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Human Learning Systems: Public Service for the Real World
Are you fed up with being managed by targets that don’t reflect the lives of the people you help? Of writing plans and budgets that you know are a fantasy? If so, you can choose to do public management differently.
Research has shown time and again that public service isn’t designed or managed for the real world. We believe there is an alternative way - and it's called Human Learning Systems. Public service can support human freedom and flourishing, by responding to the unique context of each and every person it supports.
This e-book demonstrates that:
The current way of delivering public service isn’t working because it’s not based on the real world of the lives of the people public service support.
You can use Human Learning Systems as an approach to public management at any scale – from local voluntary sector to national government.
Human Learning Systems creates better outcomes for less money.
Research has shown time and again that public service isn’t designed or managed for the real world. We believe there is an alternative way - and it's called Human Learning Systems. Public service can support human freedom and flourishing, by responding to the unique context of each and every person it supports.
This e-book demonstrates that:
The current way of delivering public service isn’t working because it’s not based on the real world of the lives of the people public service support.
You can use Human Learning Systems as an approach to public management at any scale – from local voluntary sector to national government.
Human Learning Systems creates better outcomes for less money.
423 pages, ebook
Published June 14, 2021
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 30, 2021
This is an excellent book to introduce the concept of Human Learning Systems building on five years of developing work to understand a different paradigm to delivering public service in complex environments. Drawing on academia, case studies from a range of actors from national governments to charities with contributions to charities and professionals from the service change and systems thinking communities this book pulls together a lot of thoughts and practice that have coalesced into Human Learning Systems.
I would suggest this book is essential for anyone curious about making change in and with communities away from the failed (but still prevalent) New Public Management paradigm. I think most recognise that this approach to 'customer' choice, payment by results and 'outcomes focus' hasn't really improved anything despite the convenience of adherence to it.
The book is quite hefty in it's 400+ pages and the authors acknowledge that Human Learning Systems is a developing approach with many questions still emerging.
What some readers may be disappointed with (or perhaps delighted with!) is that one will not find a toolkit of 'how to do this', rather what one will find is through case studies and theory examples of learning in which this approach is examined.
I won't go into the approach to deeply but Human Learning Systems has three pillars.
Human - a recognition that humans are unique, that support is bespoke by default, that relationships matter. There is a richness to people and their context matters. At the heart of this is that listening to an individual and understanding them, their hopes, strengths, unique challenges matter and work with them (opposed to giving them a preplanned package of support matters)
Learning - the world is complex. What works in one place or at one time or with one person will not work elsewhere. That doesn't mean that sharing and emerging practice is unimportant (far from it) but it does mean 'lifting and shifting what worked here' and 'best practice' is likely to be ineffectual. There is a strong focus on not funding based on 'outcomes' but on learning environments, because there is a recognition that learning needs to occur to understand how best to help others and improve our environment. There is a strong focus on an awareness of an individual, teams, organisational learning and creating the space for this to occur.
Systems - a recognition that people live in complex systems of relationships, environmental factors and a multitude of different connections to 'society' and on different levels (physical, emotional etc). As a consequence of this one cannot expect one organisation or one individual to be responsible for an outcome of an intervention, recognising that for change to occur for an individual there are multiple factors at work, ergo positive outcomes come from healthy systems. This obviously shines a light on the effectiveness of single parts of a system and also highlights the importance of collaboration and shared learning opposed to competition for resources.
It's all good stuff and whilst one won't find a prescriptive method (good!) there is plenty to get stuck into if one wants to try this out. I also appreciate that each chapter is heavily resourced with links to articles, books, theory and case studies which is great for those wanting to explore more.
Highly recommended and free from Https://humanlearning.systems
Go and have a look
I would suggest this book is essential for anyone curious about making change in and with communities away from the failed (but still prevalent) New Public Management paradigm. I think most recognise that this approach to 'customer' choice, payment by results and 'outcomes focus' hasn't really improved anything despite the convenience of adherence to it.
The book is quite hefty in it's 400+ pages and the authors acknowledge that Human Learning Systems is a developing approach with many questions still emerging.
What some readers may be disappointed with (or perhaps delighted with!) is that one will not find a toolkit of 'how to do this', rather what one will find is through case studies and theory examples of learning in which this approach is examined.
I won't go into the approach to deeply but Human Learning Systems has three pillars.
Human - a recognition that humans are unique, that support is bespoke by default, that relationships matter. There is a richness to people and their context matters. At the heart of this is that listening to an individual and understanding them, their hopes, strengths, unique challenges matter and work with them (opposed to giving them a preplanned package of support matters)
Learning - the world is complex. What works in one place or at one time or with one person will not work elsewhere. That doesn't mean that sharing and emerging practice is unimportant (far from it) but it does mean 'lifting and shifting what worked here' and 'best practice' is likely to be ineffectual. There is a strong focus on not funding based on 'outcomes' but on learning environments, because there is a recognition that learning needs to occur to understand how best to help others and improve our environment. There is a strong focus on an awareness of an individual, teams, organisational learning and creating the space for this to occur.
Systems - a recognition that people live in complex systems of relationships, environmental factors and a multitude of different connections to 'society' and on different levels (physical, emotional etc). As a consequence of this one cannot expect one organisation or one individual to be responsible for an outcome of an intervention, recognising that for change to occur for an individual there are multiple factors at work, ergo positive outcomes come from healthy systems. This obviously shines a light on the effectiveness of single parts of a system and also highlights the importance of collaboration and shared learning opposed to competition for resources.
It's all good stuff and whilst one won't find a prescriptive method (good!) there is plenty to get stuck into if one wants to try this out. I also appreciate that each chapter is heavily resourced with links to articles, books, theory and case studies which is great for those wanting to explore more.
Highly recommended and free from Https://humanlearning.systems
Go and have a look
Displaying 1 of 1 review