January 2013 Thought Leader of the month: Paul Levy

Throughout 2013 I will be posting my thought leader of the month. It will be a personal view, of course, and I aim to recognise those I follow and whose thoughts I appreciate.

My January 2013 Thought Leader of the Month is Paul Levy.

·       Paul hosts the blog “Not running a hospital;” and he is also active on Twitter.  He’s a former CEO of a large Boston hospital and he has things to say – and he says so eloquently and with authenticity. I follow his thought leadership, even though it is USA centric and I am UK based, because he’s not afraid of speaking up when necessary, of praising when deserved and criticising constructively when required. He shares a variety of thoughts, from science, statistics, service redesign, stories and personal stuff too. This means it's easier to understand his perspective. He’s rounded and it’s easier to trust him because you get to understand his perspective. He messed up once at work, at he made an apology public on his blog - that's the authenticity that attracts me as a follower.

There are five articles in my thought leadership series:

1. What or who is a thought leader
2. Being a thought leader
3. Organisations as thought leaders; some healthcare examples
4. Medical Thought Leadership
5. Thought Leadership 2.0

You can vote / suggest February's Thought Leader by tweeting #hcthtldr

A Primer for Bloggers

Chris Brogan has blogged a brief list of things for newbie Bloggers to think through when starting up and maintaining a blog. Good hints and tips in here for healthcare and NHS bloggers.

I like #18 "Inspiration is both a verb and a muscle."

Literature review for the use of Web 2.0 tools in Education

Whilst education is different from both healthcare and private organisations, there is a lot in this literature review to get you thinking.  I was wowed by the comprehensive coverage of the technologies and the analysis of what might best be used when and where and by whom.  I started reading from the back - with the Appendices!



Introduction
Methodology
Changing
 technologies
The 
emergence 
of
 Web
2.0 
tools
A 
typology 
of 
Web
2.0 
tools
Changing
 learning 
and 
learners
Theories
 of 
learning
New 
forms 
of 
learning
Patterns
 of
 technology 
use
and 
the
 characteristics
 o f
learners
The
 changing
 role
 of
 teaching 
and 
teachers
Strategies 
for 
supporting 
the
 use 
of 
technologies
Barriers
 to 
uptake 
and 
lack 
of 
impact
Digital,
 networked
 and
 multi­literacies
Success
 factors 
and 
strategies 
for 
change
Contextual 
examples
Blogs,
 wikis 
and
 social
 tagging
Twitter.
Social 
networking.
Immersive 
environments 
and
 virtual
 worlds.
Summing
 up.
Conclusions
Appendices

Web 2.0 not role modelled is inauthentic

Anyone or any organisation that flies the flag of change management and improvement always has the difficult task of acting what they say, namely being a role model for what they espouse.  It is difficult to get right all the time and I certainly don't.

One positive example I have experienced is the Institute for Healthcare Improvement who, a while back, took on the challenge of improving their invoicing and payment system on the basis they couldn't teach others to do it unless they (a) were a good role model and (b) learnt from their own experience.

The worst of management consultancy is when concepts and theories from books are copied onto PowerPoint slides and then used to train others. Where the trainers have no experience of the content their audience will soon figure out the dissonance and leave the session - either physically or mentally.

In England we have a rash of NHS Improvement related organisations trying to get onto the social media bandwagon. I am all for it as I believe it is an essential tool for communicating and engaging with others. However, when the organisations involved have no official and monitored Facebook page, do not use blogs (as in few is any of their Executive Teams or Senior Staff use them), have never used a wiki, do not use RSS feeds themselves as part of their own learning, or never used a discussion forum in-house etc - then the exhortations and training comes across as inauthentic.

There are one or two NHS Improvement groups, like NHS Improvement, who are using Web 2.0 techniques to their advantage and I like the way they are starting with themselves and learning how to use them in-house, before going outside.  I am sure they will be excellent role models for the future.

Blogging policies and blogging in healthcare

Over the last few months I have been meeting up with groups and organisations who want to dip their toe into the social media soup yet are concerned they have need a policy and/or are worried about what is /isn't kosher when it comes to blogging and twitter etc. I acknowledge the need to develop some guidelines that both enable the best of blogging yet manage corporate requirements.

This reminds me of the early days of email when some organisations felt email was very risky and clamped down on it with many rules and regulations. As time went on, the wisdom of the crowd took over and a "norm" was established. The book "Groundswell" - see my book review blog for a review if you're interested http://www.mybookblurb.blogspot.com/ - has a page http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2004/11/blogging_policy.html listing Blogger Code of ethics which I like.

There are also some links in there to publically available corporate blogging policies, like Harvard University, Sun Microsystems.

The BBC has a simple page that makes sense to me as being sufficiently practical without being onerous http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/advice/personalweb/blogging.shtml

Working in healthcare and think that blogging isn't relevant? Check out 100 Best Health Care Policy blogs and see what is on offer and the potential impact they are having http://www.rncentral.com/nursing-library/careplans/100_best_health_care_policy_blogs

Or if you need a more research based approach then have a look here http://blog.mathemagenic.com/2008/12/15/research-papers-on-business-blogging/

If email is your only means of electronic communication then maybe now is the time to test something new to add to your skill base.

Blogging best practice

Over the last few months I have been meeting up with groups and organisations who want to dip their toe into the social media soup yet are concerned they have need a policy and/or are worried about what is /isn't kosher when it comes to blogging and twitter etc.


I acknowledge the need to develop some guidelines that both enable the best of blogging yet manage corporate requirements. This reminds me of the early days of email when some organisations felt email was very risky and clamped down on it with many rules and regulations. As time went on, the wisdom of the crowd took over and a "norm" was established.

The book "Groundswell" - see my book review blog for a review if you're interested http://www.mybookblurb.blogspot.com/ - has a page http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2004/11/blogging_policy.html listing Blogger Code of ethics which I like. There are also some links in there to publically available corporate blogging policies, like Harvard University, Sun Microsystems.


The BBC has a simple page that makes sense to me as being sufficiently practical without being onerous http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/advice/personalweb/blogging.shtml



Working in healthcare and think that blogging isn't relevant? Check out 100 Best Health Care Policy blogs and see what is on offer and the potential impact they are having http://www.rncentral.com/nursing-library/careplans/100_best_health_care_policy_blogs

Or if you need a more research based approach then have a look here http://blog.mathemagenic.com/2008/12/15/research-papers-on-business-blogging/

If email is your only means of electronic communication then maybe now is the time to test something new to add to your skill base.

Blogging best practice policy checklists

Over the last few months I am meeting up with groups and organisations who want to dip their toe into the social media soup yet are concerned they have no policy or ground rules for staff to do this. Why do they want to blog - well, various groups and different answers. However, a continuing theme amongst all of them is in finding a way to reach out to others to share their experiences, news, views and opinions - often about products or services they are working with. They are seeking new ways to enable others to learn about and adopt their prodycts and services.

A good place to start when developing your own strategy is

a) avoid reinventing the wheel

b) use existing checklists and guidleines such as those provided by the blogcouncil http://blogcouncil.org/disclosure/

c) be brave and know the genie is already out of the bottle and know that success is in how much you let go rather than how much you control