Simon Bird
Simon works with leaders across sectors on an organisational, team and individual level. He is interested in making hard things simpler, and helping people turn theory into reality.
Location UK
Activity
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@ChristineMurray - let's call it an area for development rather than a weak point! Just knowing this can be helpful in itself...so next time we find ourselves there, and the voice in our head says 'just find a way out quickly!' - we can try to calm the voice for a few minutes longer!
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@IanSmith - great observation that people can have the same vested interest, but coming from different angles. This can be a real breakthrough moment for people/teams. I'm curious - do you explicitly point this out - or does it just become evident?
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@SteveWheeler - I like that phrase, 'working past each other'...I wonder what it would take for both parties to slow and see each other?
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@KalinaBellis - that's a great bit of self awareness Kalina - recognising that uncertainty can make you anxious means you might be able to tolerate it longer at times
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@LindseyMarlton - lovely definition of the very tug of war itself that exists!
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Simon Bird replied to Linda C
@LindaC - I'm wondering if the personality itself is 'controlling' - or the environment makes people behave in certain ways?
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Simon Bird replied to Kalina Bellis
@KalinaBellis - definitely something in here. Your comments reminded me of how good it can feel to tick a box, or 'complete' something - or turn a RAG rating green. These little 'wins' can promote the myth of certainty!
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@IsobelSiewruk-Smith that is an interesting counterpoint...and I guess by definition it is being reactive....in that the product is an outcome of things reacting to each other. At the same time, sometimes the drive to unpick and rebuild suggests rather a mechanical approach. I think perhaps emergence might be the name we can use when there are unintended...
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@DaveParker I guess we can take survival as the minimum required! Maybe there's something about how we even think about 'the NHS'. is it even a 'thing'? Is it more a brand? An idea? A dream? I am more optimistic than you perhaps about there actually being lots of good people around in the mix
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@GretaTurner - I don't think we know really. Your question did make me think though...when in our societies/organisations do we change leaders? And what are the processes? I think we have a whole range from 'go on - you take a turn - I did it last week' - to elections!
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Simon Bird replied to Shaheen Kauser
@ShaheenKauser - we are all 'simply a cog' - but don't underestimate the potential power/influence/impact you have. Just think about an expensive watch/car try to start when just one simply component is missing...
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Simon Bird replied to Breah Young
@BreahYoung - I share your liking of it! For me, it simply explains how things 'really' get done
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Simon Bird replied to Linda C
@LindaC - sounds great - and the programme should definitely help you even frame some conversations differently, or with some complementary ideas :-)
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@MichaelCopley now that sounds intriguing!
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Simon Bird replied to Natalie S
@NatalieS - keep being that voice in the wilderness! It sounds like you're taking on an important role in showing that it's safe for others to speak up too
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@PaulKavanagh-Fields - this sounds great. What tips would you offer when it comes to approaching people you don't know, but would like their help/or want to make a connection?
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@NatalieS - yes, there's certainly something about mindset - and also the behaviours of people to allow others to hold that mindset and act with it in mind. What kinds of boundaries needed to be tackled?
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@KarenChummun - you're so right. We are wired to 'belong' and so it is unsurprising that so often we don't value other perspectives which aren't like ours - or that of our organisation. It's often a conscious effort that's required - slow thinking - as oppposed to reflex thinking (fast) - which often takes the shape of us good/them bad!
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@NatalieS - thanks for sharing that - and sometimes that's all you can do - a little a time
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Simon Bird replied to Jennifer Gibson
@JenniferGibson - thanks for deliberately or otherwise (!) pointing out a really common paradox or tension point leaders/organisations/politics and others find themselves on from time to time - do we go all out big bang? Or incrementally? There are long lists of pros and cons for each - and of course context i.e. what it is you're actually trying to do is...
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@NatalieS you may definitely dare say! I'd suggest they're both helpful - along with the many many other ways of looking at culture that exist. I do like the Culture Web because it's so easy to see/hear around you. Next time you go to a shop (just to take it out of health and care for the moment) - or a restaurant - or a car wash - have a look around and...
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@PaulKavanagh-Fields - you've landed helpfully on the idea that we need to be quite nuanced when talking about 'organisational culture' - because within any organisation there will be many other pockets shaped and led by a diverse population
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@KarenSwift - ah lovely. Reminds me also of a Leonard Cohen lyric - Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack, in everything.
That’s how the light gets in -
Simon Bird replied to Maxine Wilkie
@MaxineWilkie - sounds great! As you've experienced, just flipping the question can really shift the mindset and conversation!
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Simon Bird replied to Andrew Blackstock
@AndrewBlackstock - great questions. I'm sure you're on the right track - and I wonder if you'd go further even. How about leading sessions with patients? Or asking patients and community leaders what they want education sessions on?
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Simon Bird replied to Karen Swift
@KarenSwift that's really great to hear. I'm interested in your observations about what happened after the 'immediate crisis' when people pulled together. It's a common phenomenon and a real challenge for leaders now to prevent all those good practices becoming echoes of the past
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@ElizabethOdedina - some really valuable insights here, thanks for sharing and being so open
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@KatyHaines - sounds like a strength and the system needs you and these strengths. Perhaps part of an adaptive response is to ensure you have others around you who are more comfortable with ambiguity - and learning from each other?
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@ThomasNunn - great example here of some of the dilemmas. Being provocative - I wonder what would happen if there was some role redesign so it became less 'all or nothing' - so clinicians spent some time on the phone - and some time patient facing? Riddled with complexity of course....but just wondering.... :-)
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@LukeBlackham - it really is isn't it? And this stepping out to try new things is a thread through all this discussion around systems thinking and working
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Simon Bird replied to Georgina Hill
@GeorginaHill - did you work it out? I'd love to hear back re: what you you discovered/asked about this?
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Simon Bird replied to Jason Brooke
@JasonBrooke - I was working with an ICB recently and planning an event and I asked about which organisations from the vol sector would be there, and was told that they hadn't been invited. I honestly don't think it's malevolent - it's just such a different way of working and thinking that dominant organisations are taking a long time to realise they will...
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@JasonBrooke - perfectly put! It's the transition between good intentions and being able/willing to try something out....with support and backing from others in key places in the system
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@SyedaAkhtar - PHM is a great example of approaching the challenges slightly differently, and at least opening an opportunity for a conversation. I'd suggest that it can only really make a difference though when people feel able to step in and use this information and data, and are supported to do so.
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@AndrewBlackstock - totally agree. I do think we need to exercise some caution though at 'only' looking at 'leaders'. Some of the elements in the list above are really about mindset shifts for everyone - e.g. being open to trying new things, seeing that sometimes we might ask people to talk to people from other organisations - without this being not 'part of...
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Simon Bird replied to philippa cusack
@philippacusack - you're probably right - but can we afford to wait for that to make changes at a local level?
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Simon Bird replied to Lucy Johnson
@LucyJohnson - you make excellent points here about how hard collaboration is. It is much 'easier' to take a position and hold it...there are lots of risks at a personal level sometimes or organisational, to move from the status quo. Which is why when we're facing really complex hard things to do - where the answer is far from clear, that trying small things...
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Simon Bird replied to Georgina Hill
@GeorginaHill - great questions! What would you do....?
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Simon Bird replied to Charlie Colby
@CharlieColby - thanks for this, and your experience is exactly the kind of experience that is motivating people and places to see what alternative ways there are to make this whole period less worrying for the service users - and ultimately better clinically. Hold those episodes in mind - it's really helpful to be talking about things that are not abstract...
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Simon Bird replied to Jayne Middleman
@JayneMiddleman - really like your use of 'just one more question' - and not being fobbed off. In general though, asking just one more question can be so informative when it comes to systems, and learning about other people connected and involved - beyond the 'they'
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@LyndaSibson - sounds like very necessary project process at the moment!
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Simon Bird replied to Louise Nesbeth
But I do think it's also used when we're just too tired to wrestle with a situation....and hence the giving up
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Simon Bird replied to Louise Nesbeth
@LouiseNesbeth - I'm with you...there's some kind of fatalism in it I think, a kind of giving up
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@LouiseNesbeth - you've landed on what is probably most critical in all of this - and that is context. Or if you like, "it depends...."...on the risk, our personality, the people around us, the potential consequences and so on
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@OliviaLeigh-Wootton - you can't see the squabbles those starlings are having with each other close up...!
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Simon Bird replied to Kate Lawrence
@KateLawrence - thanks for this and the perspective you bring - which is quite a different set of experiences than many of your colleagues here. Looking forward to hearing more as you progress through the programme
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@KateLawrence - would love to hear more about what you're noticing about the connections in the Alliance as you go through the programme! No names of course!
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@KateLawrence - I love that - don't worry, you won't be the only person who finds things they thought they knew might be slightly different :-)
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Simon Bird replied to Alice Holden
@AliceHolden - that is a pretty unique role - looking forward to reading about your own experiences and (I hope) learning as you grapple with the role and the programme!
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Simon Bird replied to Sadie Plunkett
@SadiePlunkett - great, then you're in the right place. You'll find we do explore the theory and background in the first 3 modules, and then really focus on the practical in the later ones
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Ah - that's great when a people find each other on here to muddle through!
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Simon Bird replied to Jen Cartwright
@JenCartwright - a really great personal example here!
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@SallySouraya - really like your thought of leadership as a system in its own right - even if it is a little mind bending! And also - the idea that the How and What can emerge from the Why. I think it's the 'Emerge' which is of significance here, and of course a key term in systems thinking
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Simon Bird replied to Olisah Onuorah
@OlisahOnuorah - precisely! And that is a tricky phenomena with a (large) proportion of leaders, and not only senior leaders. Many feel there is an expectation of them that they have the answers when asked by people they work with - and so the response is often one aimed at trying to 'solve' something. I really like your point about being human - showing...
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@LouiseNesbeth - that's so interesting and encouraging that you feel the world you work in is a kinder place than 10 years ago. Why is it would you say the overall 'narrative' seems to be that it's often not?
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Simon Bird replied to Caroline Jones
@CarolineJones - you have to let me know what 'brain drop' is?!
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@HelenCatherall - you're so right - everything starts with awareness. And so you'll find us a few times in the programme getting you to pause, clock how you're thinking or getting you to look around to see what's going on - and to avoid getting swept away in the white water with so many other people!
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@JermineClarke and @JudithKato - fantastic! Work at it - it is so helpful to have someone else nudging you along...welcome both :-)
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Simon Bird replied to Thomas Nunn
@ThomasNunn - good observation that the language of systems can mean different things - and is often confusing. The NHS is using the word 'system' as in ICS to describe a series of organisations which have different kinds of relationships between them - which might or might not lead to some kind of output. However, as you acutely point out - there are pushes...
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Simon Bird replied to Channing Roskilly-Stewart
@ChanningRoskilly-Stewart , can you share a couple of examples of improvements you'd seen? What are you noticing about how your organisations is holding onto the positive changes, and not simply reverting to what went before?
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@LukeBlackham - love this - not so much a ramble but a bit of thought processing! There's something here about working with complex systems, and working with them just as you say. Accepting things are going to be unpredictable, and things might go wrong - or something amazingly positive surprises everyone.
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Simon Bird replied to Thomas Nunn
@ThomasNunn - interesting to read about the specialist paramedics at your Trust. I wonder if we stretched that kind of thinking further - what a truly systemic response might be? Maybe people trained in X, Y or Z who can work in multiple organisations, when they're needed?
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Simon Bird replied to Winnie Lo
@WinnieLo - I like this thought process, and it has potential to perhaps change the dynamic of the relationship.
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@WinnieLo - nice summary here. And where would you say your own strengths and development areas might be here? Do you recognise anything in this list of behaviours that is meaningful for you?
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Simon Bird replied to Tamadur Abdullah
@TamadurAbdullah - there's certainly some literature around behaviours and neuroscience that suggests humans prefer to maintain the status quo around them. Given the choice between change or don't change...the majority of us tend towards the latter. I'm interested in your assertion that the top of the hierarchy preserves the health system as is - can you...
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Simon Bird replied to Bruce Gray
@BruceGray - nice metaphor to land on - the body is often a helpful frame to use here. Loads of analogies to use e.g. the role of early warning signals that something is wrong...or the tendency for certain conditions to develop and incubate entirely out of sight...yet severely disrupt the system!
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Simon Bird replied to Luchia Langley
@LuchiaLangley - communication certainly key. What else might need to be considered if we think about communication in a system? Why is it people are sometimes so surprised when they think they have done the communication yet they hear from others they haven't?!
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Simon Bird replied to Chloe Fenn
@ChloeFenn - where should we start, from a systems perspective?
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Simon Bird replied to Jen Cartwright
@JenCartwright - thanks for this. I've heard people in the last couple of weeks express this even more strongly i.e. there is no point tinkering around with health until social care is sorted out - and the only way to do that is to pay carers a proper wage. Though even that narrative underestimates the impact that action would have on other parts of the...
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@SarahPickford - love this Sarah - and of course you're right. And maybe we need to just pause and learn, as well as being brave!
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Simon Bird replied to Ian Smith
@IanSmith - I love the idea of bringing new starlings into the group. Though in line with your thought about no one way to do things, maybe other birds could be brought in as well?
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Simon Bird replied to Jason Brooke
@JasonBrooke - really interesting observation that maybe relationships are more important in trying to work out how things really get done!
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Simon Bird replied to Elizabeth Ruane
@ElizabethRuane - and how does that feel?! It can be a really tricky transition moving between those two kinds of working :-)
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Simon Bird replied to Moriam Mustapha
@MoriamMustapha I like your 'illusion of control' reference - I also often talk about the 'myth of stability' - a state people sometimes strive for, yet never quite arrives. And there can be a feeling akin to liberation if you can come to realise this sometimes!
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Simon Bird replied to Michelle Hancock
@MichelleHancock - don't worry at all about the allocated time - it really is just a guide and some of the weeks will take a little longer. Actually, you can take however long it takes - what's more important or helpful is to get into a regular routine :-)
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Simon Bird replied to Moriam Mustapha
Hi @MoriamMustapha - that's great - try it out as an experiment - maybe 15 mins at at time - small steps and all that. And something else will 'always' take priority if you find something a bit trickier or harder to understand!
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Simon Bird replied to Jason Brooke
Hi @JasonBrooke - I wonder...are you 'outside the system' - or just part of a bigger system?!
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Simon Bird replied to Michelle Greene
@MichelleGreene - that's great, and you might find you're doing it already - eve if it's not an 'official' part of your role!
