My weekly posts
If a public service #testlearngrow idea succeeds because someone senior makes an exception to a funding rule, what happens when that person changes jobs?
I like the Test, Learn and Grow playbook, but pilots that depend on exceptions have not changed the system. I want practical guidance on who can reopen a commissioned task, change funding or success measures, and help frontline learning survive after the extra attention ends. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_testlearngrow-share-7518785577249488896-nI1L/
Peter Block has a deeply irritating habit; he consistently Gives Good Guru and makes you think, damnit.
Peter Block keeps puncturing elaborate organisational thinking with deceptively simple questions. The relationship is part of how change happens, yet we ask social workers to practise trust and agency while managing them through targets and compliance. What would we have to give up, and where must control remain? https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_peter-block-has-a-deeply-irritating-habityou-share-7517713949425840128-5SVU/
By ‘systems leadership’, I don’t mean ‘the peak leaders of clustered institutions’.
I mean working with others to shape direction and action while investigating the patterns producing our situation, including our own part in them. Personal development matters, but it does not by itself explain how systems behave, whose purposes count, or who has authority to change the arrangements. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_by-systems-leadership-i-dont-mean-the-share-7517496800962928640-SOyU/
What makes ‘systems leadership’ more than good leadership?
Humility, trust and adaptability are good leadership, but they do not explain why harmful patterns persist. I want systems leadership to investigate what sustains those patterns, test changes in real situations, question whose account defines the problem, and learn whether our interventions merely move the difficulty elsewhere. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_systemsleadership-systemschange-share-7517496091055972352-eWpw/
Courses and events
PSTA Free webinar: Outcomes commissioning in practice: lessons from Islington
What changes when children’s services reform starts with the lives people want to lead? Join Chrissie Gregory and Sharon Davidson from Islington in conversation with Benjamin P Taylor on 4 November, 13:30–14:30 GMT. Explore outcomes commissioning through their leadership work and Academy learning, with time for your questions. Hosted by the Public Service Transformation Academy. Register your interest here: https://link.redquadrant.com/lessonsfromislington or learn more here: https://publicservicetransformation.org/news/outcomes-commissioning-islington-webinar/
Public Sector Challenge – London Bridges Walk 2027
We’re taking part in this year’s public sector challenge! We’ll do the 15km walk from Battersea to Tower Bridge this January. Why not join us, sponsor us, or share the link in your network? https://givewheel.com/fundraising/22191/redquadrant-and-the-public-service-transformation-/
This November: Contract Management Development Programme
The programme is an opportunity for those involved in contract management to refresh their skills, build on their existing knowledge and expertise and refamiliarize themselves with key documents and guidance. The aim is to deepen learning and understanding around contract management and to support and challenge participants to work in new ways to deliver outcomes. https://publicservicetransformation.org/programmes/contract-management-development/
Commissioning and Innovation: playing on a bigger stage
A practical three-day programme for commissioners working in complexity that helps commissioners, transformation leaders, and partners work more effectively across complex systems. It combines practical tools, public service examples, peer learning, facilitated exercises, and direct application to participants’ own challenges. Open for enquiries. https://link.redquadrant.com/CommissioningAndInnovation
Next National Commissioning Academy this January
We’re building our cohort for the next national commissioning academy – our flagship commissioning programme from the PSTA. Register your interest now for our January 2027 cohort: https://link.redquadrant.com/nextacademy25
smartCompass – our new AI-supported tool for AI for community-powered outcomes
Our new prototype smartCompass is a new, free tool to help commissioners, leaders, partners, and people working in public services see how their system is really working — and where to act next.Answer sixteen questions about a system you care about, and receive a personalised, AI-supported response by email. It helps you see strengths, blockers, patterns, and possible next moves. https://link.redquadrant.com/smartCompass
Compass v2 – comment on our new systems change tool
We’re now inviting comments on this beta new version of a systems change insight tool https://link.redquadrant.com/compassv2beta
RedQuadrant Local Government Reorganisation hub
Local Government Reorganisation is coming fast. By April 2028, every new authority must be safe, legal, and fully operational. That means statutory officers secured, ICT cutovers rehearsed, services live, and residents experiencing seamless continuity. The RedQuadrant LGR Hub is the only model that guarantees readiness while embedding lasting capability. With a single accountable structure, governance at its core, and capability pillars across adults, children’s, SEND, ICT, finance, housing, and place, the Hub ensures no gaps, no surprises. Three outcomes, every time: Safe and legal on day one; Visible assurance and confidence in delivery; Future-ready capacity with transformation built in. Find out more now: https://www.redquadrant.com/lgrhub
Commissioning Compass: systems assessment for change
Our newly launched tool, the Commissioning Compass, helps you to assess your commissioning system and form an action plan for improvement. It’s available for free via our Teachable site – try it now! link.redquadrant.com/commissioningcompass
Things I shared on socials:
Life finds a way: Emergence of cooperative structures in adaptive threshold networks
Sean P. Maley, Carlos Gershenson and Stuart A. Kauffman. https://stream.syscoi.com/2026/10/20/life-finds-a-way-emergence-of-cooperative-structures-in-adaptive-threshold-networks/
Ryan Haecker – Breaking the Cybernetic Silence
Ryan Haecker. https://stream.syscoi.com/2026/10/19/ryan-haecker-breaking-the-cybernetic-silence/
Nick Land, Ryan Haecker, and the Problem of Cybernetic Consciousness
The Viable Change Framework: Linking Theory of Change and Organisational Viability for Quality Enhancement in Higher Education
Andrea Clark, Sarah Carr and Jeff Foote. https://stream.syscoi.com/2026/10/19/the-viable-change-framework-linking-theory-of-change-and-organisational-viability-for-quality-enhancement-in-higher-education/
The Firm Grip and the Light Hand – Jose (2026)
Harish Jose. https://stream.syscoi.com/2026/10/18/the-firm-grip-and-the-light-hand-jose-2026/
ASHBY’S LABORATORY | AN INTRODUCTION TO CYBERNETICS | CHAPTERS 03—06 – Shadow Rebbe (2026)
Shadow Rebbe. https://stream.syscoi.com/2026/10/18/ashbys-laboratory-an-introduction-to-cybernetics-chapters-03-06-shadow-rebbe-2026/
Hezen 2.0 – Treister (2009-2011) | cybernetic tarot
Suzanne Treister. https://stream.syscoi.com/2026/10/18/hezen-2-0-treister-2009-2011-cybernetic-tarot/
Bernhard Sterchi – Complexity Theory and Neo-Kantian Theory of Science – Tuesday, Oct 20 · 5:00pm UK time, The Complexity Lounge, online
Steven Hertzberg on LinkedIn – ‘AI research has rediscovered the Macy Conferences, and again without any attribution’
Steven Hertzberg. https://stream.syscoi.com/2026/10/17/steven-hertzberg-on-linkedin-ai-research-has-rediscovered-the-macy-conferences-and-again-without-any-attribution/
