This document discusses ways to empower change agents and influence organizations. It suggests that having influence through informal networks is more important than formal hierarchy. Only 3% of people in an organization typically influence 85% of others. These "superconnectors" are well-connected and go-to people for advice. The document also discusses the tension between conforming and rebelling to create change from within. It advocates for collective agency where people act together for change rather than top-down structures determining change. An example is given of a project empowering ambulance staff to collaboratively address issues like falls and mental health.

1. and staying in it
Helen Bevan
@HelenBevan
#SWiP19 Source of image: showstudio.com

2. Question: what’s the most reliable way to
predict the future effectiveness of a team?
Source:
http://www.fastcompany.com/3049524/know-it-all/the-
science-behind-team-intelligence

3. Question: what’s the most reliable way to
predict the future effectiveness of a team?
Answer: count
the number of
women in the
team
Source:
http://www.fastcompany.com/3049524/know-it-all/the-
science-behind-team-intelligence

4. “New truths begin as heresies”
(Huxley, defending Darwin’s theory of natural selection)
Source of image:
installation by the
artist Adam Katz
www.thisiscolossal.com
Via @NeilPerkin

5. We have to address issues of
power
Power is the
ability to produce
intended effects
Bertrand Russell
@helenbevan #SWiP19

6. Jeremy Heimens, Henry Timms New Power: How it’s changing the 21st Century and why you
need to know (2018)
new power
Current
Made by many
Pulled in
Shared
Open
Relationship
old power
Currency
Held by a few
Pushed down
Commanded
Closed
Transaction

7. The Network Secrets of Great
Change Agents
Julie Battilana &Tiziana Casciaro
As a change agent, my centrality in
the informal network is more
important than my position in the
formal hierarchy

8. People who are highly connected
have twice as much power to
influence change as people with
hierarchical power
Leandro Herrero
http://t.co/Du6zCbrDBC
@helenbevan

9. We still organise public service like the
Tabulating Machine Co. of 1917
Source of image: @corp_rebels

10. Find the 3%!
Just 3% of people in the
organisation or system typically
influence 85% of the other people
Source: Organisational Network Analysis by Innovisor

11. Find the 3%:
meet Mandy Carney, Head of
Patient Flow at Yeovil Hospital
• “Knows everyone in the
hospital”
• “Everyone follows Mandy
on Facebook”
• The go-to person for advice
• Mandy makes sense of
things and reduces
ambiguity for people
• Mandy presents her own
monthly award “the Carney
cup”

12. As senior leaders, we may be less
influential than we think
If we want to get the same level of influence
through top down change as the 3% get, we
need four times more people
Source : Jeppe Hansgaard

13. The 3% rule also appears true for social
media
Source: research by Graham MacKenzie using NodeXL
In health and
healthcare globally,
tweets by 3.3% of
tweeters accounted
for 85% of retweets
@helenbevan

14. The powerful medical “superconnectors”
Source: NodeXL analysis @gmacscotland
@helenbevan

15. Empower your staff to be the voice of the
organisation. They’ve got audience & credibility
@helenbevan

16. What happens to
rebels/heretics/radicals/mavericks
in organisations?
Source of image: thinglink.com
?
@helenbevan

18. Source: Lois Kelly http://www.slideshare.net/Foghound/rocking-the-boat-without-falling-out

19. We need to be boatrockers!
Source: Debra Meyerson
• 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 destructive troublemaker
@helenbevan

20. Source: adapted from Rebels at Work

21. “A cynic, after all, is a
passionate person who
does not want to be
disappointed again.”
Source of graphic: Benjamin Zander’s TED talk
@helenbevan

22. Source of image: Tord the Meme
by Marley Bryn
The world feels
terrible if I
choose to
distrust it
Marcella Bremer

23. Source: adapted from Rebels at Work

24. Reflection
• What are your insights around “boatrocking”
and “falling out”?
• What moves people from being “boatrockers”
to “falling out”?
• How do we protect against this?
@helenbevan

25. Source: adapted from Rebels at Work

26. A big debate in social science
Structure versus Agency
@helenbevan

27. The predominant approach in recent years has been STRUCTURE
but globally there is a big shift towards AGENCY
The shift in thinking and practice of change
Performance goals
Compliance
Regulation
Assurance
Competition
Programme
Management
Incentive systems
Activation
Ability to make choices
Capability
Leaders everywhere
Social action
Solidarity
Social movements
@helenbevan

28. AGENCY definition:
The power, individually and collectively, to make
a positive difference. It is about pushing the
boundaries of what is possible, mobilising
others and making change happen more quickly
@helenbevan

29. Individual AND collective agency
Individual agency:
People get more power
and control in their own
lives: activation, shared
decision-making and self-
care
Collective agency:
People act together,
united by a common
cause, harnessing the
power and influence of
the group and building
mutual trust
@helenbevan #ChangeManagement

30. Source: @NHSChangeDay
30
@helenbevan

31. Source: @NHSChangeDay
31
@helenbevan

32. Source: @NHSChangeDay
Problematic:
changing a
“permission
culture” can
take years
The good news:
we can usually
build agency
much more
quickly
32

33. What happened next……
@helenbevan

34. the collective brilliance of people
who work in ambulance services
(with the help of a few critical friends)

35. @helenbevan

36. Launch Event 28th June

37. Film making in action!

38. Ideas platform 12th July to 5th September
https://projecta.crowdicity.com/

39. #ProjectA included five tweet chats: Here’s an example
of one
17th July, 7pm: A one hour
tweet chat on partnerships
between ambulance staff,
patients and the public
537 people participated,
generating 1,409 tweets
and 77 new ideas!
This analysis shows a high level of engagement with the community and
strong connections between key influencers. Source: NodeXL
Source: FollowtheHashtag
People took part
in the tweet
chat from across
the world
Source:
FollowtheHashtag

41. What we are working on now
1. Action on staff wellbeing: creating “safe spaces” for all
ambulance staff to be able to discuss emotional issues and
decompress
2. Action on falls: a collaboratively designed framework on
responding to people who fall
3. Action on mental health and emotional distress: an
actionable “knowledge bank” for use by frontline ambulance
staff
4. Virtual collaboration: Build the capability of the ambulance
workforce to collaborate virtually; reducing time away from
work and abstraction; increase opportunities for sharing,
learning and speeding up change

42. The process has been 90% virtual

43. Change starts with me

44. horizonsnhs.com/school