Red Fish Black Dog helps leaders and partners make sense of complex systems, build trust across boundaries and create practical ways of working together.

What this work is for

When no single organisation can solve the issue alone:
This work is for partnerships, networks, places and systems where the answer depends on people working differently across boundaries.

That might be a devolved city-region programme, a place-based partnership, a neighbourhood model, a provider collaborative, a voluntary-sector alliance, a cross-sector reform programme, or a large organisation trying to work more systemically across internal silos.

The context may change. The core challenge is often the same: how do we build enough shared purpose, trust, governance and practical action to move forward together?

Devolution and place as a differentiator

Grounded in devolution, place and public service reform:
Much of this work is grounded in John’s experience across Greater Manchester’s devolution journey, where he worked across health, local government, the Combined Authority and wider public services on system leadership, public service reform, workforce, culture, leadership and devolution.

That experience included connecting health and local government, supporting place-based working, working with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and local councils, and helping partners strengthen shared governance and collaborative delivery.

But this is not only public-sector work. The same principles apply wherever people need to collaborate across boundaries: between departments, organisations, sectors, professions or communities.

What we work on together

Making the system workable:
Systems work is not about drawing perfect diagrams. It is about helping people understand the relationships, incentives, assumptions, decision points and power dynamics that shape what is possible.

How we work

From complexity to shared action:
We start by understanding the system: who is involved, what relationships exist, where the formal authority sits, where informal influence matters, and what is helping or hindering progress.

We then create the conditions for useful conversations. That may involve facilitated system sessions, leadership development, partnership away days, governance design, narrative development, role clarification or practical action planning.

The work is structured, but not rigid. In complex systems, progress often comes through sense-making, experimentation, reflection and enough shared clarity to act.