I spend a lot of time helping people improve situations – processes, products, services, brands, etc.
There are often many levers that could be pushed or pulled.
The art of improvement is knowing which levers should be left well alone.
At least that’s my experience.
In 2016 and 2017, I spent most of the my life in hospitals.
It was fascinating to see how people inside hospitals worked.
Often, technology was used, yet many of the workers fell back on pen and paper.
While there are certainly times to measure twice and cut once, in hospitals taking observations like blood pressure and temperature on pen and paper only to transcribe it into a digital interface means losing time that could be spent doing other things.
It’s inefficient.
One day, after a procedure, I was taken to a room to recuperate.
It was a nurses’ office.
Several people came in, huddled around a computer and a lively discussion took place.
I realised they were discussing an update to the Windows OS.
A huge change for them.
Yet, the IT department hadn’t considered all the shortcuts.
No one in the team knew how to add application shortcuts to the taskbar.
I wasn’t allowed to move, but I called out to them.
Giving simple instructions, I enabled one of the nurses to add a shortcut to her taskbar.
Excitement was expressed by all the team.
They swiftly moved to other computers, or left the room (I later learned, to go to other computers at the nurses’ station on the ward).
The most senior nurse came to thank me.
Why?
They’d had a ticket opened to have shortcuts added by a central IT team.
It was low priority for the team (as it no doubt should have been given the systems in places for technology that saves lives) yet it was high priority for the nurses.
I’d unlocked weeks of frustration for them.
Phone calls were made, and nurses began to tell other colleagues around the hospital how to add shortcuts.
Instructions were typed and quickly emailed.
Within 20 minutes, I think every nursing staff member had those instructions in their inbox.
A few weeks later, when I was back for a check-up, a nurse I’d never met before came up to me and said thanks.
I must have looked miffed, as she went on to explain that someone had pointed me out as the person who had helped with the taskbar shortcuts.
It had changed their working lives in ways that were immeasurable.
There was a disconnect between priorities for IT and for those using the technology.
This is what led to stress and frustration.
Easily fixed in the end, but what probably looked like a huge challenge.
The culture of sharing information came naturally to the nursing staff, so telling one of them how to do it (at a suitably senior level) quickly led to adoption across the hospital.
And that’s how I came to do some digital transformation for the NHS.