Developing System Leaders to Support Family Hub Transformation in Croydon
The challenge
Croydon has been developing its Family Hub model to strengthen early help, improve access to services and ensure better outcomes for children, young people and families. Delivering this vision requires services to work in a more integrated way across organisational boundaries, with professionals able to collaborate, influence and lead beyond their own teams.
We were commissioned to design and deliver a bespoke leadership development programme to support this transformation. The aim was to develop leaders who could build stronger relationships across the partnership and contribute to the development of an integrated Family Hub system.
Our approach
We designed and delivered a bespoke 10-day leadership development programme, tailored specifically to Croydon’s Family Hub priorities and partnership context.
The programme was delivered over several months to allow participants time to reflect on their learning and apply new approaches in practice between sessions.
The programme focused on developing:
- System leadership – supporting participants to think beyond their own service and understand the wider partnership context
- Integrated working – strengthening relationships and collaboration across services involved in Family Hubs
- Leadership confidence and influence – helping participants recognise their leadership role and influence change across organisations
- Practical leadership tools – including coaching approaches, stakeholder engagement, quality assurance and decision-making frameworks
A key element of the programme was creating space for professionals from different organisations to come together, share experiences and explore how services could work more effectively together to support children and families.
Participants also developed individual leadership challenges and action plans, applying their learning directly to real Family Hub priorities.
The impact
The programme created a safe and reflective space for participants to learn together and build stronger cross-system relationships.
Over the course of the programme we saw a clear shift in thinking. Participants initially approached discussions from the perspective of their own service areas, but increasingly began to recognise opportunities for collaboration and integrated working across the Family Hub partnership.
Participants reported increased confidence in:
- influencing across organisations
- building stakeholder relationships
- understanding their role within the wider Family Hub system
- taking greater ownership of Family Hub priorities
Many participants also described practical changes in their work, including introducing coaching approaches with staff, improving partnership working and embedding Family Hub referrals within service processes.
Importantly, the programme helped strengthen relationships across the partnership and encouraged participants to think more strategically about how services can work together to support families.
What made the programme successful
Several factors contributed to the success of the programme:
Bespoke design
The programme was tailored specifically to Croydon’s Family Hub transformation agenda and the needs of the local partnership.
Relationship building across the system
Bringing together professionals from different services created opportunities to build trust, share perspectives and identify new ways of working together.
A focus on real challenges
Participants worked on real leadership challenges related to Family Hub delivery, ensuring the learning remained grounded in practice.
Space to reflect and think differently
The programme provided valuable time away from day-to-day operational pressures for leaders to reflect, learn and develop new approaches.