Slides from The School for Change Agents LIVE session 1 18 May 2021

1. Welcome to the first live session of 2021!

2. @Sch4Change #S4CA

3. Keep in touch with the School community!
@Sch4Change
#S4CA
Join The School for Change Agents group,
or ‘Like’ The School for Change Agents
page
@HorizonsNHS
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7. We hope to see you at the next
sessions!
Tuesday 25 May, 3pm
• Creating our shared purpose
• The differences between power, agency and autonomy
• How we build power: relational vs transactional
• Inclusion and belonging: power in an unequal world –
belonging and community are part of the “Us”
• Inequalities and social justice
Tuesday 1 June, 3pm
To help change agents to see the picture of
change; better understand the big levers for
change; and to be more ambitious.
@Sch4Change #S4CA

8. “While corporate transformations are
almost universally assumed to be top-
down processes, in reality, middle
managers, and first-line supervisors can
make significant change when they have
the right mindset”.
Nicholas Eyrich, Robert E. Quinn and
David Fessell
https://hbr.org/2019/12/how-one-person-can-change-the-conscience-of-an-organization
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
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9. The myth
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10. The reality
Studies show that, in general,
leaders are more positive
towards team members who
are change-orientated,
proactive and future-focused
Angela Jie Xu and colleagues, Reversing the lens: How followers influence leader–member
exchange quality, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 92, Issue 3,
September 2019. @Sch4Change #S4C

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When [change agents] experience an
expanded zone of freedom, another way to
connect across hierarchies / geographies /
functions, to interact with others, to display
leadership… it’s hard to forget. They now know
it is possible to do things differently and, very
often, they’ve experienced change in
themselves too.
Celine Schillinger
A quote that sums up the
essence of The School for
Change Agents

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Confronting people
with their freedom
may be the ultimate
act of love
Peter Block
Source of quote: Celine Schillinger

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This is….

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Leading change in the age of
disruption
“Tomorrow’s management
systems will need to value
diversity, dissent and
divergence as highly as
conformance, consensus
and cohesion.”
Gary Hamel

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Life as a change agent can be tough
• Working in a political system built on division and
criticism
• Challenging an all-powerful status quo
• Others don’t see the potential or possibilities
• You get ignored and treated as “not relevant”
• Your successes and accomplishments often
don’t get recognised
• You have to choose your battles and
emotionally detach from situations

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The most effective disruptors are “tempered
radicals”
Source: Debra Meyerson:
https://hbr.org/2001/10/radical-change-the-quiet-
• Rock the boat but manage to stay in it
• Walk the fine line between difference
and fit, inside and outside
• Conform AND rebel
• Capable of working with others to
create success NOT perceived by
others as a disruptive troublemaker
• Build own power base for change

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The School for Change Agents is about
using your power for change
Power is one’s
ability to achieve
goals.
Bertrand Russell

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Jeremy Heimens, Henry Timms New Power: How it’s changing the 21st Century and why you need to
know (2018)

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The School for Change Agents
is about using our power for change
Power is one’s
ability to achieve
goals.
Bertrand Russell
We do that by
expressing our

20. @Sch4Change #S4CA
AGENCY definition:
The action taken by people, individually and
collectively, that expresses their power.
Change agency is about pushing the
boundaries of what is possible, mobilising
others and making change happen more
quickly
Change AGENT definition:
Someone who is using their agency to
make a positive difference

21. @Sch4Change #S4CA
We need change agents to illuminate the
way!
We need more people willing to step outside of expectations
because our world is changing exponentially, and if all we do is
meet expectations and the status quo - we will fall behind as
organisations, as teams, and as societies.
David Bray

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Jeremy Heimens,
Henry Timms
New power
comes from
the agency
of the crowd

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Source of image:
The Coventry Collective
CHANGE ME

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The success of our actions as change-
makers does not depend on what we
do or how we do it, but on the inner
place from which we operate”
Otto Scharmer
Leading from the emerging future

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When leaders can cultivate both inner and
outer skills, it increases their chances of success
in large complex change by 52 percent.
Deborah Rowland

26. Change is inherently relational: it depends on our
ability to work with others to enable it to happen.
In a system
Helen Bevan and Goran Henriks
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27. I am not outside of the change:
I AM the change
Source of graphic: Adapted by Helen Bevan from Reos Partners
Others
I am co-creating
the change:
I am part of
(within) the
system of
change
I am leading or enabling
the change
I am helping others to
change
I am apart from
(above or outside) it
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28. https://thesocialchangeagency.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Systems-thinker-full.jpg

29. CAPABILITY AGENCY
Change agents need
CAPABILITY (the quality of being capable; capacity and skills:) &
AGENCY (able to take action to express their power)
• Improvement skills
• Project/programme management
• Innovation and design methods
• Analytics
• Process facilitation skills
• Influencing skills
• Coaching skills
• Self-efficacy
• Collective action
• Building belonging
• Embracing diversity
• Relationships
• Connections
• Social action
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30. Self-efficacy
There is a positive, significant
relationship between the self-
efficacy beliefs of a change
agent and their ability to facilitate
change and get good outcomes
“The ability to act is tied to a belief that
it is possible to do so.”
“Our sense of conviction that we can
successfully execute a task to produce the
result we want to see”
Albert Bandura
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31. • Compare yourself to other people
• Give attention to detractors and critics
• Stay in a work environment that is toxic or dysfunctional
• Stay in a work environment where you don’t have a
supportive boss
• Assume other people have a negative motive
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34. Source: The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to
Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work
Emphasise progress
• Teresa Amabile, Harvard Business
School; studied the "inner work
life" diaries of 238 professionals
• Their best days were when they made
progress; were able to move forward in
their work
• 700 managers were asked to rank five
factors that motivate their team members,
including recognition and incentives; They
ranked “sense of progress” LAST
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35. @Sch4Change #S4CA

36. We hope to see you at the next sessions!
Tuesday 25 May, 3pm
• Creating our shared purpose
• The differences between power, agency and autonomy
• How we build power: relational vs transactional
• Inclusion and belonging: power in an unequal world –
belonging and community are part of the “Us”
• Inequalities and social justice
Tuesday 1 June, 3pm
To help change agents to see the picture of
change; better understand the big levers for
change; and to be more ambitious.
@Sch4Change #S4CA

37. Not joined the online learning community on FutureLearn yet?
We look forward to welcoming you! horizonsnhs.com/School
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38. 2021