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On a Human Basis with Joe Badman

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by Basis

16 episodes

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Podcast Overview

How do we sustain public services without losing their soul? We’re on a mission to prove that radical change is possible even amidst financial constraints. Join Joe Badman, Managing Director of Basis, as he speaks candidly with the pioneers creating more human and relational public services. Each episode focuses on practical lessons from the field to help leaders build on the work of their peers, avoid common pitfalls, and navigate the messy reality of creating a more relational public service. What we’ll discuss: - Relational Service Design: Shifting from transactional service factories to high-trust systems - Agile Delivery: Turning the relational vision into operational reality - Smarter Savings: Demonstrating financial impact while putting human connection first Join the mission: - Follow Joe on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/joseph-badman - Read the latest chapters from our upcoming book: https://relationalservicedesign.com - Master the methodology: https://basistraining.co.uk/ - Partner with us: https://basis.co.uk

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9/11/2024

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Recent Episodes

June 12, 2026

Human Learning Systems: a new paradigm for public services with Toby Lowe

Host Joe Badman interviews academic Toby Lowe about how Human Learning Systems can reshape public services by prioritizing trust and continuous improvement over flawed KPI tracking.

May 14, 2026

Connected Communities: Leading relational change with Tony Clements

What if we organised an entire council around building social connection? In this episode, Joe sits down with Tony Clements, Chief Executive of Ealing Council. Tony explains why he's placed social connection at the heart of the council's purpose, and how a Connected Communities approach is reshaping everything from children's services to emergency management.Drawing on the evidence that loneliness can be worse for health than smoking, Tony argues that local government has a unique locus to build the relationships and community resilience that transactional services alone can't deliver. He shares how Ealing achieved its lowest-ever number of children in care by investing in kinship networks, why emergency management teams are treating the community as the real first responder, and what it takes to shift thousands of daily interactions toward building connection.This is a deep dive into relational leadership, complexity and why the language of KPIs and "clarity" often gets in the way of the work that matters most.In this conversation, we explore:<ul><li>Why the evidence on social connection rarely reaches public policy</li><li>How kinship networks are reducing the number of children in care</li><li>Why emergency response depends on community resilience first</li><li>The limits of KPIs in relational, complex work</li><li>How to balance short-term savings with long-term transformation</li><li>Why the bar for change is higher than the bar for the status quo</li><li>The bravery it takes to stop doing good things</li><li>What AI tools are actually changing inside a council</li><li>The chief executive as "rewilder" of the system</li></ul> This episode is especially relevant for:<ul><li>Public sector leaders and chief executives</li><li>Local government commissioners and directors</li><li>Policy and systems-change professionals</li><li>Service designers working on complex, human problems</li></ul> Stay connected:<ul><li>Follow Joe on LinkedIn:<a href="https://linkedin.com/in/joseph-badman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://linkedin.com/in/joseph-badman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://linkedin.com/in/joseph-badman</a></li><li>Read the latest chapters from our upcoming book:<a href="https://relationalservicedesign.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://relationalservicedesign.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://relationalservicedesign.com</a></li><li>Master the methodology:<a href="https://basistraining.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://basistraining.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://basistraining.co.uk/</a></li><li>Partner with us:<a href="https://basis.co.uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://basis.co.uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://basis.co.uk</a></li></ul>

April 22, 2026

The Surgeon-Scrum Master: Embedding agile in the NHS with Rob Macadam

What happens when a consultant surgeon embeds agile ways of working into the messy reality of an NHS operating theatre?In this episode, Joe sits down with Rob McAdam, a Consultant Upper GI and Bariatric Surgeon who also happens to be a qualified Scrum Master. Rob is a rare example of a practitioner who hasn't just read the theory - he has spent years embedding agile ways of working into the heart of the NHS.For Rob, the "stable team", the "prioritised backlog" and the "retrospective" aren't just agile buzzwords - they directly map onto the most important parts of surgical practice. In this deep dive, we explore how he moved his department away from rigid, linear planning and toward a model that values human collaboration over top-down protocols.Rather than asking clinicians to work harder inside a rigid system, this work asks a different question: What if we trusted teams to redesign how the work gets done?In this conversation, we explore:<ul><li>Why the pandemic forced a shift to 24-hour sprints - and what was lost when things "returned to normal"</li><li>How a theatre list already resembles a Scrum team, and what that unlocks</li><li>Why traditional list planning produces garbage-in, garbage-out results</li><li>What surgical story points look like in practice, and how they've increased capacity without burning people out</li><li>How proper retrospectives surface the invisible frictions a debrief never catches</li><li>A real example of a tiny AI-assisted fix that's now spreading across an NHS trust</li><li>Why "the HIPPO effect" still shapes medicine - and how Agile challenges it</li><li>How psychological safety and team-led improvement could transform frontline NHS delivery</li></ul> This episode is especially relevant for:<ul><li>Clinicians, surgeons and NHS leaders</li><li>Public sector commissioners and service designers</li><li>Continuous improvement and transformation teams</li><li>Anyone working on adaptive, team-led change in complex systems</li></ul> Stay connected:<ul><li>Follow Joe on LinkedIn:<a href="https://linkedin.com/in/joseph-badman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://linkedin.com/in/joseph-badman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://linkedin.com/in/joseph-badman</a></li><li>Read the latest chapters from our upcoming book:<a href="https://relationalservicedesign.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://relationalservicedesign.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://relationalservicedesign.com</a></li><li>Master the methodology:<a href="https://basistraining.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://basistraining.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://basistraining.co.uk/</a></li><li>Partner with us:<a href="https://basis.co.uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://basis.co.uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://basis.co.uk</a></li></ul>

16 total episodes available with 1 transcripts

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What is On a Human Basis with Joe Badman?: How do we sustain public services without losing their soul?

We’re on a mission to prove that radical change is possible even amidst financial constraints.

Join Joe Badman, Managing Director of Basis, as he speaks candidly with the pioneers creating more human and relational public services.

Each episode focuses on practical lessons from the field to help leaders build on the work of their peers, avoid common pitfalls, and navigate the messy reality of creating a more relational public service.

What we’ll discuss:

Relational Service Design: Shifting from transactional service factories to high-trust systems

Agile Delivery: Turning the relational vision into operational reality

Smarter Savings: Demonstrating financial impact while putting human connection first

Join the mission:

Follow Joe on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/joseph-badman

Read the latest chapters from our upcoming book: https://relationalservicedesign.com

Master the methodology: https://basistraining.co.uk/

Partner with us: https://basis.co.uk
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates daily.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

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