Category Archives: Public Services

Public Services

If I ruled the world, all public sector senior managers would do a secondment in the community by @Jargonautical

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20130529-173130.jpgI recently overhead one of those slightly awkward “what’s your job” dinner conversations. Guest 1,”I’m an NHS Senior Manager”…..Guest 2, “Oh” ……. Guest 1, “I’m actually a nurse by background. I did all my practical training on the hospital wards, qualified as a nurse and moved into management much later on”…… the conversation went well after that.

The ‘in between the lines’ message was; ‘I am a serious professional, I am caring and compassionate, and I have earned a position through working at the front line’ (rather than some fast track graduate who had a minor brush with patients on a gallop to the top). In these days post Mid Staffordshire Hospital Inquiry it was important for this individual to establish their credentials. They wanted their dinner companion to understand what they were about.

There are lots of positives that come from practical, experience based job development:

  • Learning from colleagues who have developed the wisdom that comes from experiencing thousands of different situations over many years;
  • Speaking the language of that specialist group which gives deeper meaning and speeds up understanding;
  • Being able to try, fail and learn in an environment with colleagues around that can manage and mitigate risks; and very importantly
  • Getting close to the service or product users and developing an understanding of life from their perspective.

This is hard won experience that comes at a cost, mainly time and application (effort).

Can you teach care and compassion? The big question for me in all of this relates to the role of senior managers and leaders. If you’ve never been part of the system you are managing, can you really understand it well enough to lead it effectively?

Second question; if a large component of that service is about caring and compassion, how does it work if you’ve never experienced what it’s like to be at the front line? As a senior manager how do get a better understanding of what it feels like to be on the receiving end of ‘your’ service? A situation where a paid employee of a big organisation is making some pretty serious decisions about what happens to you. How do you get to understand what it feels like to be confused, vulnerable or afraid?

I’m not sure if you can you teach compassion, empathy or how to be caring on an MBA? (I’ve no doubt a Business School prospectus is offering it somewhere). For me, the point seems to be; if you want to understand, you need to get up close and experience how it feels, not just learn the theory.

How about this for a suggestion? Over the weekend I was involved in a conversation with Lucy Knight (@Jargonautical) and Claire OT (@claireot). Lucy proposed the following; “if I ruled the world, all senior public sector staff would do a part time secondment in the community”. Have a read of this post ‘govsplaining’ by Lucy which gives a very practical insight into different approaches between the voluntary and public sector.

I must admit to getting slightly over enthusiastic about Lucy’s idea and suggesting some sort of ‘National Service’ scheme where everyone spends time working in a community or voluntary activity. I’ve always been a big enthusiast of ‘back to the floor’ activities, particularly for those people who’ve climbed so high in an organisation that they’ve lost touch with the front line, or in some cases never had it in the first place.

The idea of part time secondments for senior managers working in service areas where they have direct contact with citizens and service users could have an incredible impact. Not just the contrast between how services are run but also the service user experience and how it feels. Imagine the impact on a financial target driven, ‘spreadsheets rule the world’, hard nosed Head of Corporate Resources working in a community adults day centre for a few months.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. It’s easy to loose touch with user experience and service users the more senior you become in an organisation.
  2. Secondments may be a way of reconnecting with the service users and the people who deliver the service.
  3. For activities that focus on care and compassion, experiencing how it feels at the front line may be the best way of gaining some understanding.

Linked posts: Every CEO should try to access the service their organisation delivers using a mobile phone. Not exactly ‘back to the floor’ but it will give a taster of the user experience. http://whatsthepont.com/2013/02/21/every-ceo-should-try-to-access-the-services-their-organisation-delivers-using-a-mobile-phone-at-least-twice-a-month/

Charity Bag Packing at the local supermarket. How it helped some teenage rugby players learn some social skills. http://whatsthepont.com/2011/10/22/bag-packing-social-skills-and-youth-rugby/

One ounce of emotion beats a ton of scientific evidence. It’s all about “the babies….”

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Last week I attended an event organised by The Alliance for Useful Evidence and Wales Public Services 2025 (#a4ue on Twitter). The aim was to work out how you get policies developed and practices delivered that are better informed by evidence. The problem seems to be that millions of pounds (of taxpayers money) is spent on things for which there is limited evidence of success.

There were lots of views about how you collect better evidence and a bit of ‘hand wringing’. Why is it that evidence doesn’t get used properly? To paraphrase; “We produce compelling, factually accurate evidence yet the politicians ignore it and make decisions based on political values, not the evidence we put in front of them……”.

This situation could apply almost anywhere. Head down to your Local Council Planning Committee and you probably won’t have to wait too long before you see the Committee Members overrule some technically correct, fully evidenced advice from the Planning Officer. A cruel but compelling spectator sport.

In their defence I’d say its not just politicians that are ‘guilty’ of this, and in fact, it’s more to do with how you communicate the evidence. Here’s a personal experience.

Lets clean up the Gas Works. About 20 years ago I was working in environmental protection when a proposal to clean up a former heavy industry site landed on my desk. This was an imaginative and cost effective proposal that would deal with the huge quantities of toxic waste that had blighted a local community for over a 100 years. In three years time the site would be regenerated, creating space for new clean employment opportunities and a community recreation facility. What could possibly go wrong?

The Public Meeting. Imagine this, a village hall packed with about 100 local citizens and a bunch of experts sat on the stage. The experts had absolutely tons of carefully researched scientific evidence about why this proposal was a good thing:

  • Long term risks to health from the site would be removed;
  • Risks during cleanup would be minimal and well managed;
  • Economic benefits during the clean-up would be significant (jobs);
  • Long term job opportunities were predicated;
  • River water and ground water quality would improve significantly;
  • The Environment and biodiversity in the valley would be improved; and
  • Sustainability was constantly mentioned.

This was a very logical, rational, well balanced and fully evidenced argument to proceed with the scheme. As a trained scientist I was completely convinced.

The Counter Argument. A lady stood up at the back of the room and yelled “what about the babies……?”. She then proceeded to describe in graphic detail a case of birth abnormalities that had occurred close to a waste management facility in a nearby community. That situation was completely different to what we were talking about, but that didn’t matter. The damage had been done. The carefully prepared evidence had been rendered useless by 30 seconds of pure emotion. That’s where I learnt the phrase, “one ounce of emotion beats a ton of scientific evidence”.

As I recall, the clean up of the site was delayed for several years (of continued pollution) while an agreeable compromise was reached.

Why don’t we accept what experts say? In this seminar I heard Dave Snowden talk about how you need to be prepared to accept new ideas. Patterns of recognition need to be developed beforehand so that you can accept the new idea. If we don’t recognise what is being offered we are more likely to reject it straight off. I’ll dig out my notes from the session and put together a more substantial post.

For me the learning from “what about the babies…”, has great relevance to the ‘useful evidence’ debate. It’s all about choice. Whether you are a local citizen, policy maker, delivering a service or a politician you have the choice of ignoring or using evidence. Understanding that people will make choices about what they absorb, no matter how scientifically accurate, is worth thinking about if you are trying to get people to use your ‘really useful evidence’.

So, whats the PONT?

  1. People can choose what evidence they accept. Scientific ‘fact’ does not automatically equal acceptance.
  2. How evidence is presented is important if you want people to understand and accept it. Recognition of something familiar is important.
  3. Emotion will beat evidence and facts, just remember “the babies……”

Picture Source: Just a thought. The evidence bag in the picture says ‘to be opened by authorised personnel only’. I wonder how much other evidence is given this ‘experts only’ status!

Linked posts: How Florence Nightingale used infographics to convince Civil Servants and Politicians that they needed to improve sanitary conditions to reduce deaths during the Crimean War. http://whatsthepont.com/2013/01/27/florence-nightingale-the-mother-of-infographics-btw-she-was-also-a-nurse/

Make Meetings Count – Literally, with Meeting Ticker and Clockwork Meetings.

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Ask the internet and often it delivers more than you expected. Today was one of those days.

About two weeks ago I ended up in a Twitter discussion with Shirley Ayres and Paul Taylor about how much time gets wasted in meetings. It started with a post about are meetings are the symptom of bad organisation, and ended up with some ideas around calculating just how much meetings cost.

One of the things mentioned was doing the following calculation, in your head:

Number of people x Hourly pay x Hours spent meeting = Meeting Cost*

*This doesn’t include travelling to the meeting or preparation time, which probably needs to be built-in, but it’s a good starting point.

The idea is that you then compare this cost of meeting figure against the benefits that have resulted from having the meeting, simple. The benefits should be greater than the costs. However, calculating the monetary value of the benefits of a meeting is a bit more difficult to work out.

That was where I left the discussion until Shirley and Paul picked things up again this morning (I have a good reason for being absent, honest).

Say hello to Meeting Ticker and Clockwork Meetings, these are two very helpful programmes that allow you to display the costs of your meetings. To quote Nick Atkin of Halton Housing Trust, “this would shorten meetings by about 75%”. This is how they work:

Meeting Ticker was introduced by Paul this morning. This is open source software which has been developed on GitHub by Toby Tripp, Lydia Tripp, and Roy Kolak. It is worth reading the explanation of why Meeting Ticker was developed ….’expensive consultants sitting on their butts for hours on end’ was a big motivator (sound familiar?).

This is very straightforward to use; you add in the number attending, make an estimate of the hourly salaries and press start. You then watch a meter rapidly adding up the pounds and pence with “stop the bleeding” written dramatically below. It is slightly mesmerizing and would shorten meetings I’m sure.

A couple of observations:

  • Meeting Ticker is written on GitHub, open source software so anybody (with the necessary coding skills) could develop it further, for example to include a choice of salary ranges or a salary calculator.
  • It might not work using Internet Explorer. There is an advisory note saying “If this works on Internet Explorer, it is purely by accident”. Worth knowing if your organisation (there are plenty) only allows an ancient version of Internet Explorer as the web browser.

Clockwork Meetings This afternoon Ed Bullock from Halton Housing Trust came up with this free app on iTunes. It is just as easy to uses as Meeting Ticker, you add the number of attendees, hourly salary cost and press start. The big difference is the ability to set an audible ‘click’ to make a noise at set intervals. Just what you need in case you forget the fact there is ‘money on the clock’.

The discussion hasn’t ended here. There is a lot of activity ongoing to find the best on-line salary calculator that could be used in conjunction with either of these applications.

I’d suggest that you also need a large screen in the meeting room, so that everyone can see the costs rising as the meeting progresses (or drags on). Hopefully it will focus minds to think about costs and benefits.

I know we haven’t yet worked out how we measure the benefits of meetings. Maybe that’s something Shirley can encourage debate about next weekend?

So what’s the PONT?

  1. There seems to be software programme or app for just about anything you can think of, somewhere on the internet. You just need someone to look in the right place.
  2. A highly visible display of the costs of a meeting is likely to have an impact on how people behave and long the meeting takes.
  3. Slight word of caution here. Don’t let this approach fall into the wrong hands. I worry that a few people might misuse ‘meeting cost measures’ and force people into hasty decisions, when a more thoughtful consideration of the evidence is required.

Picture source: Meeting Ticker http://tobytripp.github.io/meeting-ticker/

Clockwork Meetings: https://itunes.apple.com/ye/app/clockwork-meetings/id384045562?mt=8

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Don’t spend any money on NHS Jargon Busters – it’s sorted! Download the Apps.

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20130509-224405.jpgI’m not ashamed to admit my naivety and ignorance. In the last post I was astonished to find out there was a book available called ‘NHS Jargon Explained’. I was just scratching the surface…..

On the basis that jargon is “the specialised or technical language of a trade, profession or similar group”, and the NHS is a massive organisation with very many specialist groups, this shouldn’t be surprising. A quick search using twitter turned up some interesting examples of NHS ‘jargon busters’. These are my favourites, apologies to anyone worthy who’s not on the list.

Guardian Newspaper, Glossary of Healthcare Jargons and Acronyms. This is 2011 vintage and has about 70 examples of the most common NHS jargon. I was a bit surprised to see BT (British Telecom) feature. Apparently it’s something to do with them running the N3 Network. Have a look at the Guardian article to find out what N3 means. You also need to know that a ‘spine’ isn’t necessarily that thing in the middle of your back.

NHS Local, West Midlands. This is provided by a group of NHS organisations, Universities and private sector organisations that are “transforming healthcare by changing the conversation between patient and the NHS” (that’s not jargon is it). The jargon buster has about 70 explanations, mainly to do with maternity services. Very useful if you need to use that service. A great explanation of ‘oily fish’ can be found here.

Leicestershire NHS, Health Informatics Service. This is blog by a Communications and Marketing Officer in Leicestershire NHS, that explains about 30 Information Technology terms used in the NHS. Helpful information about the language used by another specialist group that will be of benefit to those who don’t work in IT or understand it. Unfortunately there was no explanation of exactly what ‘informatics’ means (is it just me?).

Health and Social Care Information Centre, National Casemix Office Jargon Buster. I had to use the jargon buster to understand what a ‘Casemix Office’ does: “A system whereby the complexity of the care provided to a patient is reflected in an aggregate secondary healthcare classification.” Phew, thank goodness that’s cleared up. There are about 60 definitions here, some of them pretty baffling, but it is the language of a very specialist group. Well worth a look if you want to understand what ‘complications and comorbidities’ are all about, alongside ‘cliff edges’, ‘unbundling’ and ‘spells’.

NHS Confederation Acronym Buster. This has a bumper 500 acronyms explained. There is even Application Software (an App, see the NHS Leicestershire definition) available to download for free. This is very helpful and something you could keep under the desk for emergency situations when the healthcare experts are running wild. My only gripe would be that defining acronyms is only half of the problem solved. The jargon remains.

My Health London.  This is an award-winning information website for health services in London. The jargon buster is in a section focussed on young people and there is also a free App you can download called ‘Well Happy’. This is worth a look as it has very clear, jargon free explanations under headings such as ‘Sex and Relationships’ and ‘Alcohol and Addiction’.  Very useful for those difficult conversations with the teenage kids.

This has been a bit of an eye opener. Specialist groups certainly do have their own language, unfortunately jargon to outsiders. There were other examples I stumbled across from the third sector, IT, property and law. Nothing I could find specifically from the world of Local Government… yet?

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. In a large and complicated organisation like the NHS the occurrence of many specialist groups with their own technical language (jargon) is inevitable.
  2. The specialist groups need to make sure they don’t exclude outsiders by the use of technical language that isn’t easily understood.
  3. The good news is that may specialist groups are trying their best to share their ‘jargon busters’ which are free for everyone to use. Hopeful those who aren’t as well-developed or inclusive will pick these up and use them.

Picture Source: My Health London, Young Peoples, ‘Well Happy’ App.

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https://www.myhealth.london.nhs.uk/health-communities/young-people/download

Jargon. A tool of exclusion, efficient technical language or just the ‘cheeping of birds’?

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20130426-205100.jpgMy last post about meetings led to a bit of a discussion about jargon. It’s something that’s despised by many people, but has probably been used by most of us on occasions . So I’m being particularly carefull to avoid using it in this post.

It’s worth having a think about why jargon exists and why we use it.

Basically it’s just a very specific form of language used by people to communicate and (hopefully) help others understand what they are saying.

The origins of the term jargon seems to have come from the Old French word ‘gargun’ which describes the ‘cheeping of birds’. In the 14th century it was used to describe unintelligible or confused speech. Some of the modern definitions of jargon you’ll find include:

  • confused unintelligible language;
  • technical terminology or characteristic language of a special activity or group; and
  • obscure and often pretentious language marked by the unnecessary use of too many, long, vague and uncommon words.

For me, there seems to be two distinctly different reasons for using jargon, one acceptable (with conditions) the other completely unacceptable:

Technical. In this case you have a specific highly technical area where jargon helps communicate more clearly, efficiently and effectively (within the technical community).
Posturing. Here people choose to use language that prevents others understanding what they are saying. The word ‘evasive’ is used a lot in connection with this type of jargon.

What do you do about jargon?

Posturing Jargon. In the case of posturing this is easy (in theory). Just say, “I haven’t got a clue what you are talking about. Please could you explain that without the jargon.” Obviously, this isn’t as easy to do as it sounds, but it’s worth thinking about. Remember that the use of jargon will be an (unconscious or deliberate) act to exclude you from a conversation or prevent you understanding what is being said. You may have encountered this sort of person……..

Technical Jargon. For technical jargon it’s much less clear-cut. This might be a highly specialised area and the jargon actually helps with communication. I remember as an undergraduate I used a specialised scientific dictionary as part of classes. Perfectly reasonable as most of the words didn’t need to be used in general conversation, but it helped greatly in the laboratory. To people outside of that community it was just jargon – ‘cheeping birds’. You need to be on your guard to avoid excluding people from the conversation if they don’t understand the specialised words. There are useful approaches like having a ‘jargon buster’ (explanations of the jargon) available, but the objective should surely be to minimise the jargon in the first place, or keep it where it belongs, in the specialist community.

Management Speak. The place where this gets messy is the crossover between technical and posturing. What if you have someone posturing using technical jargon terms? Dangerous territory. If I was being sceptical I could say that this is the territory of management speak. This Guardian article highlights some of the worst examples like, ‘drill down’ (look in detail) and ‘sunset’ (close down the project). I’m sure you could find plenty of jargon and management speak from your own experience, and use it in that the old favourite ‘Buzzword Bingo‘.

One final thought whilst I was thinking about this post I stumbled upon a book by Tony White called NHS Jargon Explained. Initially I thought it was a joke. It’s not, you can buy it on Amazon. I’ve no doubt it’s necessary, but I do wonder if we’ve over complicated things to the point where people have written books to explain what public services are talking about. Not just for people who work in the service but also, “campaigners, patient interest groups, researchers and journalists, and patients and their relatives may also find it useful and enlightening!” No further comment…….

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Jargon has its place in specialised technical communities where it helps communication and understanding.
  2. Once you take that language outside of the community you have to explain clearly what you mean, or risk excluding people.
  3. People using jargon to posture, evade, confuse or exclude people should not be tolerated. Ask the question, “I don’t understand, what do you mean?”

Just checking, how jargon free is this post? Anyone know of a jargon checker I could use?

Photo Source. Birds on a wire. http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2011/11/21/the-chattering-classes/

Linked Posts: Buzzword Bingo http://whatsthepont.com/2012/11/16/best-practice-glossary-or-buzzword-bingo/

Meetings Sabotage http://whatsthepont.com/2011/10/30/meetings-sabotage-additional-field-examples/

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NHS Jargon Buster

Ted Robbins, Textiles and 78rpms. My week of social media.

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20130329-122851.jpgThis week I ended up on BBC Radio Lancashire talking about textiles, Lancashire Folk and an old 78rpm record. I have absolutely no connection with Lancashire and the textile industry (as far as I know) so this was a bit of a surprise.

The only link was a 1950’s 78rpm record called ‘Lancashire Speaks’  which I wrote a blog post about. Social media intervened and this is how I ended up on the radio talking to Ted Robbins and Andrew Schofield from the North West Sound Archive.

  • Saturday 16th March – I find the ‘Lancashire Speaks’ record amongst the collection that belonged to my wife’s Grandparents.  I do some research on Cyril Lord who issued the record but draw a blank.
  • Sunday 17th March – decide to write a blog post about how the record is an interesting early example of getting local people’s voices heard by remote decision makers. I also offered the record to a good home as an example of social history.
  • Monday & Tuesday – conversations on my twitter account with people commenting on the blog post and suggestions of who might be interested in the recording. The North West Sound Archive got mentioned three times so I send them an email.
  • Wednesday & Thursday – email and telephone conversations follow with Andrew Schofield from the North West Sound Archive. The record isn’t something Andrew is aware and they would be interested in a copy. At this point neither of us has listened to the recording.
  • Weekend of 23rd & 24th March – I source suitable material to package this now precious record and send it to the NW Sound Archive at Clitheroe.
  • Tuesday 26th March – Phone call from Andrew, he’s received the recording safely and it works. Two minutes of Lancashire Folk speaking about the textile industry, directed at Members of the Houses of Parliament.  A bit of ‘hiss’, but what do you expect for a 60-year-old recording.
  • Wednesday 27th March – emails and phone calls. Would I be prepared to talk on BBC Radio Lancashire about the recording? Gary Scott had picked it up via my blog post and they would like to talk to me. Now who is going to turn down an offer like that? Not me!
  • Thursday 28th March – I get to speak with Ted Robbins and Andrew and listen to the recording for the first time. You can have a listen to the whole interview here (skip to 47-58mins). Hopefully I will have the digital recording of the Lancashire Textile Workers soon which I will add here.

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One of the Tweets suggesting I contact the North West Sound Archive. People were very helpful.

So what happens next?

In Lancashire – hopefully people get in touch with the Ted Robbins show or the NW Sound Archive with some more information and we can fill in a few more of the gaps in information.

In South Wales – The only connection we think we have with the record in my Wife’s Grandfather, George William Ridgwell, who was in the Metropolitan Police (1921-1962) and the Inspector at the Houses of Parliament during the 1950’s. We think that he may have acquired the record during this time.  It would be interesting to know.

Has social media helped in solving this mystery?

Thinking about the alternatives I probably wouldn’t have bothered doing anything other than putting the record back in the box. With relative ease I wrote a blog post which ended up with an interview with the radio station at the heart of Lancashire. I don’t think alternative methods would have achieved such wide coverage. Here are some numbers (imagine what we could have achieved if I was really good at this sort of thing):

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Blogging and social media have helped me to share a bit of social history which otherwise might have remained ‘lost’ in a box.
  2. It might help piece a few more bits of the jigsaw together, in Lancashire and some family history back here in South Wales.
  3. Is been great fun. I’ve spoken with Ted Robbins, Andrew Schofield and created a bit of excitement in work and with the family and friends.

One final thing. Cyril Lord was an interesting character. I’d love to know if he really did have a cameo appearance in a Batman episode as the ‘Carpet King’.

Photo Source: Ted Robbins from BBC Radio Lancashire.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/robbins

20130329-122905.jpgHeron Corn Mill were very helpful.

“Every CEO should try to access the services their organisation delivers using a mobile phone, at least twice a month”

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20130221-115930.jpgI wish I’d thought of that.

It was actually said by Jon Beech (@_jonb) on twitter and sparked a conversation about how senior officials could test the ‘lived experience’ of service users by trying to access their organisation’s website using a mobile phone. It’s been rattling around inside my head for a while and found its way out in the surroundings of a WordPress Users Wales meeting this week on responsive design.

I knew this was an important point when I first read it, and this is how it makes sense to me after the meeting. A few factual statements first:

  • People use websites to find out what services are delivered by organisations;
  • For large parts of society the Internet is the primary route they use;
  • Many people are using mobile devices (mobile phones, tablets etc) to access the Internet;
  • The percentage of people using mobile devices to do this is continuing to increase;
  • Many websites have historically been designed to be viewed from a desktop or laptop computer; and
  • Viewing a website designed for a large desktop screen, on a much smaller mobile phone screen can be a real hassle (go and try it out for yourself).

This is was why I was listening to James Cryer talk about responsive design at the WordPress meeting. In essence, responsive web design is about how websites are ‘responsive’ to the device on which they are viewed. The way that content is displayed will change to ensure that the reader has the best possible viewing experience for the size of screen they are using. This isn’t just about getting smaller (desktop to mobile), James pointed out that getting bigger (desktop to large screen TV) also offers challenges.

Using responsive design is helpful if you want your service users to understand what your organisation does. The easier it is to find and read the content on your website, using whatever device people choose (increasingly likely to be a mobile phone), the better it is for everyone.

So, why should this matter to your average CEO?

In the busy life of a CEO it is going to be difficult to ‘go back to the floor”, visit every department or take part in a ‘mystery shopper’ exercise. However, trying to access one of your services using a mobile phone is something you could do in a spare 5 minutes waiting for a train, sitting in a taxi or quietly in a senior management team meeting. This straight forward exercise would put you directly in the shoes of service users, a sort of virtual mystery shopper exercise. If your website isn’t responsive, I wonder how it will feel? It is a relatively low effort and possibly high impact activity, why not have a go?

Back to the WordPress responsive design ‘live demo’ session. Someone suggested it would be interesting to see if there were any good examples of responsive public sector websites in Wales……….. errrr….right.

Anyway, have a look at one we found for the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust. I’ve included a few screen shots of the site on a tablet and a phone. The point to note here is the location of clinics and other facilities is responsive and works brilliantly on the small screens. Just what you need if you are using a mobile phone and need to find the location of a facility. Interestingly the responsive elements of this site were developed involving someone who that was at the WordPress meeting and works in Wales, Craig Cartwright at precedent.co.uk. Nice one!

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. The move towards greater use of mobile devices means that websites need to be designed with this in mind.
  2. Responsive design is a way of changing web content to fit different devices and make it easier to read the content.
  3. Checking services using only a mobile phone would be a cheap and effective method for CEO’s to do some virtual mystery shopping, and see things from the perspective of a service user.

Thanks very much to James Cryer for an excellent presentation at the WordPress Users Wales meeting. You can pick up James’ presentation here. http://www.slideshare.net/jamescryer/rwd-wordpress

Picture Source: This looks interesting. North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust Mystery Shopper Programme. http://www.combined.nhs.uk/ourservices/Pages/shopper.aspx

Explanatory leaflet available here: http://www.combined.nhs.uk/dc/Documents/Mystery%20Shopper%20faqs.pdf

Central London Community Healthcare ‘locations’ viewed on a tablet, followed by the same information on a mobile phone, try it out yourself.

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Is Best Practice the Enemy of Innovation?

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Here’s a confession. Before I go to bed I like to watch an episode of How It’s Made.

There is something very soothing about manufacturing processes. The logical sequence, efficient systems, robotic arms, complete repeatability, high levels of certainty and quality products are like a comfort blanket before I go to sleep.

Unfortunately the world I wake up to isn’t quite like this, generally it’s all a bit more confusing.

This mirrors some of the confusion around best practice and innovation. Frequently I hear; ‘organisations must be more innovative’ rapidly followed with ‘organisations must implement best practice’. But how do the two fit together, particularly if you’ve got other voices saying ‘best practice is the enemy of innovation’?

Here’s the Wikipedia definition of best practice: ‘a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark. ……..used to describe the process of developing and following a standard way of doing things that multiple organizations can use’.

This, and many other definitions imply to me that ‘best practice’ is the single and ‘best’ way of doing something, it’s not ‘pick and mix’. If this is the case, how can an activity be improved if it’s already ‘the best ‘? Standardisation also features. If this is the case, how do you innovate in an environment where everything is carefully fixed, controlled and repeatable?

So, is it true, best practice really is the enemy of innovation?

There are a few examples that support this argument. Possibly the most well-known is about the inventors of ‘Post it’ notes, 3M. There are many commentaries about the decline in their ability to innovate following the introduction of Six Sigma techniques. This case study from The Design Council talks about ‘over zealous management techniques stifling creative thinking’. The application of Six Sigma within the 3M R&D function was preventing innovation.

This article from Business Week, talks about the tension between Six Sigma ‘control’ vs innovative ‘freedom’. They say that Six Sigma control is great for standard or routine processes in manufacturing and the scale-up of new products. However, Six Sigma was a disaster for innovative new products at 3M. Is this an example of best practice overkill?

Innovation is not Best Practice is a thought provoking perspective from Professor Alf Rehn from the University of Manchester Business School. The section on ‘The Problem with Best Practice’ defines best practice as, “stuff that worked in the past“. He makes the link with work on human development and suggests that the drive to seek and stick with ‘best practice’ is ‘programmed’ into humans as a survival instinct.

This idea that the human brain is programmed to look for and accept best practice (the quickest solution) is picked up by Stephen M. Shapiro in his book, ‘Best Practices are Stupid’. Check out this video Stephen talking about ‘expertise is the enemy of innovation’.

Finally here’s a sporting example, Dick Fosbury. Prior to 1968 Olympics, high jump best practice was going over the bar sideways or face first. Dick Fosbury failed to comply with the prevailing best practice went over backwards, and the result is history. Since smashing the world record the ‘Fosbury Flop’ has been the accepted best practice for the high jump, and even inspired a commemorative Silver Dollar.

Back to the confusion, where this started. I think there is a place for best practice. In the world of manufacturing and ‘How it’s Made’ it’s a key part of success. I am very happy that the engines of planes I fly in are built and maintained by Six Sigma enthusiasts. However, in other environments I’m not so sure. There are multiple ways to approach the complex issues faced by public services. It can be counter-productive to adopt a; ‘one size fits all’, ‘adopt or else’, best practice approach in these situations. At the very least it will probably be the enemy of innovation.

So, what’s the PONT?

  • The phase “best practice” is a widely misused and poorly understood. Before its used people should be clear about what they mean.
  • There is evidence that the ‘over zealous’ application of ‘best practice’ type management thinking and techniques can stifle innovation.
  • There is an important place for best practice, but it’s dependent upon the context, which needs to be understood.

Picture source: US Olympic High Jump Silver Dollar. Best practice ignored!  http://www.usmint.gov/historianscorner/?action=coinDetail&id=29524

Maybe cats had the high jump sorted out long before Dick Fosbury?

Dysfunctional organisations can turn a good person bad.

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You may have heard the proverb “if you sup with the devil you need a (very) long spoon”. The idea is that if you mix with bad people you should be careful not to be influenced by them and start behaving badly yourself. It’s a very old sentiment that was mentioned as far back as 1386 in Chaucer’s ‘The Squires Tale’.

This week I got a modern, evidence based example of this aspect of human behavior at a Leadership & Management Wales (LMW) seminar.

“Management behaving badly” was presented by Professor Ralph Fevre of Cardiff University on the findings of a huge piece of research work into ill-treatment at work. The report ‘Insight into ill-treatment in the workplace: patterns, causes and solutions’ summarises the research which involved almost 4000 interviews. The report is well worth reading for anyone interested in HR, employee engagement, organisational development or just being a more effective manager or leader. A few points I took from the seminar:

Problems

  • Small organisations tend to have less of a problem with ill-treatment;
  • Bigger organisations have a higher level of ill-treatment despite ‘proper’ policies (Dignity at work etc) and HR Departments which are supposed to prevent ill-treatment;
  • Many policies and subsequent interventions, to deal with ill-treatment, don’t seem to be effective;
  • Manager against subordinate was the most common form of ill-treatment; and
  • Managers themselves are highly likely to suffer ill-treatment.

Some solutions

  • Manage the managers. Supporting managers to develop their people skills is an essential part of treating people properly, and getting the most out of them. It’s disappointing that the archetype of the technical expert with poor people skills, promoted to a managerial position who then causes havoc was mentioned several times during the session. The evidence suggests that there are still plenty of them out there (have a look at the report case studies).
  • Manage sickness absence properly. The evidence points towards the inappropriate application of sickness absence policies, particularly against people with serious conditions. Implement the policies properly and fairly (train managers to do this), and you prevent some of the ill-treatment.

One finding did stand out for me. This was the importance of the overall culture of an organisation. It was summed up as, “if you have a dysfunctional organisation the levels of ill-treatment will be greater”. This issue around culture is linked to the issue of managers   being the source of ill-treatment against staff, and being the subject of ill-treatment themselves.  It seems like a case study of behavior begets behavior and an example of a ‘vicious circle’ that arises from ill-treatment from (and to) customers and service users. The role of leadership in addressing such a culture and reversing ill-treatment is fundamental, which is probably why LMW put on the seminar. Good choice.

Linking back to the idea at the top of this post….do be careful where you choose to work. If it’s a dysfunctional organisation where ill-treatment is commonplace there is a chance you’ll be on the receiving end of it. I wouldn’t want to crush anyone’s hope and desire to change organisations (or the world) but do be aware that “if you sup with the devil you need a very long spoon”.

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. Ill-treatment of staff does happen in organisations, but is more likely in big compared to small organisations (see the is 150 the magic number post).
  2. If you are a manager, you are likely to receive, as well as, dish out ill-treatment.
  3. Organisational culture has a huge influence on ill-treatment, as well as you, so be careful who you sup with.

Opportunity in Adversity. Glass Half Full Thinking at Arriva Trains Wales (@ArrivaTW)

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Here’s quick follow up to the post about Arriva Trains Wales and their journey to improved customer service.

Last week saw another blip on the tracks. On Tuesday morning damaged signaling cable caused significant disruption. I know because I was due to meet people who were stuck at Newport (and I picked it up through Twitter).

It was interesting to observe that those people making use of Twitter (following the various train companies and Twitter hash tags #) were far better informed (and less stressed) than those who weren’t, but that’s another story……

What has grabbed my attention is the request ATW put out on Twitter for feedback on how communication worked during the disruption.  I think this approach is interesting in a number of ways. My observations:

  • You have been horribly delayed in your journey (not actually ATW’s fault), but they have tried their best to communicate with you while it was happening;
  • They have been honest and open about the limitations of their current communication  methods (no live tweeting on the disruption, see picture below);
  • But they do care about how they communicate with you, so they are asking how things worked on Tuesday so that they can make things better;
  • Sending this ‘how can we get better’ message takes some the heat out of the situation (in my opinion);
  • Gathering feedback in a structured manner while the issue is still live should capture information that is ‘fresh in the mind’, so it’s probably more accurate;
  • In my view, this is better than something six months down the track when a generic customer service questionnaire asks a potentially vague question about ‘communication during disruption’; and.
  • How good is your memory of the communication aspects of the event likely to be in 2 weeks time, let alone 6 months? This (almost) real-time feedback has got to be more useful.

I really like what ATW are trying to do here. It’s a good attempt at trying to engage with service users through Twitter as part of the improvement journey. Even though it was a difficult situation they have seen an opportunity to try and make things better. Real ‘glass half full’ thinking, nice one ATW.

I wonder if any other public service providers might have a go at something like this?

So, what’s the PONT?

  1. During disruption, service users really appreciate knowing what’s going on. Twitter offers an opportunity to do that.
  2. Being open and honest about your limitations and asking for information on ‘how do we improve’ is a good way of engaging service users.
  3. Gathering feedback while the situation is still ‘fresh in the mind’ should provide information which is more accurate than a survey months later.

Open and honest communication with @_LaurenCook_. Followed by a few screen shots of the survey. A wide range of communication channels available. I count 12!