System stewards
This role involves getting the right information to the right people at the right time. It is a role which connects between different parts of the system – this can be up and down management lines or indeed across peer groups.
The core purpose is to enable learning to take place, and to inform actions required to support change. Stewards bring people together to see themselves as part of a system, build trusting relationships, share power and learn and act together.
Who are system stewards
System stewards are needed at all levels within a change programme. There is no set role or job type that must be a system steward. As their function is to convene people, build trust and steward learning and insights across the organisation, it is much more important to identify people who are good at these aspects already. This is part of the requirement for distributive leadership – identifying those with existing strengths, network and connections, and building on those – deploy your resources to their strengths.
Whilst these roles can emerge at all system levels, from care delivery to boards, it is important to foster a network of stewards across an organisation. A network of stewards will be more effective and have greater resilience through its peer-to-peer support capacity.
Leadership system steward: these are people who have positional power within an organisation or system. Their role includes decision-making based on learning, creating the infrastructure for learning and fostering the networks for learning and insights to have influence across the system.
Practitioner system steward: these are in operational roles within an organisation or system. Their role in learning is the identification of insight and learning and the convening of places and spaces to share this and adopt changes to practice.
What system stewards do
System stewards activities include:
- establish and maintain relationships with people across different parts of the system – internally within an organisation and with external partners
- ensure good information flow to enable the achievement of shared goals
- add value to information gathering by translating details for different audiences and highlighting areas of shared interest
Learning partners
Learning partners help organisations to build their capacity to learn, typically by demonstrating and using action learning and action research approaches. These approaches include data gathering, sense-making and reflections.
Who are learning partners
Learning partners are external to the change team. This can include academic partners, national partners (such as Healthcare Improvement Scotland) or local transformation and improvement teams. What is important is their ability to observe and provide feedback, separated from the delivery of change.
Depending on the change programme or initiative, the choice of learning partner will be different, as external partners, their expertise may be on a subject matter (e.g. waiting lists) or a specialist change method (e.g. economic analysis), your type of change programme will dictate which is most appropriate.
What learning partners do
- build relationships between people, organisations, and systems, allowing for shared learning to occur
- work to create insights from data gathered with those leading change
- use coaching skills, balancing being critical friends alongside offering encouragement and identifying where external nd expert support may be beneficial