Cast & Curious

Category: Team Building and Teamwork

  • Building organizational culture with social media

    Since I started dabbling with social media, I believe there was more to it than politics, entertainment, branding, marketing or plain gossip mongering. We humans pushed the limits of our potential to progress (and sometimes disasters), by being social. We championed our kind as the “superior” animal because of our ability to socialize, collaborate and defend our race as one cohesive unit. History is replete with “tools” that help us build cultures. Fire, stone, religion, steel, money, weapons, print, radio, TV and now, the internet. We built our culture by being social- from the stone age, to possibly, the digital era.

    As I write this piece, the stark contrast of cultures before and at the dawn of social media platforms is mind boggling. Just how we build a culture via social media is something that needs clarifying but one thing for sure, we are at a point of no return. We move forward with social media from here.

    When we started #HealthXPh, we thought we can build a culture of collaboration among healthcare workers via social media. #HealthXPh does this because we believe in doing the “social” good. Thus, we helped build communities of health- aware organizations espousing the “social good”, via this platform. Proof to this is this tweet chat, that discusses almost everything under the sun that affects healthcare workers and patients. How #HealthXPh did that was sort of a trial and error exploration, in a platform that was very new and volatile even five or ten years ago. As an organizational development junkie, that Is what I am very much interested. Join #HealthXPh tweet chat this Saturday Sept 3, 2022 9PM Manila Time as we try to share insights on how to build organizational culture via social media. Tweet your answers back to the following guide questions and append the hashtag #HealthXPh in the tweet.

    [su_box title=”Building organizational culture via social media”]
    [su_list icon=”icon: hand-o-right”]

    • T1. Can you build organizational culture with social media? Why or why not?
    • T2. What are the risks and challenges of building organizational culture with social media?
    • T3. How can you successfully build organizational culture with social media? Share your tips and/or experience [/su_list] [/su_box]

      I noticed a number of my friends build cultures or subcultures in their organizations with social media. The last election in this country however, heavily weighed down social media as a political tool, convoluting a once novel way of building culture with this platform. I’d like to ignite the spark with this chat. Join us in this interesting discussion!

      Image by wavebreakmedia_micro on Freepik

  • Nurturing Safe and Braves Spaces on Social Media

    Social media has been a “comfortable” space ever since I joined most of these platforms. This is not just because I’m comfortable with computers and the internet, but mainly because I tend to gravitate and collaborate with people that allow me to grow in this space. In other words, I felt psychologically safe to grow in some groups I am with in social media.

    Two presidential elections and a pandemic drastically changed that “comfortable, safe” social media space. Sometimes, social media is so toxic I had to belabor curating my feed. Add to the difficulty is the changing algorithm of social media feeds, which is getting out of our control more than ever. Now I have to really do social media sabbaticals just to save my sanity from the milee.

    I (and I guess a number of others) wanted at east to reclaim this safe space on social media. And we cannot do it alone. I remember my coach telling me, “if you want a safe space, make one for others first”. This is the topic of our #HealthXPh chat this Saturday June 11, 2022 9PM Manila time.

    Psychological safety is defined as the

    belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. A shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking

    -Edmonson 1999

    Today we will be revisiting the safe and brave spaces #HealthXPH as well as other #HCSM group started for other healthcare professionals to grow their networks on social media. We would seek advice from our colleagues on social media how they did make “safe and brave’ spaces t grow on social media.

    According to Clarke (2020) there are four stages of psychological safety in an environment- Inclusion Safety, Learner safety, Contributor safety and Challenger Safety. Let’s discuss how you can contribute to creating these stages of safe spaces.

    T1. How can you promote inclusion safety on social media?

    This stage simply meant all people in your social media group felt welcomed and included. I remember when we first formed #Healthxph, it was so informal and I felt very much welcomed even though we’re miles apart and very diverse persons at that. Some of us don’t know a thing about social media platforms. We included them first then helped them along the way. And we tried all platforms first to see what worked for all of us!

    T2. How can you promote learner safety on social media?

    Learner safety means “being able to ask questions, give and receive feedback, experiment, and make mistakes”. #HealthXPh is a very learning group. We assured each other we’ll help in everyone’s learning “the ropes” in social media. We have been doing this with our various summits and workshops since 2015. Here every time I speak in front of summit attendees, I often ask “what if I’m wrong”? One would answer, well we will know and learn together. Just go and do it”

    T3. How can you promote Contributor safety on social media?

    Contributor safety means “being able to participate as a member of the team, contribute ideas and suggestions, and raise threats and risks using members’ individual talents and abilities to contribute to the team without fear”. At #HealthXPh, each one contributes his or her best abilities. And even in areas where you have very minimal abilities, your contribution builds the overall program of the group. And since none were mainly an expert on everything in social media, we tried to contribute what we learned along our journey.

    T4. How can you promote challenger safety on social media?

    Challenger safety meant “being able to challenge the way the team works, come up with new ways of working, behaviours, and challenge the ideas of others – even the ideas of senior members” . We had some very controversial discussions at #HealthXPh, and even on twitter. We provide and hosted topics that were rather unpopular or divisive. #HealthXPh in some ways been able to diffuse the tension and made the discussion safe for everyone to contribute or challenge. This is what I later learned as increasing the ” academic tension but decreasing the social tension”. Social media feedbacking is very important here and we have tackled that in so many tweetchats before.

    Psychologically safe space is the “underpinning of high performing teams, bringing out creativity and innovation in teams” says Amy Edmonson in Fearless Organization. In one recent workshop I attended I heard one speaker mention ‘bravespace” for safe space. Indeed, if in the last stage of Psychological safety meant we are “safe” to challenge status quo in social media, then “brave space” would be an apt term.

    I am inviting you once again to join #HealthXPh tweetchat this Saturday June 11, 2022 9PM Manila time. See you all!

  • Dousing “The Burn” out of Health Workers

    Last year, I was literally up and about helping patients and love ones cope up with burnout amidst this pandemic. This year, I got burned and I had hard time dealing with it.

    Growing up out of poverty and trained as an orthopedic surgeon, I am very confident of my “grit” and “resilience”. I could streetsmart myself out of any crisis or navigate a disaster, unscathed. I am usually called in to lead a team in crisis particularly because of “grit and resilience”. Moreover, Filipinos are known for our grit and resilience having been battered by disasters year in, year out. We usually just joke around these hardships like a regular daily occurrences. No wonder why burn out is overrated among us.

    Well, not until this COVID-19 pandemic.

    T1. How should I know I’m burned out?

    Various studies have shown that 50-70% of health workers experienced burnout during this COVID-19 pandemic. I was expecting health worker burnout to happen anytime soon, but not me. It’s always easy diagnosing a disease when its afflicting someone else. But not me. I went about the business of leading a healthcare team fighting COVID-19 and spearheaded another organization’s learning and digital transformation. I even managed to set up a counselling program for burnout health workers in one institution. Yet, in the months that follow, I noticed the veil of burn out creeping in. Despite the perceived success of many endeavors I led, I felt achieving nothing. I can empathize with the emotional exhaustion of my colleagues, yet I “constructively” deny my own exhaustion. I worked and spend some more time on work. “Maybe this could solve more problems”. Personal tragedies filled up, fuses shortened and the volcanic, emotional outburst showed “the cracks”.

    I am burned. I haven’t accepted it just yet, but I am definitely burned.

    T2. What are the consequences of a health worker burn out?

    What compelled me to accept this is ironically, the grim consequence it could bring not just to myself, but to the entire health care institution. It can and will probably cost lives- Mine or others. I’ve seen colleagues resigning or shifting to other less risky careers. I’ve talked to some who swear not to hold the stethoscope ever again. I’ve seen wards and hospitals shut down because of health worker shortages. I’ve seen patients got worse simply because there’s too much a single health worker could handle. The moral distress is high, particularly with the loss of sense of control over this pandemic. Even that, I still couldn’t believe that the resilient me can be burned.

    T3. How can a health worker help him/herself and others, out of burnout?

    Denial state notwithstanding, I have this moral obligation to do something about my burnout. Perhaps, one way to convince myself that I need help , is to help other health workers both on a personal and systems level. I called out a time out for my team. Not long enough, but not a bad start either. Health workers cannot simply “quit” en masse in a complex health systems. Second, we need to initiate system level safety nets that protect health workers from hazards and toxic work environment. Third and probably the most important, I have to deal with my own “burnt out” issues.

    This will be the topic of our #healthxph tweet chat this saturday Oct 16, 2021 9PM Manila time. Please join us with this guide questions:

    • T1. How should I know that I am burned out?
    • T2. What are the consequences of a health worker burnout?
    • T3. How can a health worker help him/herself and others, out of burnout?

    Image by Sam Williams from Pixabay

  • Social Media as a tool in engaging providers’ “buy in” on health care innovation

    Compared to other industries and despite milestone discoveries that saved million of lives, innovation in health care is still considered “slow” by many. There are myriad of reasons for this but healthcare system is a complex system and for innovation to take traction, it needs to satisfy many stakeholders. Systems level solutions offers a lot of potential but it’s the stakeholders’ “buy in” (or “out”) that usually doom interventions to fail.

    What drives change and innovation in health care?

    Clarifying the direction of change helps untangle the confusion and may also improve buy in of stakeholders. Improving health outcomes and lowering the cost of health care services drives change and innovation in health. These two complementary driving force put emphasis on the Patients First intention. Many health stakeholders and most especially providers, share this altruistic goal. Lowering the barriers to stakeholders engagement maybe a solution, but what’s important is that leaders engage health care providers forward to health innovation. Moreover, health leaders should recognise that a buy in to “Patient’s First” goal doesn’t mean neglecting the motivational aspirations of health care workers. Leaders need to tap in these motivation if they expect providers to be engaged and at the forefront of change in health care. I hypothesise that social media, intertwined in todays internet heavy health care, plays a role in this.

    Health leaders should recognise that a buy in to “Patient’s First” goal doesn’t mean neglecting the motivational aspirations of health care workers. Leaders need to tap in these motivation if they expect providers to be engaged and at the forefront of change in health care.

    New media as change agents in healthcare revolution.

    As the internet is now intertwined with healthcare, there’s a movement within the system to increase patient participation in the management of his or her own health. Empowered by new technology and social media, physician- patient partnership for health is gaining headway and might just ( if not already) accelerate change in healthcare. I propose that social media be used as a tool to tap in the motivations of healthcare providers and engage them towards innovations in health. If the Patients First goals drive innovations in health, social media might possibly accelerate it. How to do this is the topic of these tweetchat conversation.

    If the Patients First goals drive innovations in health, social media might possibly accelerate it.

    -unknown

    Lee and Cosgrove (2018) borrowed Max Weber’s Four Motivational Typology for Social Action as potential intervention points for leaders to tap and engage physicians as agent of change. (See picture table below).

    Photo lifted from HBR.org’s article Engaging Doctors in the Health care Revolution; here https://hbr.org/2014/06/engaging-doctors-in-the-health-care-revolution

    I suspect this holds true for all health providers and not just physicians. My hypothesis is that social media plays a role in accelerating “buy in” vis a vis these motivational tools. Let’s start crowd sourcing ideas.

    • T1. How would social media help healthcare providers engage in a noble, shared purpose? Many healthcare institution analyse the results of their Patient Satisfaction Surveys (PSS) to improve patient services. General trends of this survey and the measures implemented to improve outcomes, are posted on the institution’s social media channels for public viewing. The same general trends and specific positive results and commendations are posted on the institutions social media channels for providers viewing. The positive commendations usually motivates providers engagement to the institution’s shared goals.
    • T2: How would social media help fulfil or satisfy providers self interest? Putting the patients welfare first resonates deeply with many health providers. Like everybody else though, many are also motivated by “job security or financial rewards” while performing their duties and responsibilities of “putting the patient’s welfare first”. Many health care professionals on social media provide a vital link between institutions and patients. These health care professionals ( “influencers”) play an important role in the HCI’s organisational structure. Moreover, patients tend to consult or opine with healthcare professionals who are visible and easily accessible online.
    • T3: How would social media help healthcare providers earn respect? Like everybody else, earning respect and peer pressure are strong driver for change among healthcare workers. Although the many worst and ugly failings of the providers are publicised online, positive feedback from patients and colleagues improves performance in the long run. In the new media age where even health workers long for transparency, faster feedback and communication social media should be a good platform.

    These are just some examples of how social media could be a tool to engage providers as agent of change in healthcare. It is neither inclusive nor perfect. If we need health providers’ buy in health care’s innovative change however, health leaders probably need to tap social media.

    Join the discussion on this topic this Saturday July 6, 2019 9:00 PM Manila Time by tweeting your thoughts with the hashtags #HealthXPh #HCSMPH2019 #HCLeadership with the following guide questions:

    • T1. How would social media help healthcare providers engage in a noble, shared purpose?
    • T2: How would social media help fulfil or satisfy providers self interest?
    • T3: How would social media help healthcare providers earn respect?
    • T4: How would social media help providers embrace tradition in the pursuit of innovative change in healthcare?

    Se you all healthcare tweeps!

  • Effective healthcare campaigns in changing digital media environment- From “You do it” to “Let’s do it!

    Vaccination and measles outbreak flooded our social media feeds recently. The sad news is we thought we eradicated measles decades ago. Measles however, only hogged the media limelight after an outbreak happened. “What went wrong with the measles campaign?” many asked. There’s no shortage of blaming on what many called “a failure” to counter an “avalanche of online misinformation” about vaccination and vaccines. Measles and vaccinations are just two of the many health campaigns that took centerstage after an “outbreak” happened. Heard of health supplements? Alternative cancer treatments? Dengue? Flu? Smoking? Vaping? Diabetes? Kidney diseases? We din’t notice until something alarming happened. We blame the new media and the people who use it for their own purposes-good or bad. Then we rush to using the same new media to counter such online misinformation. We fail and wonder. How come?

    First allow me to narrow the discussion to health campaigns on social media. Successful health campaigns are not solely because of an effective media strategy let alone a savvy social media leader. The whole caboodles of political, economic, logistical and support systems should be in place before we can even talk of launching it on social media. Having said that, and for the sake of our discussion, lets assume we all have those factors sorted out in place and we’re left with an effective social media campaign strategy to go with the health advocacy.

    In the past we had leaders adept in using media to implement effective healthcare campaigns. Think Dr. Juan Flavier and his much loved health news, radio and TV campaigns. He and his health campaigns were blockbusters, to his avid followers and critics alike. The charismatic secretary seemed to have mastered old media messaging and signalling and was very effective in mobilizing the crowd. He is interested in empowering the public, not himself nor his organization- a novel, laudable new media value. This cascading top to bottom healthcare campaign strategy worked for old media- newspapers, radio and TV. Will it work for the new media?

    T1. What old media health campaign strategies work in social media?

    Internet and social media showed much promise for advocacies and campaigns. Twitter had been instrumental in monitoring or reporting disease outbreaks for CDC and WHO. Healthcare organizations employed social media platforms to pressure health policy changes in some countries, and won. Social media campaigns played a huge part in the passage of Sin Tax Law and the Universal Healthcare Law in the Philippines. Incremental wins some may call it but a win nonetheless. Let’s not forget, the millions of money that poured in to health advocacy groups because of memes such as the “Ice bucket Challenge”. Why some organisations are successful in using social media to meet the objectives of their healthcare campaigns (and others, do not) remains a mystery to many.

    Internet and social media comprise the “new media”. Internet gatekeepers and social media platforms keep changing its policies, algorithm and strategies to achieve its bottomline- profit for its owners and shareholders. That’s not altogether bad given the social media platforms who succeeded in providing desirable value to the general public while maintaining a profitable and sustainable business model. That social media is hog washed in false information and dubious health messages is also not true. There’s no dearth of superior quality health information online according to Keselman (2019). Despite the presence of superior quality and credible online health information, some health campaigns failed to mobilize a hyperconnected populace. Why did it fail? Was it the messaging? Platform? Theme?

    T2. What are the reasons behind the failure of some health social media campaigns to mobilize the crowd and effect change?

    In their book New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World- and How to Make It Work for You, Heimans and Timms (2018) placed leadership archetypes into a spectrum, a quadrant on how leadership structures (termed old/new power) use old/new power values to effect change.

    Leadership Archetypes in a quadrant with examples of leaders/organizations who best exemplifies each quadrant. Image from HBR article here https://hbr.org/2014/12/understanding-new-power

    Arguably, the top down, cascading model of social media campaigns don’t work effectively in digital social media environment.

    Old versus new power values. Image from HBR article here https://hbr.org/2014/12/understanding-new-power

    The “I’m the expert just follow what I say” seem to be a less appealing to social media crowd than that of the “bottoms up, grassroots or collaborative approach. The new leadership model committed to empowering the crowd with new power values are the most successful ones. Values like collaboration, radical transparency, maker mentality and overall general participation characterise this new power value. Social media smacks right into the heart of these new power values. Leaders who are adept at these new power values empower and mobilize the crowd .

    T3. What best strategy can you advise health leaders in using social media to mobilize and effect change in healthcare?

    Thankfully, many organisations (old and new power structures alike) are restructuring, recalibrating their health campaigns to align with the intricacies of new power tools, like social media. That is something we can learn from this deluge of disease outbreaks and health misinformation. This is the topic of this #HealthXPh chat come February 9, 2019 9PM Manila time as we build consensus of how to’s in implementing health social media campaigns that empowers and mobilizes the crowd.

    Join #healthXPh chat with these guide questions in mind:

    • T1. What old media health campaign strategies work in social media?
    • T2. Why did some social media campaigns failed to mobilize the crowd and effect change in healthcare?
    • T3. What best social media strategy will you advise health leaders in mobilising and effecting changes in healthcare?

    References:

    • Keselman A, Arnott Smith C, Murcko AC, Kaufman DR (2019) Evaluating the Quality of Health Information in a Changing Digital Ecosystem J Med Internet Res 2019;21(2):e11129 URL: https://www.jmir.org/2019/2/e11129
    • Sak,G; Diviani, N; Allam, A; Schulz, P: (2016) Comparing the Quality of Pro- and Anti-vaccination Online InformationA Content Analysis of Vaccination-Related Webpages BMC Public Health. 2016;16(38) 
    • Heimans, J; Timms, H. (2014) “Understanding “New Power””. Harvard Business Review. December 2014.
    • Heimans, J; Timms, H. (2018) New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World- and How to Make It Work for You. New York, Penguin Random House LLC