Greater Manchester already had a rich landscape of leadership activity across public services, communities, the VCSE sector and neighbourhood organisations. Leadership development was happening everywhere. 

The challenge was how to connect, strengthen and grow leadership that could actively support fairer health outcomes. Key questions included: 

• How do we build on existing leadership activity rather than duplicate it? 

• How do we support leadership emerging from lived experience? 

• How do we move beyond traditional ideas of leadership based on position and hierarchy? 

• How do we ensure leadership reflects the diversity of Greater Manchester? 

• How do we share power more effectively with communities? 

• How do we embed Fairer Health for All principles into everyday decision-making?  

Participants also highlighted tensions between immediate system pressures and longer-term transformation, creating a need for approaches that could bridge both.  

Collaborate Out Loud and The Work in Progress led the scoping, insight gathering and co-design phases of the programme. 

Rather than designing a predetermined solution, we worked alongside partners across Greater Manchester to understand the existing landscape, identify opportunities and create the conditions for a genuinely collaborative leadership approach.  

Our work included: 

• Leadership landscape mapping. 

• System interviews and conversations. 

• Community engagement. 

• Network mapping. 

• Co-design activity. 

• Learning synthesis and sense-making. 

• Development of practical leadership tools and resources. 

• Creation of the Gallery of Ideas, People’s Gallery of Ideas and Leadership Journal.  

The project brought together voices from across public services, communities and people with lived experience of inequality to ensure that leadership development reflected the realities of those most affected by health inequalities.  

The project generated one of the most extensive explorations of leadership and health inequalities undertaken across Greater Manchester. The work: 

• Mapped leadership activity across the system. 

• Connected communities, organisations and networks. 

• Elevated lived experience as a source of leadership. 

• Challenged traditional assumptions about leadership. 

• Created practical tools to support future leadership development. 

• Developed a shared language around power, participation and systems change.  

A key outcome was the creation of the Gallery of Ideas, an interactive exhibition bringing together the voices and ideas of more than 100 people from across Greater Manchester. This evolved into the People’s Gallery of Ideas and a suite of practical leadership resources that continue to support reflection, learning and action across the region.  

“Collaborate Out Loud lived the Fairer Health for All principles, bringing together community, VCSE and public sector perspectives to co-design practical leadership tools that continue to support change across Greater Manchester.” 
Dr Deborah Thompson, Public Health Consultant, NHS Greater Manchester 

“Collaborate Out Loud’s facilitation helped turn conversations into lasting collaboration. Their inclusive approach ensured people with lived experience felt valued, while creating meaningful connections between community-led coproduction and wider system change.” 
Diane Bracken, Engagement and Coproduction Service Manager, Gaddum 

Leadership Exists Everywhere 

One of the strongest findings was that leadership already exists throughout Greater Manchester. Many people creating positive change did not see themselves as leaders. Leadership was often found in volunteers, activists, parents, community organisers, peer supporters and local connectors working to improve the lives of others.  

Lived Experience Is Leadership 

Many community contributors described how experiences of poverty, mental health challenges, discrimination, caring responsibilities and recovery had helped them develop resilience, empathy and insight. The work reinforced that lived experience is a valuable form of leadership expertise that should be recognised and supported.  

Relationships Are the Foundation of Change 

Trust, connection, consistency and mutual respect emerged as central themes across all conversations. Participants repeatedly highlighted that meaningful change happens through relationships and that building trust is often the work itself, rather than a preliminary step.  

Power Must Be Shared 

Questions of power appeared throughout both the system and community insights. Participants highlighted the importance of: 

• Shared decision-making. 

• Community ownership. 

• Participation from the beginning rather than consultation at the end. 

• Greater visibility of power dynamics. 

• Fair exchange and mutual benefit.  

Language Shapes Participation 

The term “leadership” did not resonate with everyone, despite many people clearly demonstrating leadership behaviours. The project highlighted the importance of inclusive language, storytelling and creative engagement approaches that enable more people to see themselves as contributors to change.  

Systems Change Requires Inner and Outer Work 

Participants highlighted the importance of reflection, awareness, unlearning and understanding power and privilege. The work demonstrated that creating fairer systems requires change not only in structures and policies, but also in how people think, feel, relate and work together.  

Leadership Development Needs to Feel Human 

The Leadership Journal, Gallery of Ideas and People’s Gallery of Ideas helped frame leadership as more than a set of competencies. They encouraged reflection on ways of seeing, thinking, feeling, relating, being and doing, reinforcing that leadership is a deeply human and ongoing journey.  

Build With People, Not For People 

Perhaps the most important lesson was that effective leadership development should be designed with communities rather than for them. Participants consistently called for approaches that are relational, flexible, accessible and rooted in real life rather than centrally designed programmes detached from everyday experience.  

The project demonstrated that creating Fairer Health for All is not the responsibility of a small group of people in formal leadership roles. Leadership can emerge anywhere when people come together around a shared purpose and a commitment to creating a fairer future.