Practical Strategies for Learning from Failure is coming to Leeds! #LFFdigital

Following a successful workshop in Cardiff we are offering a second Practical Strategies for Learning from Failure in Leeds on Thursday 8th October 2015.

If you are interested in attending here’s the link to register your interest.

To find out more about what happened in Cardiff have a look at the Storify prepared by @GoodPracticeWAO

and the following posts:

Exploring the Benefits of Learning from Failure at #LFFdigital

@whatsthepont The James Reason Swiss Cheese Failure Model in 300 Seconds

@dosticen How can we build time for reflection into our digital lifestyles?

@DyfrigWilliams Failing to learn from failure and Learning from failure in complex environment – what does this mean for audit?

What attendees thought of the Cardiff workshop – feedback compiled by ‏@commutiny

The twitter network picture for #lffdigital for the past 7 days https://t.co/ZHfCmBTmgo

— Mark_Outhwaite (@Mark_Outhwaite) August 6, 2015

There are limited places available for this free workshop and early booking is advised. If you are allocated a place and unable to attend please let us know as soon as possible so that we can give your place to someone on the waiting list.

The #LFFdigital team look forward to meeting you in Leeds.

Shirley Ayres @shirleyayres Connected Care Network, Chris Bolton @whatsthepont Wales Audit Office, Roxanne Persaud @commutiny Doctoral Researcher, University of Southampton and Paul Taylor @PaulBromford Innovation Coach, Bromford Lab

Exploring the Benefits of Learning from Failure at #LFFdigital

I have always been inspired by JK Rowling’s powerful Harvard commencement speech in which she discussed the fringe benefits of failure. As JK  said,”It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not lived at all in which case, you fail by default.”

We live in an age that relentlessly promotes innovation. However across the public sector our willingness to talk about risk and learn from failure has not kept pace. Whilst there seems to be consensus about the need to share learning many organisations are working in a  competitive funding environment which does not encourage this to happen. How can we create a space which encourages organisations to share the learning about projects which have not achieved their anticipated and desired outcomes and impact?

Our Practical Strategies for Learning from Failure workshop on the 5th August in Cardiff offers the opportunity for strategic thinkers who recognise that we need to learn how to deal with disappointments, mistakes and failures of all kinds.  It responds to the #PdDigital15 challenge “how can we unleash people-led digital innovation in health and wellbeing?” by helping to de-stigmatise failure and ‘what doesn’t work’ so we can adapt and move on more quickly.

The event is being facilitated by a unique team bringing perspectives from practice, research and different sectors.

• Shirley Ayres @shirleyayres   Connected Care Network
• Chris Bolton @whatsthepont  Wales Audit Office
• Roxanne Persaud @commutiny  Doctoral Researcher, University of Southampton
• Paul Taylor @PaulBromford  Innovation Coach, Bromford Lab

We will be working with you to consider the following questions.

• What are the costs of failure and how can we do things differently?
• Why do we continue to reward the “wrong” activities?
• What are the guiding principles to prepare for a new landscape with citizens at the centre?

There is no charge for the event, thanks to the people at #PdDigital15 and the Wales Audit Office so we expect everyone to make commitments to preparatory thinking, collaborative working, and follow-up.  We are doing this because we believe it is important to keep up critical momentum on the conversation.

You can register here

Once registered on this workshop you will need to complete a short questionnaire. It will take about 10 minutes and give you a flavour of the kinds of conversations we will have and provide valuable insights to inform the workshop.

The main outcome from the workshop is to begin a cross sector conversation about how to share the learning from failure across health , housing , care and the wider social sector.

If you are not able to attend the workshop but  would like to join in the conversation  on Twitter and share resources you have found useful we are using the hashtag #LFFdigital

(We are not officially announcing it yet but if you cannot come to Cardiff in August  we will be running another #LFFdigital workshop in Leeds on the 8th October)

#caregoesdigital – some thoughts on the journey

On Friday Chris Bolton @whatsthepont  and I will be exploring with staff how the Care Council for Wales @CareCouncil  should be involved in social media. The Care Council is the social care workforce regulator in Wales responsible for promoting and securing high standards across the social services and social care workforce. It is worth noting that I first connected with Chris through Twitter!

It is so encouraging to see more and more care organisations that now understand the value and power of social media to communicate their values, purpose, share resources and actively engage with a much wider audience.  

In the UK 24 million people are using Facebook every day and Twitter claims15 million users. Messages on social media can reach large numbers of people and it is important that organisations are clear about what they want to achieve from social media.

It is a reality that organisations are being discussed online and the choice is whether you want to be part of those conversations. The choice of platforms you use will be determined by your target audience(s) and where they are having conversations.  Engagement through content that is relevant to your followers rather than just broadcasting is one of the key messages in developing a strong digital presence. Potentially all staff are your “brand ambassadors” so give them the confidence and permission to join social media conversations.

“Share generously your knowledge, passions and links to great resources you have read and enjoyed”

Whilst social media platforms may be “free to use” to be successful in social media does require an investment of time and energy. Once you understand the basics you can start building your online profile. “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product“ is a separate debate!

I am often asked about where to start in developing a digital engagement strategy and I thought I’d share a few thoughts.

Social media guidelines provide a framework especially if social care staff and volunteers are more used to the informality of channels like Facebook. Many organisations have found that proving a private social network such as Yammer encourages staff to experiment with being more social before they develop a public presence. Happily you do not have to reinvent the wheel when developing social media guidelines. The most important element is to ensure that you consult with your staff and reach a consensus about what is acceptable behaviour online.

There are excellent examples provided by:

Monmouthshire County Council Social Media Policy @MonmouthshireCC

Bromford Housing Group social media policy @BromfordGroup 

NHS Employers HR and Social Media Guidance @nhsemployers

Engage: Digital and Social Media Engagement for the Police Service the development of the guidelines was overseen by @GScobbie previously ACPO lead for social media.

Scottish Social Services Council @TripleSSSC 

The Public Sector Social Media Survey 2013 Infographic from Goss Interactive provides a snapshot of the public sector’s current use of social media on an organisational level.

Everything Your Company Needs to Know to Succeed on the Social Web @JChErNov

Without digital leadership many organisations struggle to engage with social media effectively. Is a ‘digital’ leader any different from a ‘traditional’ leader?  A question asked by @clarkmike as he shares his 10 top tips. Mike identifies a number of characteristics of the digital leader which include dismantling traditional infrastructures that act as barriers to innovation or which do not add value. Digital leaders support and champion people that are close to service users and customers and seek out people with different views and perspectives to understand how barriers can be overcome. Digital leaders have wide reach, they question and challenge, summarise and synthesise, simplify and de-clutter when necessary. They operate in a 24/7/365 disrupted & chaotic world building new connections & collaborations at speed and they communicate extensively. How many of these factors are intregral to current leadership training programme? 

One of my favourite slideshares with excellent insights from Paul Taylor @PaulBromford about the Bromford Group experience of opening up social media access to all staff. Thanks for sharing Paul.

I hope that staff at the conference will be inspired to think about how Twitter and other social media channels can be used to communicate the purpose of Care Council for Wales and engage with a wider audience who also have an interest in promoting and securing high standards for social work and care.

Useful resources to help you on the journey

Twitter in 15 minutes A Beginners Guide by @BestTechGuyEver

Seven Twitter mistakes we all have to make @HelReynolds

5 reasons why social workers should use social media @Ermintrude2

We will be exploring the online care resources  that are available in Wales, across the UK and internationally. Use #caregoesdigital  to add your resource.

One of the biggest challenges faced by the care sector is the joining up all of the amazing resources which are available online. An example of using digital technology to do this is provided by the Connected Care Mindmap developed by @clarkmike. We have been identifying relevant resources over the past few months to share and give people a context for the problems identified through online discussions and the Priorities for Care survey at #psicare.

I am very much looking forward to Friday!