To fulfil our mission “to make the world a happier and healthier place to live”, Unlimited Potential the most challenging social and economic issues through innovation with local people. We then seek to transform the learning from this into systems change.

Principles
Our approach is informed by these principles, which were developed together by local people and professionals:

• Everyone has strengths that are needed to produce solutions.
• All types of power must be shared, and unequal power addressed.
• Good relationships are crucial. They need time, respect and trust.
• Diversity of people is important for high quality thinking.
• There are different types of knowledges. Lived experience is valuable.
• It is important to test new ideas. There is no failure, just learning.

6 Principles

What is co-production?

Co-production with local people is a culture and a mindset. It is not consultation, involvement or participation. It explores new solutions to the most challenging issues, with a strong emphasis on learning.

Critically, co-production with local people requires honest reflection on:

• who holds power (including control of resources)
• how power can be developed and shared
• how unequal power will be addressed (not least with people who are most marginalised)

Co-production with local people means doing some things differently. It is an exchange between ‘experts’ (local people and ‘the system’), with a diversity of mindsets. It solves problems through ongoing explorations. The ‘system’ needs to have the culture to be ready and willing to respond

Process

We create environments for this process to happen:

1. start with a problem statement about a difficult/‘insoluble’ issue
2. reframe the problem to change the narrative
3. generate and prioritise ideas – with local people relevant to the issue
4. inspire and mobilise people – local people set the agenda
5. nurture co-production of solutions – through collaborative learning and reflection with professionals
6. proof of concept (testing and development of solution)
7. make the case – together, present idea/proposal to senior decision-makers and system leaders
8. deliver and implement the solution – with system support
9. grow and spread the solution into the ‘mainstream’
10. change system conditions – including strategy, policy and enabling structures

This process is informed by relevant research evidence, and might involve input, support and/or evaluation by a think tank or a university.

Systems change

Unlimited Potential helped to develop GoodLives GM, which aims to create system shifting capability for Greater Manchester. It works to reduce inequalities by tackling system barriers to community-led innovation.

By ‘the system’, we mean those agencies that have the power and resources to make significant decisions that affect the lives of local people and communities.

By ‘systems’, we mean how these decisions are made, by whom, in whose interests, with whose evidence and with what values and assumptions. They include societal, economic and institutional systems.

What success looks like

Our indicators for what success would look like are set out as nine ‘system behaviours’. They are about perspective, participation and power. The indicators are:

Perspective:

• we are part of an interconnected whole
• people share a vision
• people are resourceful with many strengths

Participation:

• open, trusting relationships enable effective dialogue
• leadership is collaborative and promoted at every level
• feedback and collective learning inform adaptation

Power:

• power is shared, and equality of voice actively promoted
• decision-making is devolved
• accountability is mutual

These core behaviours support thriving communities and systems. Our learning suggests that:

• they need to be present and continually promoted in every part of a system
• some may be easier to cultivate than others
• they may not all exist at the same time, and some surely must be missing