Change is often sold in bold fonts. Slides. Programmes. Roadmaps. But if you’ve ever worked in the thick of it, you’ll know: the real shifts happen in the in-between.
The side chat before a meeting. The tea break where trust is built. The WhatsApp message that carries more care than instruction.
These fragments are not extras. They are the strategy. And when we overlook them, we lose the thread that holds organisations together.
Examples that show the way:
In Wigan Council’s “The Deal”, staff described tea breaks and everyday conversations as crucial to building the trust that underpinned their community-led approach.
Camden’s “We Make Camden” programme found that local “side conversations” in parks and cafés revealed more about people’s priorities than formal consultations.
In Northumberland’s neighbourhood link workers, success came not from formal referrals but from casual doorstep chats — the “small things” that helped residents open up.
Practical things you can do:
Value informal time. Protect tea breaks, corridor chats, even “buffer time” in meetings. They’re not inefficiency — they’re glue.
Notice micro-moments. Ask yourself: what’s happening in the side notes, the pauses, the laughter? They tell you as much as the agenda.
Design for the everyday. Build strategy not only around plans but around the small rituals that sustain relationships.
Next time you draft a strategy or programme plan, add a new section: the everyday moments that will carry this work. Ask your team: which small things matter most to us? Because without them, the big things won’t hold.
Assistant Director for People & Change at Adur & Worthing Councils #localgov Co-founder of #systemschange & #servicedesign progs. Inspired by @cescaalbanese
