Introducing systems convening

Across Scotland’s public services, there are increasingly rich data sets on health, education, housing, justice, poverty and place, alongside expanding technical capability to analyse and share them. Yet many persistent public service challenges, such as inequality, financial insecurity, health outcomes and entrenched disadvantage, remain resistant to change.

But this is “not a failure of data”, insisted Dr Kristy Docherty, Director of Public Services and Sector Engagement Lead at Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI). She added: “Rather, it reflects the reality that data alone is not enough. The issues we are trying to address are complex, interconnected and systemic. No single organisation holds the full picture. No data set, however sophisticated, can resolve competing priorities, align incentives, or build the trust required to act collectively across organisational and sectoral boundaries.” It was from this context that the Introduction to Systems Convening programme was designed and piloted at EFI in January 2025. It focused on the leadership and collaborative conditions that must be in place for datadriven innovation to translate into meaningful, sustained change.

Much of the effort in data-driven innovation focuses on technical challenges – interoperability, governance, ethics, skills and infrastructure. These remain critical. But practitioners across public services consistently highlight a parallel set of challenges that are more relational, such as fragmented decision-making, low trust between organisations and unclear shared Pilot programme participants at EFI purpose. Dr Docherty said: “Systems convening is a leadership practice that responds to these challenges.

“It is concerned with how people come together across a system to build shared understanding, strengthen relationships and coordinate action on complex issues. In doing so, it helps create the conditions in which data can be interpreted, questioned and used collectively, rather than in isolation or competition. “Systems convening supports the shift from data as an input to data as a shared sense-making resource, embedded within relationships, dialogue and joint responsibility.”

The two-day pilot programme was designed to be experiential. Rather than teaching systems theory or prescribing tools, participants practised convening in real time. Dr Docherty said: “A central feature was a live scenario focused on financial fairness in Edinburgh.

“Drawing on real-world data signals, from rising food bank use and pressure on advice services to housing, participants were asked to step into the role of a convening team tasked with shaping a more systemic, long-term response to financial inequality. The scenario made visible a familiar pattern in public service reform – data highlights unequal outcomes and recurring crises but responses remain reactive and fragmented. “Participants were not asked to design solutions. The focus was on who needs to be involved and how a group might work together.”

The pilot featured participants from across public services, including the NHS and the Scottish Government. The programme is grounded in Dr Docherty’s research on collaborative and collective leadership and structured around four core principles – inquiry, systems, relational and emergence. She said: “Participants repeatedly noted that insight emerged not from expert instruction but from working alongside others, noticing group dynamics and reflecting on how trust, power and uncertainty influence decision-making.”

The programme was designed by Dr Docherty and Keira Oliver, Facilitator and Learning Designer, E’len Co-op, drawing on academic research and extensive practice across public, private and third sectors, and supported by Dr Steve Earl, Head of Foresight at EFI. Dr Docherty said: “The pilot highlighted the potential for systems convening to strengthen data-driven innovation initiatives across Scotland.”