WSYD Moving - the prelude!
Tackling inactivity and health inequalities in Western Sydney.
In 2016, my journey into system leadership began during studying a MBAx in Social Impact at UNSW, sparked by an inspiring article titled "The Dawn of System Leadership" by Peter Senge, Hal Hamilton, & John Kania. This article emphasised the need for system leaders to drive collective action to address society's most complex challenges.
This inspiration, combined with my lived experience and insights from working within the physical activity system (system), led to the founding of Collective Leisure, a social enterprise in 2019, with the mission to reduce health inequity within our communities.
It became clear that tackling physical inactivity at a population level requires a systems approach. Being British, I’ve always kept close contact with what’s happening in the UK. I admired the Greater Manchester Moving initiative, which successfully coordinates efforts across the entire system to support more active lives.
Recognising the absence of a similar initiative in Australia, I decided to adapt elements of the initiative in an Australian context and create Western Sydney Moving (WSYD Moving). Despite starting without funding or political support, I believe in the power of community-driven systems change.
In Western Sydney residents face disproportionately higher levels of chronic diseases compared to other parts of Australia. Physical activity is known to reduce the risk of developing many chronic diseases while improving overall health and well-being.
So, in June 2022, I organised a 3-hour virtual stakeholder event with guest speakers from across the system, including academia, education, sport, health, government, and non-profit sectors. Leveraging these wonderful people and early adopters of WSYD Moving, we brought together 57 participants from various parts of the system in Western Sydney.
The event aimed to kick-start a whole-system approach to reducing physical inactivity.
The feedback was positive, typified by Ben Smith, Professor of Public Health (Prevention and Health Promotion) at the University of Sydney:
“There was an excellent cross-section of organisations at the WSM forum today, and tremendous energy to address inequities in physical activity and related issues in western Sydney.
Thank you for mobilizing and facilitating all of this. There looks to be many possibilities under the WSM banner, moving forward.”
This reinforced my belief in the potential of WSYD Moving. Two key outcomes emerged: the idea of establishing a WSYD Moving Community of Practice (CoP), and the acronym change from Western Sydney Moving to WSYD Moving. The latter was the idea of William Bellew, Professorial Fellow in Public Health at The University of Sydney.
We embraced these tangible outcomes to maintain momentum. The WSYD Moving CoP was created with a Terms of Reference. To date, we’ve had 8 bi-monthly meetings, serving as a platform for sharing, learning, and collaboration, featuring guest speakers from various organisations and sectors.
The CoP now has a distribution list of 159 people across 65 organisations, with an average of 41 attendees at each CoP meeting.
The natural evolution is an in-person event to bring the system together, and this is why WSYD Moving Symposium was born.
The inaugural event is scheduled for November 16, 2023 This event aims to unite the Western Sydney system at the new Blacktown Exercise Sports & Technology Hub (BEST). Our goal is to inspire collective action and generate tangible outcomes to enable more active lives.
Part of my approach to WSYD Moving revolves around telling the story to help me clarify our vision and garner collective action. This blog hopefully serves as a prime example whilst a good process to make sense of my thoughts.
I've also shared our WSYD Moving journey at the 2023 Parks and Leisure Australia NSW/ACT conference in Albury in May and the Complexity Outcomes Conference at Northumbria University (UK) in June 2023.
Reflecting on my journey so far, I feel a great deal of excitement, purpose, and hope for what is possible to reduce inactivity and inequalities in Western Sydney. But at the same time, a vulnerability of sticking my neck out. I’m trying to find the balance between not coming across as righteous and ‘oversteering’ whilst also leaning into my lived experience, trauma and optimism.
The famous quote "If not us, who? And if not now, when?" feels helpful.
But will WSYD Moving catch on? Do I have the capability and trust of others to convene and mobilise the system to work collectively to create better conditions for more active lives in Western Sydney?
As a budding systems leader can I inspire action, political leadership and resourcing required to progress the movement?
All my work on WSYD Moving to date has been pro bono, investment is required to progress the initiative.
Here are my top 12 learnings in my system leadership journey so far, a lot of which I’m continuing to work on:
It's critical to build trust; systems work is relational.
It can't be done in isolation or by any one organisation.
Systems change starts with self; the inner work is critical.
Surround yourself with people that inspire and challenge you.
Seek out people with a different perspective and appreciate emotionally and cognitively their reality.
Lead with a curious mind and an open heart.
Seek advice and support.
I'm not everyone's cup of tea and be OK with that.
Persistence and resilience are required.
Systems change is hard work and takes time.
Intuition when not to push and lets things come.
Get the right people in the room.
My journey from discovering system leadership to founding Collective Leisure and WSYD Moving highlights to me the importance of collaboration, learning, and community-driven efforts to address complex societal challenges like physical inactivity.
It's uncertain if WSYD Moving has legs, but it's a journey I'm committed to!
If you want to be part of the movement and are interested in the WSYD Moving Symposium, visit www.wsydmoving.com.au/ for more information and updates on our progress.
Gratitude
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in WSYD Moving so far. With a special thanks to the presenters at the virtual kick off conference and community of practice. And most recently the WSYD Moving Symposium committee members who helped co-design and shape the program.
2022 Virtual conference presenters:
Bill Bellew, Honorary Associate Professor, Sydney University
Lori Modde, CEO Outdoor NSW/ACT
Bryce Alley, Blacktown City Council
Janine Dawson, Western Sydney Diabetes Alliance Western Sydney Local Health District
Emma George, Associate Professor in Health and Physical Education & Justin Guagliano, Lecturer Western Sydney University
Yusra Metwally, Western Sydney Community Forum
Community of Practice guest speakers:
Yvonne Laird, Lecturer in Prevention and Health Promotion Prevention Research Collaboration, School of Public Health, Sydney University
Nicholas Korelin, Senior Healthy Lifestyle Officer, City of Parramatta
James Ellender, CEO, ActiveXchange
Elizabeth Calleja, Senior Advisor, Heart Foundation
Dr. Sarah Kennedy, Lecturer in Sport, Health and Physical Education and Co-chair, Scaling-Up Physical Activity Special Interest Group (SUPA-SIG), Asia-Pacific Society of Physical Activity (ASPA), Western Sydney University
Francis O'Neill, Head of Advocacy, Bicycle NSW
Dr. Peita Hillman, Outreach & Engagement Officer parkrun Asia Pacific, Parkrun
Paul Ritchie, General Manager Corporate & Commercial, AUSactive
Alison Dunshea, Senior Project Officer, South Western Sydney Local Health District
Andrew Fraser, Youth Health Partnerships and Programs Manager, Western Sydney Local Health District
Charlene Bordley, Founder Addventages
WSYD Moving Symposium committee members:
Rania Matta, Acting Deputy Director Healthy Populations, SWLHD
Peter McCue, Office of Sport
Thanh-binh Nguyen-duy, Research Fellow, Sydney University
Alley Dench, Program Manager, Western Sydney Health Alliance
Rachel Barker, Strategic Priorities Project Lead, Went West Primary Health Network
Karen McCavana, Population Health Program Officer, Western Sydney Local Health District
Thank you for the guidance from mentors Martyn Allison, John Oxley and Advisory board members Hayley Lever, Simon Rosenbaum. Dr Sharon Zivkovic, Jackson Hills, Karen Creavin and Tim Green.