#QEvent2019: Making Change Happen At All Levels

Yesterday's UK-wide Q Community event brought together hundreds of people committed to improving quality in health and care. 

There was a wealth of excellent, engaging and interactive sessions where learning was shared. You can read about my highlights from the day in this thread. 

In this blog I'm focusing on the skills we need to make change happen.

As Penny Pereira, the Q Community Director, said in her opening address yesterday improvement needs action at all levels. Successful change needs top down AND bottom up change. 

The challenge can be knowing where to start. 

The excellent session Navigating Power and Politics in Health and Care took participants through some of these challenges. Note in this context the focus is small 'p' politics of organisations rather than the big 'P' Politics of Westminster. 

I created a sketchnote detailing my reflections from the session (below). The session observed that we all need to get better at negotiating power and influence. There's the power to be had from formal authority AND there's power from charismatic leadership (or as we in Horizons would describe them, superconnectors - that is, the people in any organisation who you'd describe as your 'go to' colleagues - and who usually are not in a position of hierarchical power.)

Formal authority will often be part of the old power dynamic, while superconnectors will be part of new power. It's important to note that it's not old power versus new power; rather, it's old power AND new power. As Penny reflected, we need action at all levels.

This is where The School for Change Agents can help.

The School for Change Agents has supported thousands of participants from all over the world learn to skills for making change happen at all levels. The autumn 2019 run of the School is live now. As part of the School, you'll learn about navigating old and new power, and building a shared purpose; how to attract others to your cause through crafting a compelling personal narrative; and dealing with complexity (to list just a few topics). 

The School takes place entirely online, for a six week period. The bite-sized modules mean you can learn at your own pace, and there's always lively conversation meaning you can learn and build your networks at the same time. School is free to join.