall we start? or the graph below:

Image

Adapted from Williams (1994) Pressure Performance Curve, this diagram is reproduced with permission of GSK Training from Resilience for Change Management Reuters Events.

Increasing engagement through our daily work

Thank you: When you receive a thank you, make sure to pass it on next time you see the other people who were involved.

Memo: When you receive written communications, don’t just read it and/or email it; make time to discuss key aspects with your team and feedback a few key points.

Feedback: At the end of the day, event or meeting, remember to ask for some quick feedback for yourself. Try asking for one thing that you did that was helpful and one thing that you did that wasn’t so helpful. Politely accept whatever feedback is given and make time to consider what you might do to improve.

Managing change

Situation: At the very earliest opportunity, bring people together who are likely to be involved and/or affected by the decision.Tell them honestly about the parameters, ask for ideas, try to solve both your problems and theirs, together.

Options: As soon as you have a rough outline of how you might tackle things, meet again over your draft options. Ask about the potential effects of each option, ask what changes might both mitigate the negatives and increase the positives of all options.

Decision: Meet again to explain what you decided and what will happen next. Make time to continue to talk, think about and improve the plan as you go along.

Improving our involvement practice

During 2021/2022 the Involvement subgroup of the Well-being of Future Generations Stakeholder Forum met to reflect on our current practices and consider how we can deepen and improve our understanding and application of involvement within the 5 ways of working in the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.

Here is what we are beginning to learn:

We recognise that our old ways were extractive.

We used to try to cover or own everything, e.g. piloting and rolling out. Now we are learning how to give people and places our time, generosity and respect. Use prototyping, emergent planning or inspiring across and working in particular ways that suit specific places and particular people.

When applying the Act, we recommend taking a creative, kind and practical approach that embodies the following key elements:

• Start with Involvement. Ask people what matters to them. Use involvement as a starting point to consider and apply all 5 ways of working.
• Mainly, we just need to know whether people are ok and that they will ask for help if they need it. We also need to ask ourselves these questions, too. What matters to us? What do we need to help us be at our best and how do we create space for others to be at their best?
• Work with. Don’t do to. Beware the service model mind-set! You do not need to know what is best, or to organise something for others. Think instead of the social model. How can you work together with others, not over them? Social Model animation in English, Social Model animation yn Gymraeg
• Look for what is strong not what is wrong. Don’t try to fix people. Look for what is strong in both individuals and in communities. When asking the question, 'What is wrong?', we should address this at a system level, which will affect both individuals and communities.
• Most of our work is about listening and learning; whether we are Local Area Coordinators, Welsh Government Officials or anyone else.
• It is important to start every conversation confident that all participants have strengths. We do not need to know the strengths of everyone before we start, but be curious and actively encourage these strengths to surface and to be shared as and when they are needed.
• Bear in mind the up-to-date definition of consistency.
• Weave relationship-building into all activities. Make space to bring it back to feelings. The brain-body system works best when feeling, thinking and working together. This is skilled work – ask for help if you need it!
• Meet, listen, connect, don’t map! Do not identify, map or list people, resources, needs or strengths. These activities just reproduce the existing power imbalance. Try signposting or connecting instead.
• Show appreciation: Show thanks where necessary. How was that helpful to you? Sometimes the first time we notice our hidden strength is when someone else tells us about it.
• Don’t make extra things. Morph, blend, link and/or re-prototype what is already here.
• Use the safety position (hand on heart), not the protection position (arms folded)

Leading successful strategic interventions at a local level

Three top tips

• Ask what really matters to the locality and respond.
• Use the assets of all in the locality.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate – your leadership will inform your success.

Basic principles

• Be open, honest and responsive and listen hard!
• Provide, at the outset no more than; a few high-level principles, attractive/accessible/draft form evidence, your time, some financial resources OR a clear statement that you haven’t got these.
• Commit to working together alongside/with people for an extended period
• Start from an asset-based perspective
• Work with people to identify action that you genuinely want to take together
• Agree a shared mechanism for monitoring and evaluating emergent outcomes
• Set up the simplest possible governance
• Get on with working together while continuing to discuss the more difficult elements of your relationship/situation
• Evaluate using a methodology that allows you to assess achievements towards local ambitions as well as national targets

“Leadership practice is an enquiry. Our role is not to assume knowledge but to be prepared to find out. To ask what is needed to thrive and to enable others to thrive.”

Charlotte Von Bullow (Founder of Crossfields Institute) 2019

Key transformation skills

It has taken some time to boil it down, but we have finally devised a competency framework that might underpin all others. We have identified four skills for development:

1. Pause (long, short, with others, alone, meditative, in movement, outdoors, just waiting for things to emerge)
2. Listen (to myself, to others, to nature, to understand, to help someone else understand, in generative conversations)
3. Ask a good question! Then listen again, ask again, pause again
4. Learn to act collectively (coproduce, learn by doing, experiment, prototype, have a go)

Experiment with how much you need of each of these elements: try doing more of 1 and 2 (especially to break a previous pattern; don’t jump to action without pausing and listening), how can you balance pausing/listening/questions with taking action? What happens in an emergency or a crisis?

Our intention is a key element – aim to understand things better i.e. ourselves, others, human beings, nature, the organisation, the political landscape, etc. Through understanding we can use our attention to make better decisions and take more effective action.

Developed from: Bülow, C. v. (2019) The Practice of Attention in the Workplace – Phenomenological Accounts of Lived Experience.

What’s the problem?

By neglecting our attention in the current attention economy, we end up mismanaging ourselves.

The workplace needs to become an environment that offers time and space for inner work, flow experiences, the development of mastery and convivial sociality, i.e. ensuring that our moral and social existence is never split between our thoughts and feelings, mind and body.

This mental fragmentation leads to ill-health. Melancholy, stress and depression play a major role in our story, particularly in terms of how we participate in the modern socioeconomic reality. Yet with the pressures we are under, the daily onslaught of digital stimuli, and what seems to be a losing battle against distraction, this is at risk of becoming a state of normality for us.

Globally, a lack of respect for management practice as an art and craft that requires mastery, and the resultant lack of practical wisdom in the conduct of management practitioners, has contributed to some of the most disastrous events in our most recent environmental, political and financial history.

The reluctance we may feel about tackling this problem, or developing a deliberate practice of attention, may be caused by the lack of guidance on how to even begin that journey.

What’s the challenge?

We are attempting to initiate the start of a conversation among colleagues, along with inviting development of communities of practice. We are assuming that a deliberate practice of attention in the workplace can grow out of one person’s initiative, one team, a focus group or a cooperative inquiry, conversations between colleagues, journaling or just trying it and not hiding it.

We invite everyone to take responsibility not only for our own path of self-development but for the positive difference that every courageous and conscious role model can make in the workplace. Coming out and advocating a deliberate practice of attention in the average workplace is not an easy thing to do, but walking the path regardless is essential currently.

Where can we start?

The following 3 keystones link attention to 3 of the elements that require constant awareness, persistent scrutiny and continuous dedication. If we are to be conscious role models and successful leaders in the transformation of today’s workplace, we might start from here:

• Attention and ethics
• Attention and intention
• Attention and self-knowledge

Leadership, in this context, can be understood as the practice of:

• readiness to be authentic
• willingness to transform
• courage to take responsibility for self and others
• trust in the wisdom of each moment, and
• love of the deed (the work).

Attention and ethics

The landscape of captured attention (email, social media, deadlines etc) is at risk of undermining our natural abilities to discern and control how we attend in everyday life. It is our moral obligation to consider the consequences of our attentional behaviour. We need to develop an ethical attitude of consent in our practice of attention, and this requires of us that we create spaces in the day to ask – who might I be hurting or helping by paying attention in this or in that way? The power we hold by having the capacity for attention and consciousness at the same time is immense – it comes with an obligation to hold ourselves to account in every moment.

Attention and intention

If management practice requires a commitment to self-development, then we have work to do to create environments where such a practice is not constantly undermined. We need to dedicate actual clock time to the exploration of our inner landscape, and we need to create an environment in which we can safely peel off the different layers of the onion. Without scrutinising our intentions in this way, we cannot be sure that our decisions and actions are morally justifiable.

Attention and self-knowledge

Without ongoing, rigorous self-examination, unconscious fears and ingrained thinking can shape our actions. If these behaviours are automatic, deliberate attention helps reveal and address them. By recognising latent fears and the narratives behind our biases, we can challenge and change them. This requires a sustained commitment to reflective practice as the route to self-knowledge.

Conclusion

By inviting colleagues on a journey with these keystones, we hope to take a step towards creating a culture of moral integrity and ethical attention practice in our workplace.

How can you make space in your work patterns for all 3 of these practices?

The skills above can be put into practice by extending our usual handovers and team meetings to cover 3 (instead of one) key elements:

The wellbeing of colleague, patient or customer (project or place), ask: How are you?

Our wellbeing as a team of individuals: How are we?

The wellbeing of our organisation (or wider system): How are we?
Is there any feedback we need to provide and how will we pass this on?

Responding to our emotions

Each of us as individuals, all human groups and natural systems are dynamic. We are continuously changing and developing, as is the environment around us.

Emotions play an important role in our ability to; make decisions, manage our internal energy and create deeper connections with other people and with nature.

There are at least 3 different ways we can respond to our own internal emotions in the moment, when they occur:

• express them in their raw form – sometimes necessary but comes with a risk of harming yourself or others
• suppress them by holding them in – which can also be harmful to our physical and mental health, but may be a necessary temporary response
• articulate them – by describing how we feel to ourselves or others, allowing us to be present with the feelings, allowing them to shift and change

Each of the 3 ways of responding to emotion may be appropriate in different circumstances.

Later we can reflect on what happened and the feelings we felt. We can pause to consider the new feelings that are arising now. This can help us understand better what occurred and how our emotions and the emotions of others were involved.

Key questions for organisations

What are the conditions in which we feel safe to articulate our emotions and how can these conditions be encouraged?

How can we learn to articulate our emotions more clearly?

How can we create more/better spaces for reflection and self-reflection?

Feedback so far…

“I really like the Key Skills and the Wellbeing check-in. The intention behind them is the key part; to better understand ourselves, others, the organisation and the political landscape, etc. Through understanding, we can make better decisions.”

“It seems so simple, but at the same time it’s so important to highlight to people that our thoughts and how we feel comes into play in everything we do.”

“I suspect that how we respond depends on how ‘safe’ we feel, and the safer we feel the more likely we are to articulate it. I.e. if we are with someone who is a good listener, we’re more likely to articulate the emotion rather than suppress or express.”

Key questions for organisations (2)

How can we create more time in handovers, check-ins and team meetings to allow these wider and deeper conversations to take place?

How can we invite people to take up the opportunity to have a go/learn by doing?

Basic training

A lot of this is about learning by doing but here are three key areas we might want to explore through formal training:

• Pause and be present – through mindfulness, meditation, and presencing practices like Theory U.
• Behavioural insights and behavioural science – various courses covering elements of the latest science. For a recent overview see this report (Supporting policy with scientific evidence).
• Relational reflection – warm data, appreciative inquiry, action learning, action research, team coaching

Cutting edge research is beginning to show that these 3 areas of expertise, if used in combination, can enhance our productivity and effectiveness, within complex and challenging environments.

See also training opportunities below.

Embodiment, meditation and presencing

The continual practice of meditation; whether through seated yoga, mindful movement, or immersion in nature, facilitates the cultivation of calm and enhances alertness. This approach improves our capacity to observe thoughts, emotions, and sensations as transient experiences without attachment. Engaging in ‘sitting’ with an attitude of loving kindness towards oneself fosters acceptance, both individually and within broader contexts, free from judgement. Such practices establish a foundation of equanimity that supports sound decision-making. Furthermore, they can deepen one’s sense of connection to the world or promote a peaceful detachment from external concerns.

When we experience ‘sitting’, we are learning to experience a meditative state of alert attention, receptivity, non-judgemental openness towards what is happening, just here, right now.

Turned inward: meditation offers the opportunity to uncover the space of awareness and observe our inner (physical, mental, emotional) states and how these change, moment to moment.

Embodiment and presencing is meditation in action. It refers to our ability to be fully present with people or in a situation: ‘being with’, bringing our full consciousness to being present in this moment, and recognising the deep impersonal connections between us.

It involves us in the act of paying attention to the other person (or people or nature) in ways that recognise and create opportunities for mutual healing. ‘Being with’ enables us to access a deeper state of awareness, in which we can become more aware of our own and others’ feelings; we can notice how things are changing and engage in mutually supportive, generative conversations.

Turned outward: embodiment and presencing offers the opportunity to build deeper connection with others.

Both ‘sitting’ and ‘being with’ invite us to notice with compassion. As we learn to apply these skills in everyday life, we can begin to transform relationships.

This may be best achieved by using a mixture of short and long meditative practices, in combination with learning about behavioural insights, and engaging in collective reflective practices or appreciative enquiry.

Whether or not we practice a sitting meditation, we can use meditation-in-action by incorporating short mindful moments, along with developing conscious use of our attention when working with others.

How can we develop these skills together and increase our sense of flow?

No silver bullet

Sometimes the life situations we are in or external factors around us can affect us deeply. We can find ourselves:

• Becoming disconnected – refusing to feel others’ emotions and potentially suppressing our own, not necessarily even being aware that this is happening
  or
• Becoming agitated – feeling our own emotions but (in the heat of the moment) not noticing them, eventually becoming stressed or overwhelmed

When these patterns emerge, the way forward is to become more present but gently so. First, we need to notice. (Perhaps others will give us feedback if we don’t notice for ourselves?) Once we have noticed, we need to be compassionate towards ourselves, not leaping into a huge meditation, but taking small steps to become present with compassion to ourselves, accepting our difficult emotions, and gently reviving ourselves through breath, being present, a walk in nature, some music… perhaps finding a friend to articulate to… getting some sleep! Trying again in a different way.

We are dynamic. There will always be cycles of up and down, in and out etc. As we learn to notice and accept these more immediately, as they arise, the shape and frequency of these changes will also change.

Take small steps and practise being present, being attentive, sitting. All these activities become transformative with practice, allowing us to function and be with others, and in our organisations in ways that allow us to thrive.

How can we encourage ourselves and others to notice and manage our states of being proactively?

How can we learn about our collective histories so that this can inform our action?

You are invited to experiment with new practices from this manual or elsewhere, try them in different situations, reflect upon what happens and learn more. It is important that you choose the practices that feel right for you just now. We recommend that you select a maximum of 3 practices to work on at any one time. If you have questions or feedback about the practices, please contact: Sustainable.Futures@gov.wales

Learning together is very important. Choose the activity that suits you best:

Daily morning practice? Join us once a week or every day

Just need a bit of a top-up? Join our one-hour interactive on-line session

Want to remind yourself about systems? Systems Thinking Mini-Course

Looking for a deeper dive through free training? Join MIT’s u-lab

Just need to find a friend? Try establishing a coaching pair.

Up for a regular one-hour monthly reflection? Choose a community of practice.

Working in a specific location? Try some tips from the People’s Practice.

Want to establish a change team in your organisation? Try the Enzyme Project.

See the Future Generations Commissioner’s website for other sources of learning and development

Co-coaching is a great way to reflect and learn together. Here is how some of us are going about it.

Identify someone you know, with whom you would like to spend some reflective time. Ask them how they are (discuss) and find out if they would be interested in sharing some thinking space. In the first instance you are only looking for agreement to a first meeting so that you can feel your way together - it might work, it might not, if it doesn't you've just had a lovely cup of tea together, so nothing is lost. It might only need a slight tweak to work better next time.

Meet to try it out. We did this by allocating half of the time to each of us (i.e. 30 mins each) and a few minutes to agree next steps. We met face-to-face and also virtually. Each person used their time to ask (and answer for) themselves a key question (e.g. What do I want to achieve? What is the biggest challenge just now?) while the other person listened, took an interest, asked good questions, spotted links and tried not to interrupt too much. At the end, we felt better so we agree to meet again.

You could ask questions like these:

• tell me about something that went well this week
• can you use any lessons from there in other settings?
• tell me about something that went badly/well
• what could you try differently next time?
• what if that was/wasn’t true?
• if you could change one thing what would it be and why?

Our first attempt was only partially successful; we got commitment and had a useful meeting but then failed to get together regularly for a couple of months. So we tried again; using Outlook to put a regular weekly one and a half hour meeting into our diaries. We don't use all of that time every time (but usually approx. 30 mins each). Having the 90 minutes ringfenced in our diaries ensures time for self-reflection in addition to the co-coaching.

We make sure that we both get the time we need to talk one problem/challenge/issue through, and we focus the questions on being open, encouraging, thoughtful and compassionate. We focus on all four energies – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

We hold some of the meetings by phone and via Teams and occasionally we can be physical in the same location. Virtual meetings have worked fine if we are both stationary (preferably with a cup of tea). Being in motion or on a shopping trip is not conducive to good listening! And, if on the mobile, make sure you have a good signal strength before you start, so that you don't lose each other at a difficult moment.

We have held regular weekly meetings and missed only a couple of these sessions (for holidays mainly) over the last couple of months. It is improving our performance during the rest of the week. It is great when both people want to learn to do better in any aspect of their work.

We recommend choosing to work with someone with a similar, but not exactly the same role, as a bit of distance from each other’s work brings perspective and a wider variety of issues and questions.

It seems to work best in the sessions where we are a bit more strict about ‘coaching’ each other - i.e. when the listener asks penetrating questions and doesn’t make too many interruptions. These are better than the rather more wandering discussions that we have sometimes.

Why not give it a try and let us know how you get on!

See also the People’s Practice Community of Practice for regular monthly support.

The ideas below are offered as suggestions and invitations. They were developed and tested by interested people across Wales. We hope they will help you and others to take increasingly positive action in response to climate and biodiversity emergency. Some of them can also be used to improve a meeting on any topic.

What is a people’s practice?

A people’s practice is a way of encouraging and coordinating action in response to the climate and biodiversity emergency.

A people’s practice is a hub for organisations, groups and individuals who are all committed to tackling the climate crisis, to network, share ideas and focus on key issues and positive actions, collectively.

A people’s practice is a space for discussing and deciding on our own actions, not for telling other people what they should or should not do.

A people’s practice is about action that changes how we live, not about activism to raise awareness. This is what Extinction Rebellion and others already do.

What do you need to get started?

You need a small group of motivated people and a place to meet. We started with 4 people. Some of us offered a public space in which to meet (in our case, the local museum). Some of us offered to facilitate and some of us offered help with communications, inviting others to join in (There can be overlap between the roles).

Firstly, we agreed how we wanted to work together/what we wanted to do. Then we chose some dates and invited people to join in. We chose to meet monthly and this is how we agreed to work together:

We will:

• Accept that there is an emergency and get on with doing something about it
• Focus on working together not disagreeing
• Appreciate everyone’s contribution
• Build on each other’s energy
• Talk to and bring in new people
• Involve all ages and generations
• Create a space where people can make connections and build relationships
• Allow ourselves to imagine a utopia and work towards this through reality
• Make connections between climate, biodiversity and food
• Consider how we can re-localise our local economy.

What are the basic principles?

You can see our principles in the bullet point list above. We asked some other people who are setting up similar practices (mainly in work-based settings), and they told us about the principles that are important to them:

The idea came from the Climate Rebellion, who ask that anyone participating in any climate related action abide by some basic principles of non-violence, compassion, etc.

We like the idea of holding meetings differently. Some people are still deeply wedded to the standard board format. Spelling this out is helpful for people.

Our group have agreed that they are all self-appointed – no one has been asked to attend because of their job role or position of hierarchical power. It is a voluntary group.

The network is also self-authorising. We do not report to anyone but accept that we need to liaise with some formal structures to help get the messages across. The idea is that we chose who and when to talk to, and how to ask questions of people.

Group members have agreed to champion the network within their own workplaces. We will do those things that we can do within our working remit and then work together to challenge / support change within the organisation where the issues sit outside of our control.

We have also agreed to use the group to help educate and develop each other. The first request has been for the Estates team, who manage carbon re duction, to present an overview of things that are already happening. Many of the initial ideas generated by the network are already being done or have been explored and rejected. People were surprised by just how much work has already been undertaken, un-noticed in the organisation.

Legitimacy: Some members have identified that their line managers want reassurance that the work is legitimate and fits with their day job. Under the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act in Wales everyone has a responsibility in relation to climate change. Many organisations use the idea of ‘corporate contribution’ to enable people to contribute their wider skills to collective goals, either alongside or instead of other objectives. We need to enable more of this.

What techniques might you use?

We are continuously developing our practice. Here are some of the methods we’ve tried so far:

Variety of language

A recent European report concluded that: ‘people will exhibit less bias when making decisions in a foreign language, so promoting linguistically diverse working spaces may be beneficial’. It is important to us that our group is open and inclusive, so we facilitate our sessions in English and Welsh and encourage a range of languages to be spoken in the practice.

Whoever is leading/facilitating says a part in Welsh and either they or another facilitator repeats each element in English. We encourage people to use Welsh (or other languages) and either translate themselves or ask a friend to provide a translation in the same way.

Hand signals

To help us have better quality discussions, we use hand signals based on the theory of non-violent communications. You can read more here: https://nonviolentcommunication.com/

Image

Non-violent communication hand signals – a home-made poster

Pauses

Research has shown that even the briefest of pauses can help us make better decisions. It takes only about 120 milliseconds for the brain to shift focus and block out distractions, to make a more accurate call.

We use pauses and short meditations (e.g. body scan) to help pace our practice.

Everything starts with a pause.

Circles, rounds and talking sticks

Sitting in a circle (of chairs and sofas) physically represents the equal importance of everyone in the room. It also allows us to ensure that everyone gets a turn to speak and be heard, and to listen.

A round means everyone taking a turn to give a short response, either by taking turns round the circle, or by allowing each person to offer their answer when they are ready. Getting everyone’s thoughts into the room can lead to more options, more creativity and better decision making.

A talking stick can be helpful if you have particularly enthusiastic participants. Any handheld item can be used as a ‘stick’. Once in use, only the person with the stick can speak. Everyone else listens, until the stick is passed to the next person. Take time to explain the use of the stick carefully. When holding the stick, pauses are allowed, and you have a responsibility not to talk for too long.

Co-production

Co-production enables people to share power and responsibility, and to work together in equal, reciprocal and caring relationships. Co-production always starts with assets, i.e. what resources, skills and talents do we already have? How can we help each other?

Find out more here: Search the co-production knowledge base.

Going outside

There is increasing evidence that being in nature can improve our comprehension, thinking and decision making, as well as making a substantial contribution to our wider health and wellbeing.

Drawing a picture

When we can’t go outside, we can bring the ‘outside’ in by drawing pictures. We can even bring possible ‘futures’ into the room by drawing those. Being creative is good for our thinking, decision making, wider health and wellbeing.

Open space technology

When we have a big group (20 to 2000+) we use open space technology to organise our meeting. See: Open Space World

Working groups

We encourage working groups to form and continue their work together between meetings. We connect and share with other people with similar purposes.

The context

The Welsh Government Culture Change Service (previously known as the Sustainable Behaviour Change Programme) supports positive behaviour change across Welsh Government in accordance with the sustainable development principle. We provide a range of resources and tools, along with spaces and permissions for colleagues to reflect on how to work differently in order to encourage innovation, culture change and continuous improvement, all whilst aligning with the Well-being of Future Generations Act.

The metaphor

We are currently moving from a ‘patchwork quilt’ to a ‘mycelium’ or ‘ecosystem’ metaphor for public service in Wales. Benefits of this new metaphor include:

• that we see ourselves as part of the mycelium rather than outside the patchwork
• that mycelium is a living dynamic system (that is both individual and collective)
• the added benefits of using a nature-based analogy
• As enzymes change things around them, they also change themselves

Mycelium has many parts, including enzymes that move from place to place throughout the mycelium and are shared with the soil around it. These enzymes create protection for the mycelium and help provide resources, information, medicine and nutrition to the wider ecosystem – trees, plants and so on.

The proposal

We are inviting you to establish small cross-cutting teams of individuals within your public body or other organisation. We are interested in talking to anyone across Wales who has an interest in deepening their understanding and application of the Well-being of Future Generations Act.

Such a team may already exist in your organisation, or you might already be acting as part of the mycelium by sharing and encouraging good practice in line with the Well-being of Future Generations Act.

Would you like to identify or create a small cross-cutting team that can be supported by (and will support the work of) the Chief Executive (or equivalent) in your organisation?

If so, we are asking you to set up the simplest possible structure for a regular interaction between:

• this team and your CEO
• this team (more frequently) to reflect together
• one or two members of your team with the Welsh Government Culture Change Service (monthly)

We recommend that you make use of the latest best practice methods for meetings, but you can set up your structure and processes in any way that suits you and your organisation.

You will be supported by the Welsh Government Culture Change Service through monthly meetings, sharing of direct insights from the latest science and simple guides to support your activities.

If you are interested in evaluating this project, we’d also be interested in hearing from you.

Next steps

If any of the above sounds interesting, however tentatively, please send a short email message to Sustainable.Futures@gov.wales briefly stating:

• Who you are and which organisation you work for?
• What is it that you find interesting in this invitation?
• What question(s) you are holding now?

Please choose the society, group, team or community that best matches your needs. Can’t see what you need? On the wrong day for you? Please contact us to find out what else is available. For further details, or to join a particular community, contact: Sustainable.Futures@gov.wales

Regular informal practice to support your wellbeing and your work

Do you just need somewhere to build your basic skills or look after yourself better? Then try joining a regular free Breathing Space (daily, weekly or monthly) online here: Breathing Space via Zoom, Monday to Friday, at 8-8:30am.

Rhwydwaith Sefydliadau Cefnogi / Supporting Organisations Network

Convened 6-monthly by the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner with email updates between members on an ad hoc basis.

This network is for representatives of organisations supporting public bodies or Public Services Boards to implement the Well-being of Future Generations Act i.e. those that provide resources, training and expertise to public bodies.

Our goals

• A space for sharing what people are doing and what they are planning
• Connecting People and projects, encouraging collaboration
• Working across the sector in an integrated way, avoiding unnecessary duplication.

Our How

• Apply systems thinking.
• Encourage connections and collaboration.
• Integrate work and avoid unnecessary duplication.

For further details, contact the Future Generations Commissioner Wales: contactus@futuregenerations.wales

SDCC+ (Sustainable Development Coordinators Cymru Plus)

SDCC+ is an independent, inclusive network supporting public bodies in Wales to implement the WFG Act and sustainable development. The network provides a reliable, friendly and safe space to voice and explore new ideas related to sustainable development.

It offers a learning and sharing programme, including Future Generations Knowledge Exchange sessions. SDCC+ have been established as a sound network to advise, challenge and collaborate with the Welsh Government, Future Generations Commissioner’s Office, Welsh Local Government Association, Wales Audit Office, and Cynnal Cymru.

Engagement is facilitated through online and in-person meetings, workshops, seminars, a bespoke website, and a Teams channel. For further information please contact: www.sdccplus.org.uk.

All Wales Continuous Improvement Community (AWCIC)

This community is for continuous improvement practitioners working in Welsh Public Services. You can join the All Wales Continuous Improvement Community in the Networks area of the Academi Wales website, where you can access information around continuous improvement including tools, techniques and recent materials.

You must have an Academi Wales account and be logged in to your Academi Wales account to be able to join this network. You should also subscribe to the weekly bulletin to get regular updates. We:

• connect people with a wide knowledge base of continuous improvement techniques, who are doing the same type of work, facing the same problems and celebrating the same successes as you
• strengthen links between public services – making contacts across a range of organisations and use each other’s knowledge and experience
• learn together via Case Studies and Events. A list of upcoming AWCIC events can be accessed here
• find opportunities to collaborate on projects with practitioners in other organisations
• change the way we work, using collaborative learning to shape decision making
• influence change and policy making by using data and experiences from our community

For further details contact AcademiWales@gov.wales

Compassion practices

Are you interested in exploring what inhibits and enables compassion to flourish? Free training and support on the practical steps required to widen application of compassion practices is available via Compassion Practices Collaborative.

Various times available on-line and in person. Sign up here to receive details by email.

Creativity, biodiversity and behaviour change

One of our longest standing circles – originally called Biodiversity4Cymru. Welcome to artists, ecologists, policy activists and all others with an interest in the connections between creativity, biodiversity and how our connections with these can create culture change.

We meet monthly on MS Teams, 4-5pm on Wednesdays.

Cynghrair egino / the Edgy Alliance

Cynghrair Egino (emergent alliance) is the core element of the Climate Psychology Alliance in Wales. We share learning together and have an overlapping membership. You do not have to be a member of one to join the other.

The emergent alliance is a network of individuals who are, in various ways, supporting people, organisations and communities through the emotional and psychological challenges of Brexit, Covid, social, economic, climate and biodiversity emergency. We are a mixture of trained psychologists, psychotherapists, councillors, facilitators (the Work that Reconnects, Death Cafés, to name a few), trainee shaman, end of life doulas and people of faith.

We meet virtually once a month using Zoom to share progress and learning and to develop new ideas and services.

Decolonisation support group

Supporting the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan and wider equalities and inclusion policies. We meet to better understand how we can decolonise Wales’ assets, behaviours and working practices. The National Library provides support, so that those who wish to do so can record and upload stories to the People's Collection Wales website.

You can sign up for monthly sessions either 3-4 on Thursdays or 10-11 on Fridays, or attend both if you need more frequent support. You can bring a question along to sessions or just attend and listen.

Delivering Net Zero

Building on the highly successful community of practice that already supports key actors working on challenges to decarbonise Welsh homes, we are extending and deepening our practice to learn from each other and do things better. We have a growing network of Communities of Practice. There are a range of opportunities from bringing Chief Executives together, working with communities, collaboration in local areas, peer learning and more. Peer facilitators support the groups to get up and running.

Governance and scrutiny

The role of non-executive board members and trustees is crucial in supporting (or undermining) the way an organisation conducts itself, the culture it creates, and the extent to which it improves well-being in its widest sense.

Every board member has their own personal journey in understanding what is required of them.

This group is for anyone who wants to explore how we can make action learning work for governance.

Housing decarbonisation

We support key actors working on challenges to decarbonise Welsh homes to learn from each other and do things better.

We have 7 different facilitated groups who meet regularly, involving citizens, chief executives and technical experts. We also have a facilitators circle for those who are supporting these groups.

Impact assessments

Many public bodies have drawn on the integration way of working under the WFG Act to combine various impacts assessments into one place, either on paper or via discussion groups. This group meets to share and learn more about how we can improve impact assessment. We are exploring the following:

• What does impact assessment look like in our organisations?
• How can integrated impact assessment (IIA) support application of the Well-being of Future Generations Act?
• How can we support the Commissioner for Future Generations and others in their work to produce collective guidance on IIAs?

People's practice

As part of the Welsh Government's response to climate and biodiversity emergency, we produced guidelines for creating a People's Practice, to help increase practical local action.

There are a range of similar groups active in Wales including Community Councils, Transition Towns, Repair Cafes, Local Food resilience, Community Renewables, Transport Shares, Library of things and others.

This group is for anyone who is bringing together a local group of people to enable local practical responses to climate and ecological challenges. Meetings are agenda-less and reflective. You can even say nothing and just notice how you feel. It is a good opportunity to share and learn from others and realise that you are not alone.

We meet monthly via Zoom 4-5pm on Wednesdays.

Shambolic Warriors

We are a group keen to work differently to better align with the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. We want to respond to the complex challenges we face, not only as a public sector but as a society. All are welcome!

The Shambolic Warriors concept is based on the Shambhala Warrior Prophecy.

Some Shambolic Warriors meet by MS Teams 12-1 on the last Friday of the month.

Copyright

© Crown copyright 2025: With the exception of the items identified in the text, you may re-use this material freely under the Open Government License 3.0. See details at: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

For feedback or enquiries contact: Sustainable.Futures@gov.wales

Acknowledgements

This guide has been designed with generous input from a huge range of people including:

The Compassion Practices Collective.

Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice and Mindfulness Wales

The Presencing Institute and u-Lab

Deep Adaptation Forum

Every university in Wales

People’s practices and other civil society circles all over Wales.

Hundreds of civil servants from the Welsh Government and their stakeholders

We’d like to thank everyone for all their ideas, hard work, insights and suggestions.