Helen Bevan

Warwick Business School hosts a free summer school, 17-18 June for Early Career Researchers & PhD students:
- interested in a career at a business school
- have an interest in health & care research or using it as a context for their work
Apply by 17 April
Please share: warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/...

New McKinsey research says that for workforce performance/productivity, the working model (office based, working from home or hybrid) is far less important than other factors. What matters most is the work environment that leaders create (whatever the working model):
mckinsey.com/capabilities....

4 types of thinking for use beyond everyday thinking. We need to develop capability in all to address increasingly complex leadership challenges:
1) Expert
2) Critical
3) Strategic
4) System
All are best done in teams. Together, asking even better questions:
hbr.org/2025/02/the-... by Heidi Grant

Trust is essential for cooperation/coordination/performance at work. Trust is a dynamic process, not static, fuelled by reciprocity: people responding to positive actions with other positive actions sfu.ca/complex-syst.... By simonfraseru.bsky.social. Indepth: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Is it time to shift the balance of our change thinking/practice from changing individuals to changing the systems around them? Not just just redesigning choices - but reshaping the conditions that create them: medium.com/@noelito/fro....
By noelito7.bsky.social who posts great content on Medium.

Some fantastic (free) resources for change inspired by social movements in the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario "Leading Change Toolkit":
rnao.ca/bpg/leading-...
A key graphic has been adapted by The Center for Implementation: thecenterforimplementation.com/toolbox/soci....

We're constantly comparing ourselves to others. Comparison can be a source of distress or development. How to avoid comparison that creates feelings of inadequacy & reduced self worth whilst using comparison for inspiration, motivation & perspective: sloanreview.mit.edu/article/a-be...

There's a growing appreciation of the power of "empathetic leadership". Yet 52% of study respondents felt their organisation's efforts to be empathetic were dishonest. This suggests that while leaders are trying, many of us may be going about it wrong: t.co/2D5QlGLL4b. By tanmayvora.bsky.social

When we take part in unproductive meetings, the effect isn't just the immediate impact of wasted time. The effect can go on for hours. It's called a "meeting hangover": a period of diminished focus, motivation or productivity following a bad meeting. hbr.org/2025/02/the-.... V brentreed.bsky.social

Wanting to be "productive", we may spend much time in "doing" mode (achieving goals & checking items off lists). Might be better in "spacious" mode (pausing to see multiple possibilities, make wiser decisions, build relationships):
hbr.org/2025/02/how-.... By Megan Reitz. Art: lianafinck.bsky.social

Addressing power gradients (gap between those with the most & least power in a team or system) is THE most effective lever for increasing psychological safety within a team. Many ways to take action for this:
psychsafety.com/reducing-pow.... By jadegarratt.bsky.social via tomgeraghty.bsky.social

The "messy middle" of change: gap in the change process between intent/ambition & the ability of a system/org/team to make progress. Without methods to motivate people to work towards something new, we may never get past it.
benholliday.com/2025/01/28/t...
@benholliday.com. Graphics:Tash Willcocks

7 elements in tackling complex problems at work (not necessarily in linear order - all elements are interconnected). It starts with seeing the wider picture: we need to pull ourselves out of the specifics due to the interdependencies in big, complex problems:
plan.io/blog/solving.... By
Planio
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Effective facilitation can make a huge difference to outcomes. Clear communication, structured problem-solving & inclusive decision-making drives performance & innovation. Applies to both external facilitation & facilitation skills by every leader: voltagecontrol.com/articles/the... Image: Tim Leake

How do we create change to have impact on complex societal challenges? The Good Shift has a new “Learnbook”.
Rather than the typical method of “understand the system first, then act”, their approach is “learning forward” through small actions as learning probes. t.co/EkOPpsP4Su. Via Tanya Verrall.

Research by Asana on 10k "knowledge workers" (like clinicians & managers): 60% of their time is spent not on their actual job, but on "work about work", eg, searching for information, managing shifting priorities & chasing work status: asana.com/resources/wh.... Via ferraroroberto.bsky.social.
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The simple act of sharing ideas can unlock unprecedented change across organisations & systems. If we want high-performing, productive people, building a culture of ideas-sharing is a big priority:
jointhecollective.com/article/buil.... By Join the Collective. Graphic by Office Guy Cartoons

Research shows for employees, “feeling respected” is 17.9 X more powerful a predictor of an organisation’s culture score than the average factor (& 2 X as strong as the 2nd most important factor, supportive leadership). Advice for leaders:
sloanreview.mit.edu/article/are-.... Graphic: Gaping Void

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"Team rituals" are regular activities/practices, eg huddles, team lunches, check-ins, celebrations. New research shows teams with more rituals have more engagement, psychological safety, knowledge & job satisfaction, leading to higher productivity/performance: lnkd.in/eXNNvP-G Art: lnkd.in/e_XmBeg9

Hi Charlie. Evidence shows that leaders start such initiatives with great intentions. However, we have to put big ongoing effort in to operationalise delegated decision making & we don’t do enough of the rights things. Frontline workers then want to go back to the “old ways” as much as leaders do.

With the correct link to the podcast: knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-o.... Thanks Annabav.bsky.social for alerting me!

Thanks Anna

Why efforts to decentralise decision making consistently fail & how to make it succeed. Redrawing the structure chart needs backing up with an ongoing effort to change the power dynamics.
Podcast: knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-o...
Article: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/.... By Michael Y Lee.

To be effective leaders of change & improvement, we can’t take a "one-size fits all" approach. The change methods need to fit the goal/problem, not the other way around.
Greg Satell identifies 3 types of change problem & offers links to methods to support each:
digitaltonto.com/2025/3-types...

"Humanocracy: creating organisations as amazing as the people inside them": a book that's had big impact on my change practice (new edition out in Aug 25). tanmayvora.bsky.social s new sketch on a key "Humanocracy" principle: impact multipliers for large scale change:
linkedin.com/posts/tnvora....

For change agents, our ability to influence without authority is a key issue because the impact we create is tied to it. So I appreciated this article which sets out five approaches to influence: medium.com/code-like-a-.... By Vinita Bansal. Graphic by Office Guy Cartoons.
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1) Articulate your leadership values & hold yourself accountable 2) Delegate better: consider the level of trust in the process 3) Get honest input: empower people to stop self-censoring 4) Tap the power of mid level managers to strengthen culture 5) Develop more continuous learners in your organisation 6) Set better boundaries with your team 7) Energise team meetings: Make everyone feel heard 8) Stop exalting busyness 9) Be a manager — not a mouthpiece for higher-ups 10) Communicate more effectively about change

Today, mitsmr.bsky.social published ten essential leadership tips for 2025 to "build your leadership skill set & solve tough challenges in the new year": sloanreview.mit.edu/article/10-e...
Interesting how many of them are so called "soft skills". Perspectives of leadership are changing.

Too many health & care orgs have separate, unconnected strategies for quality/process improvement & AI. Yet they are mutually reinforcing: combining them can generate huge productivity gains. However, it requires a lot of change leadership: hbr.org/2025/01/how-.... By Tom Davenport & Tom Redman.

"Busyness" is an affliction for many of us. It often fulfils a deep need but means no time for things that really matter to us. We can make 2025 the year when, individually & collectively, we're less "busy". See: medtrics.org/why-do-we-al... by Dalia Oufi. Art: Liana Finck via adamgrant.bsky.social

I've created a deck of 50 graphics I posted on X, LinkedIn and/or Bluesky that got the greatest response in 2024. I put them on SlideShare (Hope you can see past the multiple adverts).
Here's to a 2025 where we can learn, share, listen, debate & make change together.
slideshare.net/slideshow/20...