Build relationships while doing the work
A place-based academy brings people from different organisations and professions into a shared learning and action structure. The cohort works on challenges that no single service can resolve alone.
The programme is designed around the local context, not dropped in as a fixed national curriculum. It can combine:
- A short system and capability diagnostic.
- Senior sponsor conversations and careful cohort design.
- Masterclasses and practical workshops.
- Cross-organisational challenge projects.
- Action learning, peer challenge and coaching.
- Site visits, community conversations or field inquiry.
- 100-day plans and follow-through.
Evidence from Somerset
The Somerset academies brought together local government, health, police and voluntary-sector participants around integrated health and social care challenges. Projects helped create initiatives, relationships and practical changes including community support, hospital discharge, data sharing and prevention work.
The pattern was not ‘train people, then hope’. Participants worked on live projects, system leaders stayed connected, and the programme adapted as the local system learned.
Start with the local pressure
We begin by identifying the shared challenge, the people who need to learn and act together, and the practical result that would make the first phase worthwhile. The academy design follows from that.