On 5 March 2026, 55 senior alumni leaders came together at Greyfriars Charteris Centre in Edinburgh for a vibrant, co-designed and co-facilitated senior leadership community gathering, our first in-person event of its kind. Co-hosted by Christine McLaughlin, COO & Deputy Chief Executive, NHS Scotland, Scottish Government and Pippa Milne, Chief Executive, Argyll & Bute Council; Chair SOLACE Scotland; the day opened with their reflections on the value of peer connection and community. A powerful provocation from alumni volunteer Andrew Thomson, Chief Executive of Carr Gomm followed, challenging us all to step beyond our usual lanes and perspectives as we lead system-wide change.
Framed around our bold shared inquiry, “how can we collectively deliver on the 2025 strategic frameworks by working differently“, the event showcased inspiring examples of collaboration in action. Contributions from leaders across health and social care including Ross McGuffie, Chief Executive, NHS Forth Valley and his colleagues Louise McGuire from Childrens’ Speech and Language therapy and Fiona Struthers from Nutrition and Dietetics services and Karen Hedge, Deputy Chief Executive, Scottish Care highlighted how cross-sector working is already driving transformation. These examples generated rich and energised group conversations on how to strengthen and scale these approaches.
The afternoon deepened the conversation through an engaging leadership panel and interactive sessions, where alumni generated and shared their ideas for the future of the community. A clear message emerged: there is strong appetite to stay connected, contribute to tackling complex system challenges, and create space for reflection, learning and mutual support, both in person and online. You can read a more detailed summary of the alumni ideas for the community here.
Overall, the day marked many happy reconnections and new connections, building relationships, surfacing fresh thinking and opening exciting possibilities for what comes next. Further reflections and attendee insights are captured in the accompanying blog from Jess Elsey, Head of Programme, Leading to Change, and you can view our final slides from the day here.
“I found the event genuinely inspiring with thoughtful contributions that reinforced the importance of compassionate and values‑driven leadership. It was also a real privilege to reconnect with leaders from across different systems, reinforcing a sense of shared purpose and collective ambition.”
“It was great to have an opportunity to connect and reconnect with leaders across our system, and the speakers were excellent.”
“It was good to have time out to think and spend time with peers. The group is becoming more diverse across different levels – this brings positives and challenges for what people (and I) will get from sessions.”
Leading to change will work with the alumni volunteers to:
We are delighted to offer a couple of “Spaces for Listening” sessions for senior leadership alumni members in June, led by one of our senior leadership community volunteers, Helena Jackson. This is in response to the clear appetite expressed at the 5th March event for activities that support connection, development and peer support. Drawing upon the approach developed by Charlie Jones and Brigid Russell in 2020, these listening spaces bring together eight participants for approximately 50 minutes, to share thoughts, feelings and experiences in relation to what’s going on for them.
If you would like to join one of these ‘spaces’ please use the booking link below:
Thursday 18th June 2.00-2.50 pm
Helena has 24 years of experience at senior level in Health & Care across NHSGGC and Scottish Government. Helena was part of the Project Lift, Leadership Cubed community from 2019 and has participated in Spaces for Listening events from 2021 as a regular contributor and has volunteered to facilitate the first few sessions for our alumni.
Finally, we also encourage all alumni community members to progress their own peer connections using the shared alumni contact list from the 5th March event. Who will you connect with?
