This complements other initiatives underway at Kinship Works and FGF, which I also cover in the blog. We'd love to hear thoughts, or ideas for people to talk to and projects to visit. We will work in the open and publish outputs under Creative Commons.
More here: medium.com/@jamestplunk.... /End
3. Investigate how to rewire the system. What are the biggest barriers stopping these practices spreading? And what is the role of government itself in maturing emergent practices? For example, should government do more to support emergent disciplines, such as by funding Centres of Excellence? 5/n
2. Map and codify the energy at the edges. What are the most valuable methods that could help with the way we govern? Focused on a case study of Birmingham and the city region. This raises difficult tensions - how do we avoid distorting or co-opting 'edge' practices?, which I touch on in the blog.
The work has three parts.
1. Getting precise about the bits of our governing repertoire that are most broken. Is our toolkit failing worse in some domains than others? What types of work are struggling the most? Do certain mentalities, mechanisms, institutions seem to blame?
"We want to get more precise about the best methods being used around the edges, understand what these methods are useful for and why, and see how we can learn from these methods to improve the way we govern." 2/n
🎉 Announcing a new project today 🎉 A collaboration between Kinship Works and The Future Governance Forum, supported by Barrow Cadbury Trust @kinship.works @futuregovforum.bsky.social @barrowcadbury.bsky.social.
Mapping the energy at the edges to improve government
medium.com/@jamestplunk.... 1/n
Off to Liverpool to see how the Citizen First incubator has been going. A trip to Anfield to hear what the entrepreneurs have been up to. What a treat! I wrote about these methods in this post:
medium.com/@jamestplunk...
Actually no unreformed Bevanites. I don’t have time for that. Unless they’re especially thoughtful - shared ownership of digital platforms, contemporary commoning, etc.
That’s central-ish geographically, not politically. They can be a guild socialist or an anarcho-syndicalist for all I care, just need to be accessible.
Does anyone know a good dog walker in Liverpool? Need someone central-ish for the day later this week.
🔔 NEW today from @kinship.works 🔔 Ending the institutional monoculture. How can we spread more diverse institutional forms across the public sector and civil society?
medium.com/@jamestplunk...
(1/n)
As ever, we'd love to know what resonates and what doesn't. We're open to partners as we expand the work, so if there are themes in here you'd like to push further feel free to reach out:
www.kinship.works (6/6)
Next week in Whitehall we'll bring together leaders working on these issues to explore them in more depth. And later this week we'll publish a second provocation from @mssophiaparker.bsky.social focused on the 'hidden wiring' that locks today's institutional forms in place. (5/n)
To provoke debate, there are also some fairly spicy recommendations (spicy if you're into this sort of thing!). Should we establish a permanent bonfire of the quangos? And create one or more institutional ARIAs? And permanently fund initiatives to help people close organisations? (4/n)
More importantly, we also look at the amazing diversity of institutional innovation that has been flourishing beyond the state and around its edges, and in pockets of pioneering practice within it. And we ask: why doesn't this diversity spread? And what could we do to change this? (3/n)
We're working with @jrf-uk.bsky.social on 'The Centre for the Edge', a major initiative to help public sector leaders support and spread promising alternatives. Today we're publishing the latest output, exploring the institutional monoculture that has taken hold in much of the public sector. (2/n)
🔔 NEW today from @kinship.works 🔔 Ending the institutional monoculture. How can we spread more diverse institutional forms across the public sector and civil society?
medium.com/@jamestplunk...
(1/n)
Another quick share of this new post. 👇 On the capabilities required in government to make programmes like Pride in Place (and neighbourhood healthcare) a success.
A new post on the capabilities government needs to support the work of civic renewal. I share three insights. 1. This work doesn't scale, it spreads. 2. Don't go for speed, go for traction. 3. Use your power to hold space open. (1/n)
medium.com/@jamestplunk...
In all cases, supporting this work will require new mentalities, skills, and techniques. These are not yet mature in government, but there is plenty of brilliant practice to learn from in civil society.
Oh, and if there's demand, I may even find a way to make the laptop stickers! (2/2)
A new post on the capabilities government needs to support the work of civic renewal. I share three insights. 1. This work doesn't scale, it spreads. 2. Don't go for speed, go for traction. 3. Use your power to hold space open. (1/n)
medium.com/@jamestplunk...
Sorry, I was being slow on this. Very fair point. I guess the 'grow' part deserves its own dedicated post. It's tricky everywhere but I would think it is orders of magnitude harder in the NHS!
Finally getting around to reading the frankly embarrassing number of @jamestplunkett.bsky.social long-form essays that I've been piling up for months.
This one on government disciplines is excellent. I hope that @policycamp.bsky.social has some positive influence.
medium.com/@jamestplunk...
Brilliant job alert! 👇 And a wonderful initiative more generally.
New post: Can we use 'test and learn' methods in the NHS? What would it take to do so? Long but important! I think this is one of the biiggest delivery questions facing the UK government.
medium.com/@jamestplunk...
Glad it resonated! Absolutely - I see that pattern all the time too. People with heads down, being pushed to crank out 1% efficiency on ultrasounds or other procedures/processes, with no time to rethink things (e.g. more preventative, etc.)
New post: Can we use 'test and learn' methods in the NHS? What would it take to do so? Long but important! I think this is one of the biiggest delivery questions facing the UK government.
medium.com/@jamestplunk...
NEW @kinship.works for @jrf-uk.bsky.social
Help us map the disciplines of civic renewal
- We know community-led approaches to reviving civic life (Big Local, etc) work
- But we lack understanding of disciplines/professional roles that enable it
What should we look at?
medium.com/kinship-work...
I would say no is the short answer, but no doubt learning from it. Origin story is more around digital/agile methods/mixed discipline product teams, etc.
Excited to be finally giving a talk at TransformGov! 👏👇