RedQuadrant

For the fourth year running, RedQuadrant has been named in the FT/Statista UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2022 We're very proud of this and would like to thank all our clients, collaborators, and competitors who voted for us!

Outcomes Based Commissioning: a ten step introduction - coming this May.

Newly announced programme - cohort nine of our Outcomes Based Commissioning: a ten step introduction

Are you looking for commissioning training? Check out our upcoming national commissioning academy

Maps are useful! Navigating the labyrinth of #devolution and #localgovernmentreorganisation in England requires more than policy change and proposals; it demands collective insight. That's why we're launching a group dedicated to mapping this intricate terrain. During COVID-19, we ran a learning community on 'the days after' - well, 'the days after' are here now, so we're relaunching for #sensemaking Our inaugural session is tomorrow, Wednesday 12 March, from 14:00 to 15:30 - then every fortnight. Link below. We'll dissect our comprehensive map and refine it together. Join us to help transform #complexity into clarity. How can we ensure that our collective mapping leads to actionable insights rather than just more complexity? #Innovation #Leadership #ChangeManagement #PublicService What's your experience of collective 'making sense' of this kind of #complex territory? Join us! https://lnkd.in/eteVYu_W Come to the session tomorrow, Wednesday 12 March 2025, 14:00-15:40 https://lnkd.in/e5T9ERCG

What if the most effective #publicservice isn’t built from policies at the top, but from genuine conversations at every level? Stepping into a space where traditional public service models meet #systemsthinking, I left the Systems Innovation Public Service conference with more than ideas – I left with a call to transform our approach to governance. It was a day of challenging conventions; from Sweden’s innovative local government transformation to debates on relational services that prioritise people over processes. The dialogue wasn’t focused on reforming policy, it was about reshaping our understanding of public service through collaboration, long-term vision, and human connection. We heard about leaders and frontline teams embracing uncertainty, moving from rigid transactions to dynamic, empathetic relationships. This isn’t swapping one set of rules for another, but about daring to ask: how do we embed genuine human-centred change into every layer of our system? And at the same time there's a *huge* opportunity for good systems practice tools to play a very practical role in delivering #transformation, improved services, and dealing with #complexity. #leadership #innovation #publicservices Here are the notes taken by The Public Service Transformation Academy and RedQuadrant colleagues, with assistance from LLMs on transcripts. What stands out to you from the conference?

Si Public Sector Conference Key Take Aways. Systems Innovation.

Watch my conversation with Brian Eno and Bette Adriaanse. Jon Alexander.

Geoff Wild has shared an update to the PwC report for the County Councils Network on economies of scale in English local government - the original was a major source quoted in the 'Devolution' White Paper in December. Let's look at the method: To allocate assumed savings as percentages from aggregated data (interestingly, assuming Districts merge into Counties). Broad brush and assumption-based. Interestingly they calculate the costs of change at up to £0.7bn - my back-of-an-envelope estimate is £0.5-1bn, excluding redundancy costs and other amortisation and write-offs etc. The methodology does NOT cover: - comparison of capitated/absorption-cost-modelled spend by size of authority in practice (i.e. this does not attempt to answer the question: are large authorities more efficient, on the whole, or not?) - the track record of previous predictions of costs of transition and savings in moving to unitary status (do, please do a quick google on how that's worked out, and is working out) - the inflationary / market impact of attempting to reorganise the whole of the country at the same time - the current government model of reorganisation across the country And there's obviously nothing about the quality of outcomes achieved. Therefore, many caveats are needed (and PwC do give a whopping caveat - don't rely on this report without taking your own professional advice) - and while some things (fewer senior leaders*, fewer buildings) are self-evident, others (overall efficiency of spend through scale?) are questionable. *I think they make a simple methodological error here in assuming all District senior roles go, since some of these are in specialist functions not carried out by Counties so this isn't about absorbing a smaller version of the same organisation - it's about absorbing an organisation doing - by definition - different core functions entirely. In the comments, I'll put their method (without comment), and disclaimer. This is no doubt a sensible first-brush attempt to look at the savings side with very broad assumptions - but without answering any of the questions above, let's take PwC's disclaimer seriously and understand that it does not tell the whole story. It also does not mention the opportunity cost of time spent on this topic, the loss of senior staff and knowledge and capability through reorganisation, or the very real challenges of maintaining local knowledge and democratic legitimacy. My very real fear is that - unless done very well and this is taken very seriously - this will alienate communities from democratic public services and undermine all the good that local government can do, and lead to populist grass-roots and astroturfed movements that, in the name of democracy, are undemocratic. There is no argument to be had about whether unitarisation is a good or a bad thing - it is happening. But how we do it requires real nuance and understanding of the complexity involved.

March 13th 10:00-12:00. Social Care Future in discussion with Mark Smith. Social Care Future. https://buff.ly/FMjpARU