The Wenger-Trayners interviewed 40 systems convenors for  – including a number of Q members – who are using this approach around the world, working on diverse issues ranging from improving government transparency to enhancing cancer care. The resulting book, Systems Convening – A crucial form of leadership for the 21st century, is now available for download.

** Register here for the Sept 2nd (2pm) launch webinar **

Systems Convenors work to enable sustainable change, across challenging silos, in complex social landscapes, amid changing circumstances. Convenors see a landscape with all its separate and related practices through a wide-angle lens: they spot opportunities for creating new learning spaces and partnerships that will bring different and often unlikely people together to engage in learning across boundaries.

From the book’s introduction: “You may not have heard about them; what they do is rarely in their job description. You may not even be aware of what they do; they tend to act as enablers rather than taking credit or seeking the spotlight”.

The role of Systems Convenors is increasingly necessary in UK healthcare too, with the emergence of the Integrated Care System (ICS) structure making cross-boundary work ever more important. (Surrey recently recruited three ‘Systems Convenors’ to help stimulate radical changes in healthcare, using the book as a guide).

Helen Bevan (Chief Transformation Officer, NHS Horizons) writes in her foreword comment: “We’re moving to a world where enabling change is less about planning a change process, programme management and governance systems and more about connecting, convening and building bridges with and between many people. So yes, systems convening is a crucial form of leadership for the 21st century and I welcome the contribution that Bev and Etienne are making through this book. Let’s answer their convening call.”

• Follow Systems Convening on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SysConvening