{"id":4584,"date":"2016-03-05T13:18:46","date_gmt":"2016-03-05T12:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saasoft.com\/blog\/?p=4584"},"modified":"2016-03-05T13:18:46","modified_gmt":"2016-03-05T12:18:46","slug":"raising-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hcse.blog\/?p=4584","title":{"rendered":"Raising Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SaveTheNHSGame\"<\/a>The first step in the process of\u00a0improvement is raising awareness, and this\u00a0has to be done carefully.<\/p>\n

Most of us spend most of our time in a mental state called blissful ignorance<\/em>.\u00a0 We\u00a0are happily unaware of the problems, and of their solutions.<\/p>\n

Some of us spend some of our time in a different mental state called denial.<\/em><\/p>\n

And we enter that from yet another mental state called painful awareness<\/em>.<\/p>\n

By raising awareness we are deliberately nudging ourselves, and others, out of our comfort zones.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0suddenly moving from blissful ignorance to painful awareness is not<\/strong> a comfortable transition. It feels like a shock. We feel confused.\u00a0We feel vulnerable. We feel frightened.\u00a0And we have a choice: freeze,\u00a0flee or fight.<\/em><\/p>\n

Freeze<\/strong> is shock. We feel paralysed by the mismatch between rhetoric and reality.<\/p>\n

Flee<\/strong>\u00a0is denial.\u00a0 We run away from a new and uncomfortable reality.<\/p>\n

Fight<\/strong> is anger. Directed first at others (blame) and then at ourselves (guilt).<\/p>\n

It is this anger-passion that we must learn to channel and focus\u00a0as determination to listen, learn and then lead.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The picture is of a recent awareness-raising event; it happened this week.<\/p>\n

The audience is a group of NHS staff from across the depth and breadth of a health and social care system.<\/p>\n

On the screen is the ‘Save the NHS Game’<\/em>.\u00a0 It is an interactive, dynamic\u00a0flow simulation of a whole health care system; and its purpose is educational.\u00a0 It is designed to illustrate the complex and counter-intuitive flow behaviour of a system of interdependent parts:\u00a0primary care, an acute hospital, intermediate care,\u00a0residential care, and so on.<\/p>\n

We all became aware of a lot\u00a0of unfamiliar concepts in a short space of time!<\/p>\n

We all learned that\u00a0a flow system\u00a0can flip from calm to chaotic very quickly.<\/p>\n

We all learned that\u00a0a small change in one part of a system of interdependent parts can have a big effect\u00a0in another part – either\u00a0harmful\u00a0or beneficial and often both.<\/p>\n

We all learned that there is often a long time-lag between the change and the effect.<\/p>\n

We all learned that we cannot reverse the effect just by reversing the change.<\/p>\n

And we all learned that this high sensitivity to small changes is the result of the design of our system; i.e. our design.<\/p>\n

\n

Learning all that in one go was a bit of a shock!\u00a0 Especially the part where we realised that we had, unintentionally, created near perfect conditions for chaos to emerge. Oh dear!<\/p>\n

Denial\u00a0felt like a very reasonable\u00a0option; as did blame and guilt.<\/p>\n

What emerged was a collective sense of determination.\u00a0 “Let’s Do It!”\u00a0<\/em>captured the mood.<\/p>\n

\n

\"puzzle_lightbulb_build_PA_150_wht_4587\"<\/a>The second step in the process of improvement is to\u00a0show the door to the next phase of learning; the phase called ‘know how’<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This requires demonstrating that there is an another way out of the zone of painful awareness.\u00a0 An alternative to denial.<\/p>\n

This is where how-to-diagnose-and-correct-the-design-flaws<\/em>\u00a0needs to be illustrated. A step-at-a-time.<\/p>\n

And when that happens it feels like a light bulb has been switched on.\u00a0 What before was obscure and confusing suddenly becomes clear and understandable; and we say ‘Ah ha!’<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

So, if we deliberately raise awareness\u00a0about a problem then, as leaders of change and improvement, we also have\u00a0the responsibility to raise awareness about feasible solutions.<\/p>\n

\n

Because\u00a0only then are we able to\u00a0ask “Would we like to learn how to do this ourselves!”<\/em><\/p>\n

And\u00a0‘Yes, please’<\/em> is what 68% of the people said after attending the awareness raising event.\u00a0 Only 15% said ‘No, thank you’<\/em> and only 17% abstained.<\/p>\n

Raising awareness is the first step to improvement.
\nChoosing\u00a0the\u00a0path out of the pain towards knowledge is the second.
\nAnd taking the first step on that path is the third.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first step in the process of\u00a0improvement is raising awareness, and this\u00a0has to be done carefully. Most of us spend most of our time in a mental state called blissful ignorance.\u00a0 We\u00a0are happily unaware of the problems, and of their solutions. Some of us spend some of our time in a different mental state called … <\/p>\n

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