The digital spirit level – four learning points for innovation
Achieving equilibrium is a tricky thing when attempting to introduce digital innovation to large organisations. There are many different paces to manage; so many different interests to consider; and so many pot holes to fall down. Just when I think we’ve got one thing in balance I look over my shoulder and something else needs adjusting. If I were to hold a virtual spirit level to our mHealthHabitat programme I’d rarely see a balanced horizontal line. Here are a four learning points from our first six months: Tactics versus strategy We began our mHealthHabitat programme by doing stuff – finding pockets of interest and enthusiasm, supporting bright ideas, learning through experience, making mistakes and doing it differently next time. Doing is very important – it is grounded, it engages people and it generates evidence about what works and what doesn’t. But it is not enough. You also have to create a receptive context as well as alignment with organisational strategy if your innovation is to be sustainable. A beautiful strategy but no doing is another trap. Doing and strategising need to be kept in constant equilibrium with one informing the other and back again. Keeping both in your line of vision are critical but it’s easy to lose sight of one or the other. Internal versus external Innovation often emerges when diverse perspectives enable us to see a problem differently and find an unexpected solution. Digital innovation requires not only different perspectives but very different skills sets, language and styles of communication. An internal NHS orientation focuses on building awareness and enthusiasm within organisational channels, and engaging with clinicians...
The People versus The Institution – who wins?
What is the relationship between day-to-day practices by ordinary people in social media spaces and institutions? By institutions I mean structures of social order governing behaviours of sets of individuals in a community – in this instance, an NHS Trust or a professional body in healthcare. I’ve been mulling this over for some time… Remember when it was like the wild-west? When I first started my PhD research, a little under three years ago, I had become intrigued by everyday conversations in the blogosphere and on Twitter, which were either implicitly or explicitly contesting the dominant narratives of institutions. There seemed to me to be a heady mix of people accessing mental health services and working in them (usually but not always anonymous) having conversations with a very different quality than those I was used to experiencing within the parameters of professional or institutional discourses. These seemed to me to be often bold, public conversations that challenged the status quo and at times felt wild and risky and exhilarating. The institution re-asserts itself During those three years I’ve noticed professional practices tiptoeing quietly but assuredly from the boardroom and the ward into social media spaces. This is exemplified by the plethora of guidance on use of social media for pretty much any professional group in the health sector. They are often defensively focused with a tendency to emphasise professionalism and boundaries over the affordances of public conversation to positively disrupt received relationships and effect change. I recall when I set up my blog in 2012 a colleague asked me how on earth I’d managed to get approval from my...
Fancy a bit of ‘show and tell’?
In Leeds we’re busy establishing the right conditions for mHealth (that is digital tools in health services) to flourish in our city – we want to build a community of people up for collaborating together for the purpose of improving experience and outcomes for people accessing health services in the city. We think that one of the ways to build a community is to provide opportunities for people to come together and share learning in a friendly, informal environment away from the workplace. That’s why we’ve organised our first ‘show and tell’ evening at the new Open Data Institute in Leeds. You can book a free place at the event here. We’ve got a brilliant line up for our first event with people bringing patient, carer and developer points of view. And if you’d like to share your own ideas then there’s an ‘open mic’ spot for anyone who would like to pitch in as well (2 minute slot per person). Here’s are a bit more information about our speakers: John Eaglesham: Developing a digital tool for self-management of chronic pain across a whole care pathway in Leeds John became Chief Executive of Advanced Digital Institute in 2009, and has led the company from its origins as a not-for-profit institute to its current position as a thriving, fast-growing, entrepreneurial enterprise. John contributes to several key industry groups in the Assisted Living and Smart Metering sectors and advises a number of public and private sector policy-making bodies. He is also a qualified executive coach who works with a number of FTSE 250 company directors. Kathryn Grace: Digital tools to support...
The machine that goes ping! Are apps the answer to everything?
image courtesy of histalktv.com Are apps the solution to everything? perhaps not… given my new role, directing a programme of work developing the use of digital tools such as apps in clinical services, you might guess my response would be a big definite resounding yes. However, a number of conversations I’ve had, and articles I’ve read this week, have caused me to wonder if we are in danger of naivety in we succumb to an uncritical delight in the role apps might play in relation to our health, and indeed many other aspects of our lives. The first thing which has surprised me when talking to clinical services, is that so many have an idea for an app they’d like to develop. Apps are popular – people like them, people think they can improve clinical care, and people think they can help save money in an increasingly cash strapped NHS. All of these things are likely to be correct to varying degrees, but I’m also struck by a sense that we must think critically about how much they can solve. In his recent talk to the Digital Life Design (DLD) conference, Evgeny Morozov questions what he sees as our desire to expect too much from technology at the expense of collective solutions to social problems. In the NHS we talk about empowering people to take control of their health, whereas he talks about the state delegating responsibility to the citizen and blaming them when they fail to do the ‘right thing’. To illuminate this point with a simple example – an app that supports healthy eating may be one...about.me
Victoria Betton
victoria betton
director mHabitat | NHS | social media & mental health doctorate | interested in digital inclusion | parma violets fiend | http://codesigndigitalhealth.co.uk
