McGill University IMHL Module 4: Collaborative Mindset

Module 4 of McGill University’s International Master of Health Leadership brought a global cohort of senior health leaders to Bristol, UK, for a ten-day immersive residential programme centred on collaborative and system leadership.

Designed and facilitated by CoCreate, the module combined academic frameworks including: Three Horizons, Design Thinking, and SystemCraft. With a live consulting assignment in which participants worked directly with NHS leaders on real, unresolved challenges within the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care System.

The result was a highly formative experience: the overwhelming majority of participants rated their learning above or significantly above expectations, describing breakthroughs in how they understand their role within a system and their capacity to lead adaptive change.

Challenge

Healthcare leaders who operate across complex, multi-stakeholder systems rarely have the opportunity to step outside their own context, learn from a different system and practise adaptive collaboration in real time. McGill University’s International Masters for Health Leadership (IMHL) faced the challenge of designing an in-person module that would move participants beyond conceptual understanding and into genuine system-level thinking and collaborative action.

Module 4, Collaborative Mindset, brought together a diverse cohort of senior health leaders from across the globe for an immersive ten-day programme in Bristol, UK. The challenge was to create conditions in which participants could engage with the lived complexity of a real health system, apply emerging frameworks under genuine pressure, and develop their capacity to lead through adaptive challenges they had no easy answers to.

Programme

CoCreate designed and facilitated the ten-day residential module, working with the IMHL academic team to weave together a rich curriculum of system leadership theory, guest expertise and live-applied practice.

The module opened with a deep exploration of system leadership in the NHS, including a candid conversation with an NHS Integrated Care Board CEO. Establishing the context and relational climate for the learning that followed. Participants were then introduced to a sequence of frameworks and tools: Three Horizons, psychological safety and complexity, network mapping, the 4Mat influencing model, Design Thinking, SystemCraft, and Friendly Consulting.

The centrepiece of the module was a live consulting assignment in which participant groups worked directly with NHS clients, senior leaders navigating real, unresolved challenges within the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care System. Groups met their clients, gathered information with no pre-existing knowledge of the issues, developed recommendations through design thinking and peer collaboration, and presented back to their clients in a formal session. This created a genuine consulting experience that was unpredictable, sometimes uncomfortable and deeply formative.

Beyond the classroom, the programme included a visit to SPARKS, a community collaboration space in Bristol led by CEO Kathryn Chiswell Jones, and an experiential visit to Wake the Tiger, an immersive art installation that offered participants a playful, sensory-rich space for creative connection. A boat tour and afternoon cream tea on the Bristol harbour provided further moments for cohort bonding and reflection.

Impact

The module delivered a significant shift in participants’ capability, confidence and sense of themselves as system leaders.

• The overwhelming majority of participants rated their learning experience as above or significantly above expectations
• The Three Horizons framework was highlighted as a standout tool, helping participants understand the coexistence of managerial, innovative and visionary mindsets across organisations
• The live NHS consulting assignment was described as one of the most impactful learning experiences of the programme, connecting frameworks to real-world adaptive challenges in a way that no classroom exercise could replicate
• Participants described breakthroughs in how they understood their role in a system, how they listen and how they can enable, rather than direct change

If you‘re looking to develop more effective system leadership across your organisation, get in touch to explore how we can support you.