{"id":1349,"date":"2026-04-06T19:40:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/?p=1349"},"modified":"2026-04-08T09:06:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:06:35","slug":"systems-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/systems-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Systems Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been called a lot of things in my life, but my absolute favourite is that I\u2019m \u2018perspicacious\u2019. Admittedly, I had no idea what this word actually meant when it was suggested to me, but when I googled it, I was like, \u201cYES. FINALLY!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Proud, I told my mum, who replied \u201cdoesn\u2019t that mean something negative?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bums.<\/p>\n

I quickly googled again \u2026. \u201cno, no, pretty sure it\u2019s a good thing, honest\u201d.<\/p>\n

But I can see why it might be perceived as something negative.<\/p>\n

We all know that I can be annoying.<\/p>\n

But my perspicacity means that I pretty much always have my finger on the pulse guys.<\/p>\n

Sorry, I can\u2019t help it. I\u2019m perspicacious.<\/p>\n

And let me tell you that what is hot right now, and is going to get hotter \u2026. behold\u2026..<\/p>\n

Welcome to \u2026. SYSTEMS LEADERSHIP.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been around for a while, I\u2019ve been advocating it for aeons, but it feels like it\u2019s now making waves.<\/p>\n

I have been advocating for it for ages because when looking at the world of work the problems are nearly always because the organisation isn\u2019t working together as a cohesive system.<\/p>\n

Some typical observations:<\/p>\n

Problems happen as work moves between<\/em><\/strong> teams.\u00a0 Honestly, just map a process and mysterious delays<\/strong> happen when one piece of work leaves one team and moves to another. Sometimes this is because the organisation values team effectiveness as opposed to end-to-end effectiveness, so operations are optimised within a department but the delay pre and post departments are not ever visible, discussed, or worried about. Far too many organisations have no conception of end-to-end lead time and this is because often we don\u2019t take the time and trouble to connect different teams\u2019 work seamlessly together.<\/p>\n

Problems can also occur when some departments are primarily concerned with delivering the core activities of the department rather than the needs of their customers or delivering the purpose that they are meant to fulfill within organisation. This leads to the department becoming isolated and disconnected from other parts of the organisation. \u00a0Engaging with these teams can feel a bit like a battle, where you feel like you have to beg the department to work with you to achieve what needs to be achieved.<\/p>\n

Some teams are pushing, some teams are pulling, some teams are chill, some teams are motoring at a frightening rate, work is falling between the gaps, work is piling up between the gaps. \u00a0It\u2019s a mess.\u00a0 If you start to imagine the organisation as an \u2018alive\u2019 entity, it can feel like it\u2019s writhing all over the place, uncomfortable, unrelenting and potentially in pain.<\/p>\n

I think its helpful to think of organisations as alive organisms that act in surprising ways and can do shocking things. To think of them as beings that can become sick and unhealthy but that, with care and attention, can become happier, healthier entities that thrive. It was most pleasing to me when I saw that Werner and Le-Brun have released a book entitled \u201cThe Octopus Organisation\u201d<\/a> which challenges the comparison of an organisation to that of a \u201cMachine\u201d (The Machine that Changed the World anyone?!) instead they\u2019d rather we think of successful organisations as the clever and adaptive octopus. Something that \u201cthrives in complexity and embraces continuous change\u201d. Something that is alive.<\/p>\n

Indeed Systems Theory originated from the work of a biologist. We just have to think of the complexity of our own bodies as a myriad of systems within systems within interconnected systems. Each cell in our body is, in itself, a tiny system, cells come together to form an organ, say a lung, which is itself, a system, working within the respiratory system, that both energises, and is fuelled by, the circulatory system.<\/p>\n

Organisations have loads of these complicated, interconnected system \u2018human beings\u2019 working within them. \u00a0Human beings who are not only comprised of the mechanics of their existence, but are full of the emotions and psychology that develop as a consequence. \u00a0Politics, histories, sadnesses, anxiety which can all manifest in that most gobsmacking of revelations within organisations – the phenomenon that is Defensive Organising<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Basically we\u2019re talking INTENSE COMPLEXITY.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what\u2019s great about \u201cSystems Leadership\u201d. It doesn\u2019t try to fight the complexity, it tries to unify through it \u2026 with a lightness of touch, an acceptance of the sprawling tensions, but has a laser focus on what brings the constituent parts together – the reason why the organism exists. It asks leaders to not cling to boundaries and walls, but to lead with impermanence, encouraging porosity, respecting first and foremost, purpose, not power.<\/p>\n

This Systems Leadership Definition from the NHS guide to Developing-Systems-Leadership<\/a> is useful:<\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership across organisational and geopolitical boundaries, beyond individual professional disciplines, within a range of organisational and stakeholder cultures, often without direct managerial control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leadership that succeeds without direct managerial control and doesn\u2019t care about organisational boundaries. It\u2019s the antithesis of defensive organising.<\/p>\n

This Gov.UK Systems Leadership Guide<\/a> also provides an excellent overview.<\/p>\n

I also, really like this CLEAR Framework for Leading Systems Change from Harvard Kennedy School\u2019s \u00a0Lisa Dreier, David Nabarro and Jane Nelson within Systems Leadership for Sustainable Development<\/a>. (It helps me greatly that there is so much alliteration and assonance).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Dreier, Nabarro and Nelson, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

When writing this, as per usual, I put on Spotify\u2019s trusty and ever changing \u201cFocus Instrumental Mix\u201d where I\u2019m delighted by beautiful piece of music after beautiful piece of music, none of which contain any singing, which would basically completely distract me and make me lose focus. I can just concentrate, write and vaguely feel the melodic feelings.\u00a0 For a moment I pay more attention to a Bridgerton version of Paramore\u2019s \u2018All I Wanted\u2019 by the Vitamin String Quartet<\/a>. The beautiful \u2018tos\u2019 and \u2018fros\u2019 of the different parts of the orchestra, rise and fall, all with hugely different sounds, but together, when melodically working in harmony, the different parts complement each other and provide symbiotic moments of euphoria. That\u2019s what Systems Leadership is seeking to achieve.\u00a0 Organisation and organisations that work in beautiful harmony, and together, make wonderful music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve been called a lot of things in my life, but my absolute favourite is that I\u2019m \u2018perspicacious\u2019. Admittedly, I had no idea what this word actually meant when it […]","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":1361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,6,9],"tags":[16,105],"custom_author":[44],"class_list":["post-1349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lean","category-service-improvement","category-systems-leadership","tag-lean","tag-systems-leadership","custom_author-sarah-lethbridge"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/554\/2026\/04\/System-pic.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1349"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1363,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions\/1363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1349"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/sarahlethbridgelean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=1349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}