Future Events

Face-to-Face Meeting - Leadership in Healthcare - Tuesday 9th November 2021

Our face-to-face meetings at Nettle Hill will resume on Tuesday 9 November 09:30-16:30 - we hope that you will be able to attend.  The theme for the day is Leadership in Healthcare. There are two sessions:

  • Morning session: The Art of Rock-IT Science. Surgeon and systems coach Simon Dodds returns to share recent insights from his work applying systems engineering aka to improve management in healthcare settings.  Alongside the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic caused to the NHS there were also great opportunities to apply fresh thinking. This half-day session leads into a second session on 29 March so please put that into your diaries. Simon was the creator of the DriveThruCare patient self-referral system (2021) and the Systems Engineer for the COVID Referral Centre installed in record time in the National Exhibition Centre car park in 2020.
  • Afternoon session: The virtues and challenges of trusting your workforce to do the right thing. We welcome Paul Jansen who is both new to the Alliance and relatively new to Deming.  Paul will be sharing some of his thoughts and experiences of applying self-management to healthcare settings in a session where we will explore the “virtues and challenges of trusting your workforce to do the right thing”.  Paul was instrumental in bringing the famously successful Dutch Buurtzorg model to the UK healthcare system, and leads the Reinventing Work - Cambridge practitioner group.  As you will see there are many parallels between the Buurtzorg approach and Deming’s philosophy, not least of which is the emphasis on “joy in work”.

This promises to be a rousing return to what we have missed so much during the lockdowns, the opportunity to challenge the effectiveness of the status quo, to work together and to compare notes in friendly dialogue.

If you are able to attend, please advise Brian Leeming as soon as possible, on: brianwleeming@gmail.com

If you aren't a member of the Alliance (i.e. pay meeting-by-meeting rather than annual subscription) we will invoice you for this meeting (£55) as soon as you register to attend.  You may change to becoming a Member at any time during the year by going to our website at: https://www.demingalliance.org/membership/application/ 

Face-to-Face Meeting - Leadership and Organisational Development - Thurs 3rd Feb 2022

Our face-to-face meetings at Nettle Hill commence for 2022 on Thursday 3rd February 09:30-16:30 - we hope that you will be able to attend.  The theme for the day is Leadership and Organisational Development.  

Click on these links for the agenda and directions to the venue. 

If you are able to attend, please advise Brian Leeming as soon as possible, on: brianwleeming@gmail.com

There are two sessions: 

  • Morning session: If good leadership is good for business, why are most managers mediocre? In this highly interactive session we welcome back Emma Baker-Langman, who always provides thought provoking perspectives. In her inimitable engaging style Ems will lead us through a reality check of the blind-spots of leadership. This promises to be lots of fun! Many of you will remember Emma (originally a civil engineer) as a long-standing contributor to the Alliance prior to leaving the UK for ex-pat work in Kuwait, and this will give us a chance to catchup on what she has been doing since returning to Cheshire. Emma and Ed Fish set up consultancy BakerFish in 2020 operating a refreshing ’tell it like it is’ approach.
  • Afternoon session: Quality begins at the Top - session under development

If you aren't a member of the Alliance (i.e. pay meeting-by-meeting rather than annual subscription) we will invoice you for this meeting (£55) as soon as you register to attend.  You may change to becoming a Member at any time during the year by going to the Membership section of our website at: https://www.demingalliance.org/membership/application/

Past Events

Designing a Culture for Innovation - August 2021

Culture guides the way staff behave when management is not intervening.  In this interactive 90-min workshop Peter Leeson asked 'What sort of culture do we need to allow innovation to flourish?', and 'How do we influence that?'

An organisation that does not innovate is condemned to repeat the same thing until they are made obsolete by their competition or replaced by automation.  Staying in your groove means that the more creative and performing staff members will soon get bored and look elsewhere, while the younger graduates do not see you as a tempting employer.  Yet, many organisations insist on how we have always done things, follow the rule book, respect the process, and ask supervisors before improving anything…

Imagine a culture in which improvement and change are the foundation stones.  You don’t have to invent new products. You don’t need to be Edison, da Vinci or Picasso.  You might “just” consider how to be more effective, improve the quality, reduce the paperwork, speed up the process.

Culture is not something that is imposed: it is something that grows, that arises out of habits, tradition, communication, stories.  Changing the culture is not like replacing a piece of machinery.  It needs to be designed, thought through, planned and implemented systematically.Within this workshop, some culture change principles and creativity will be considered; you will be encouraged to define your approach through a series of exercises – anonymously; you will have the option to review and learn from others facing similar issues.

This workshop was developed by and facilitated by Peter Leeson, a chartered quality professional bringing you 45 years of global business experience, helping large and small organisations improve their working ways, culture, processes, communication, and, ultimately, the quality they deliver to their customers.  Peter is a recognised speaker at international conferences and a respected consultant and coach.

This workshop took place on Weds 4th Aug 09:00 BST, repeated on Weds 25th Aug 14:00 BST.  There are a number of resources that Peter has made available: 

As well as presentation content from the workshop:

Culture Change Workshop
Designing a Culture for Innovation

You may like to follow this quick introduction at https://youtu.be/-aKg1fzHqSU to the ‘Miro’ online whiteboard system, used extensively in the workshop. The video of the workshop can be found online at  https://youtu.be/0JP5X3nEBBQ

Peter can be reached for further discussion via https://bit.ly/OK-LetsTalk, and would very much appreciate any feedback either by email at: info@pleeson.co.uk 

A new event in Deming Alliance's 'Out of the crisis; better management in a post pandemic world' series.

From Spuddling to Stronger Decision-Making - Mar-Apr '21

Across the UK there is a great appreciation for the National Health Service, particularly since its 70th anniversary and the Covid epidemic.  Boards need reliable information and clear prompts, upon which to make better decisions.  Yet within the NHS (and in business) the prevalent approaches to looking at performance data are two-point comparisons and traffic light ‘red, amber, green’ reports.  We recognise these are difficult to read, and tough going when trying to spot meaningful trends, let alone to make predictions.

In this workshop Samantha Riley of NHS Improvement explored better ways for Boards to understand and manage the variation in results, and provide a sound basis for assurance.  This movement has proven to be very successful in strengthening decision-making or ‘governance’.  Sam’s small team have convinced half of the NHS’s 217 Trust Boards to adopt this approach, and are engaging with the remainder.  

With a similar change overdue in industry, education and government, the field of application is vast.  Attention was placed on how executive members have been encouraged to adopt a different approach - without their needing to perform detailed data preparation, which others do on their behalf.

This was an online event held on Thursday 25 March 2021 at 14:30 GMT and Thursday 1 April 2021 at 14:30 GMT.

Slides: the presentation slide-set from the event is available by clicking on the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GKsUofW_k8yPL9QUvVhsU185aG8kYQLf/view?usp=sharing

Video Recording: the video recording for the workshop event is available by clicking on the following link: https://youtu.be/VhfUkUqv_QA

Audio Recording: sound recordings of both events are available via the following links:

SPC Tools & Training: further guidance and support information is available from the session, and associated materials at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hO8c4VEdblrKmEpz3h8ovb1nxl4SEr-c/view?usp=sharing

Academic Papers: three papers are available containing useful thinking and guidance on the subject:

Leadership for sustainable performance: creating a legacy - Dec'20-Jan'21

Facing an increasingly complicated environment, managers and leaders can be dazzled by shifting boundaries at national and local levels, overwhelmed by the range of claims made for quick-fixes, and concerned over relationships between leaders and employees. This 90 minute interactive workshop was for managers and staff of public and private organizations to navigate the maze.

Now more than ever staff at all levels need to know that leaders are well-equipped to identify the areas most needing improvement, steer adaption, and how to effectively gauge progress. David Anker taps his broad experiences of these issues, and share powerful practices to help leaders and supervisors compare forecast with results, and maintain traction on the 'big ticket issues'.

Recording: the video recording for December 2020 workshop event is available by clicking on the following link: https://youtu.be/4xQxVRYloNY 

Recording: the video recording for January 2021 workshop event is available by clicking on the following link: https://youtu.be/mbDFUhkSlHo 

Notes: a copy of David's notes in PDF format are available here: Leadership for Sustainable Performance

The Trust Equation - development workshop - September '20

The Trust Equation - addressing a deep need in both modern business dealings and in wider society. Working from first-hand experience Jane and Mark Lewis created a 90 minute session to help us understand how trust works, and can be lost or built between players; to see: How to see when trust is breaking down? How does lack of trust affect us? What is needed to re-build trust?

This session was help anyone, whether in non-profit or business situations or in civil society, to navigate the maze of relationships, which are fundamental to getting things done, persuading others to take a course of action, or re-examining how they view an organisation. Participants were encouraged to recall briefly two anonymous situations: one of a lack of trust; and the other requiring a high degree of trust, from any walk of life.

This workshop took place on Thursday 24 September from 14:00 to 15:30 BST, repeated on Wednesday 30 September from 18:30 to 20:00 BST

Presentation Material: the slides for this event are available in PDF format at: The Trust Equation 2020 slides

There was also a trust questionnaire used in the workshop, which is available at: https://drive.google.com/file/...

Recording: the video recordings for this event are available by clicking on the following links -

Untangling motivation and performance - August 2020

This event explored why we go to work, and how we can take pride in it. In today's shareholder society many feel that 'We have to work for the money' - yet is that all we have to look forward to? This workshop was both employees and employers tease out a mix of reasons for us to work; who values our contributions, and how individual and team performance link to more factors than monetary rewards. 

This presentation took place on Mon Aug 3rd 11:00-12:00 (BST), repeated on Thurs Aug 20th 19:00-20:00 (BST)

Presentation Material: the slides for this event are available in PDF format at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d_RXvf6s_fxXSZBa2J0BKmFwoDrbYAJv/view?usp=sharing  

Recording: the video recording for this event is available by clicking on the following link: https://youtu.be/Rs1nXcUpBF8

Change-enabled Organisations - July '20

How is it that some organisations stay out in front of their competition for decades at a time without the need of "transformation programs" or episodic change initiatives? As well as being some of the most successful businesses they are also often regarded as being highly desirable organisations to work for. In this session we discuss these progressive organisations and our research that reveals the difference that makes a difference.

This free, interactive web workshop with Ben Simpson and Denis Bourne was addressed to business leaders, board members and their advisers interested in ensuring that their organisations can not only survive, but thrive beyond the current crisis.  

This was an on-line event held on: Tuesday 21 July 18:00 BST + 90 minutes, and Tuesday 28 July 1100 BST + 90 minutes.

Slides and Materials: A comparison of change-enabled and non-enabled organisations is available to view on-line. The full slides from the presentation is available here as: [cms:asset 253 title="Change Enabled Organisations DA July 2020 v1"] 

Video: a recording of the presentation video is available to by clicking on the following link: https://youtu.be/tMsOPM93YgM

Doing Measurement Well - July '20

The Deming Alliance presented a number of online workshops on the theme of "Measurement and Performance". Good measurement is vital to every institution and organisation and the first of these events explores the subject of "Doing Measurement Well". The opening event was an interactive session for any manager, consultant or continual improvement professional involved in specifying, using or improving measures. It explored how we can design measures, define them so they’re understood, and use them effectively to support decision-making and direction-setting. 

This was an on-line event held on: Thurs Jun 25th 18:30-19:30 (BST), repeated on Tues Jul 7th 11:00-12:00 (BST)

Slides: the presentation slide-set from the event is available here: [cms:asset 242 title="DA performance measurement ultra brief2 Apr2020"]

Video: the session video was recorded and is available by clicking on the following link: https://youtu.be/UHVkf6DKJO0

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