We keep being told that 'feedback is a gift'. But who really welcomes unsolicited negative feedback? Brain research shows it often triggers a “fight or flight” response, flooding our brains with stress hormones & limiting our ability to absorb information. Daniel Stillman says it's…

Being able to ask the right questions is a key capability for leaders facing situations of increasing urgency & uncertainty. Advances in AI are creating a seismic shift from a world in which answers were crucial to one in which questions are. But most leaders are not formally…

For those who use social media to connect/learn about health & care improvement. Which social media platform keeps you most connected to the quality improvement community? Vote below: #QI Twitter #QI

This article describes trends, key concepts & theories in Organizational Development (OD) between 2018-23 based on empirical evidence. The trends include:
1) strategic agility & speeding up adaptability to change
2) more systematic approaches to learning and development
3) the…

50% of people taking part in remote meetings multitask during the meetings (and we are doing more of it). Here is an excellent research-based article from asana to remind us why we should try not to multitask. It's bad for our productivity & our mental health. It creates…

I’m so proud to be part of the amazing NHS Horizons team, enabling large scale change in health & care. We hosted sessions throughout the International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare two weeks ago and got to collaborate & learn with thousands of fellow improvers from…

Most transformation efforts fail. Major new research from Bain & Company says only 12% of big change programmes produce lasting results. They identify six 'good practices' for large scale change strategies that greatly increase the likelihood of success:
1) Treat transformation…

The 'Cambridge Elements' series on major approaches to improving quality & safety in health & care has published its new guide on values & ethics in improvement work. It's free for all to read/download. The guide helps us to focus on:
1) the rich array of values that underpin…

How to improve a meeting (when you’re not in charge). A recent article from Amy Edmondson. The tactics you use depends on the level of psychological safety:
1) The helpful workaround: works when psychological safety is low (on the team or with the person leading the meeting).…

How can we build a culture of learning at scale? There's an increasing focus on ‘learning networks’ (as well as, or instead of, learning within organisations). It's built on a sense we need to support learning to occur across scales & boundaries - from the individual to…

There's lots of guidance for leaders on 'listening with empathy'. This research-based article says much of it (based on the idea of 'walking in others shoes') is problematic. 'Walking in shoes' gives us a clear picture of how we would feel if we were the other person but not how…

I'm reading 'The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make The Right Things Easier and The Wrong Things Harder' by Bob Sutton (Bob Sutton) & Huggy Rao. 'Friction' means the forces that make it harder, slower or more complicated to get things done in organisations. They describe…

Our new report on a topic that's proved stubborn despite 3 decades of improvement strategy in health & care. It's about demonstrating & defining the value arising from quality or continuous improvement (CI) activity, particularly economic value. In the report, we summarise the…

I'm recovering this weekend after three ('mile a minute') days as the co-chair of the International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare. Thousands of people from 63 countries shared & learnt together.
When organisational finances get tight, the inclination of leaders is…

Another excellent article about the book by Amy Edmondson 'Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well'. In an interview with Harvard Business Review, Amy says experimentation and risk-taking are crucial for organisational success but they should be enabled within a coherent framework.…

I'm at #Quality2024 live, listening to Amy Edmondson talking about principles from her book “The Right Kind of Wrong – The Science of Failing Well”. Amy differentiates three kinds of failures in organisations:
1) Basic failures: caused by carelessness or ignorance
2) Complex…

The next keynote at #Quality2024 is being live streamed & open to all. It starts at 4.15pm this afternoon: 'The healthcare sector is responsible for almost 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and if it was a country it would be the 5th largest polluter in the world. But how do…