Would you like to be part of a team of Collaboration and Transformation Partners, working together across public services to support transformation for sustainable public services, influencing the future of Workforce Scotland and creating excellent learning opportunities?
What does Workforce Scotland offer?
Workforce Scotland was developed through the Scottish Leaders Forum (SLF) as a collaborative network which works with public services to collaborate on complex, systemic issues in service of wider public service transformation. The Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services (Christie Report 2011) contained strong themes of collaboration and participation and these have been prominent drivers in our work since our inception.
Our delivery model works on the basis of identifying the skills and capacity we already have in public services, identifying together where these can best be applied and working together to provide opportunities for learning and development. We recognise that leadership occurs at all levels across our public services and very deliberately seek to offer opportunities which respond to this, thinking beyond the hierarchies and structures to focus on systemic issues of transformation.
We have developed our offer building upon relevant theoretical concepts, such as complexity, action inquiry, group dynamics, systems and relational leadership and these elements permeate our work.
How does Workforce Scotland work?
The principles of co-design and co-delivery sit at the heart of everything we do and there has been ongoing, regular interaction with public service colleagues and organisations through our growing suite of offers, our Steering Group and our events.
Workforce Scotland is supported by the Ingage Division within Scottish Government, with resources offered through a variety of routes, e.g. expertise, time, capacity, from across public service partners in service of shared development outcomes. The work we do takes various forms, but always has the opportunity to be initiated and led by partner organisations, responding to particular development needs or identified policy priorities, in the broad context of public service transformation.
Some of our Current Work
- Collective Leadership – a structured 3-year programme to build capacity for Collective Leadership for Scotland
- Facilitation Networks in Glasgow and Edinburgh – drawing together colleagues involved in facilitation to share and develop practice
- Firestarter Festival – curating an annual Festival of Innovation and Creativity across Scotland
- Dialogue Community of Practice – supporting theory and practice of Dialogue in service of more effective conversations
- Scottish Coaching Collaborative – creating opportunities and a mechanism to share our coaching capacity across public services
- lab (with MIT) – Prototyping a u.lab movement in Scotland for Social Change
- Breakfast Clubs and Conversation Cafes in locations across Scotland
- Mindfulness practice – Exploring how we can embed mindfulness practice in our leadership work
- Leadership Exchange – a mechanism for brief exchanges to experience different perspectives
Workforce Scotland also creates a focus for thinking and learning about collaboration across public services, working out-loud and sharing our stories as we go, through reports, blogs, tweets and events and connecting with a wide range of diverse development activities offered through partner organisations.
What next for Workforce Scotland?
We have learned a lot over the last six years about collaborative development across public services and are poised to build from this learning. We are also currently experiencing a high level of interest in our work, with the potential being seen to build from what we have achieved with Workforce Scotland to create a stronger and more sustainable model for the future. We are very keen to continue to engage with our colleagues and partners as we begin to imagine the possibilities for what Workforce Scotland can be next.
Workforce Scotland – Collaboration and Transformation Partners
At this important point in our development, we are keen to draw together a team of Workforce Scotland – Collaboration and Transformation Partners from across our public services. We are determined to make sure that the next stage of development for Workforce Scotland responds well to the needs across our sectors and that we take whatever opportunities we can to connect well and pool our resources and talent around key themes for delivery. The Workforce Scotland – Collaboration and Transformation Partners will play a key role in enabling this to happen.
The Workforce Scotland – Collaboration and Transformation Partners will remain employed and paid by their current organisation, but will be invited to offer time and capacity to support Workforce Scotland, in recognition that this will ultimately have benefits across our public services. The amount of time and capacity available may vary and will be confirmed on an individual basis. In the past this has ranged from near full commitment to a contribution of a set number of days per month or an offer to deliver a strand of work on an ongoing basis.
The Workforce Scotland – Collaboration and Transformation Partners may contribute in the following ways:-
- Direct participation in multi-partner development activity for Workforce Scotland, with the opportunity to influence the future programme of work to create strong alignment with what is needed to support transformation across and within sectors
- Leadership of particular development themes or strands of work, drawing in partners for co-design and delivery as appropriate
- Hosting elements of Workforce Scotland engagement activities and identifying new opportunities to connect within and across sectors
- Support for the development of new business models which would be compatible with the work of Workforce Scotland and which would help to support future growth and development
- Active participation in Workforce Scotland national events.
We recognise that this could represent a significant commitment, but also that this is an exciting point in our development work which provides a range and depth of learning opportunities for everyone who becomes involved.
If you would like to find out more about the Workforce Scotland – Collaboration and Transformation Partner role, please contact Janet.Whitley@gov.scot