Moving from Inspiration Innovation to Implementation

When and where?

Alongside two one-day workshops, (4^th November & 26^th January 2015) participants also received 3 personal 1:1 coaching sessions to support their on-going project development and help them move forwards in areas where they may be experiencing personal and professional challenges or blocks.

Aim & content:

This exciting and unique programme was developed to support people in the early stages of innovation in addressing the personal and practical challenges involved in taking an innovation idea forward.

This novel programme was designed to provide time and a structured process to supportively challenge participants in developing the skills, networks, expertise, confidence, and motivation to move their idea forward.

The specific focus was on the early stage of development to ensure that work moving forward was defined clearly, underpinned by a strong sense of the skills, expertise and resources required, the networks which need to be developed and of some of the personal challenges involved in the project.

Intended audience:

NHS employees within the member or partner organisations of the NWC AHSN who have a clearly defined and agreed innovation on which they want to work.

Programme:

The emphasis of the workshops was be on experiential learning comprising small and large group activities. Time was allocated within each day for the opportunity to assimilate learning.

Workshop 1. 4^th November 2014:

The aim of this workshop was for participants to:

• gain feedback on their idea;
• define the scope of the innovation and clarify its boundaries
• develop their project plan
• recognise the personal challenges they may come across

Participants came out with a clear route map for their project and with a commitment to the next steps.

• 9.00 – Welcome and introductions
• 9.30 – Delivering an elevator pitch.
• 11.15 – Scoping and refining the innovation
• 12.15 – Individual reflection, assimilation and group capture
• 12.45 – Lunch
• 1.30 – What’s in it for me?
• 1.45 – Mapping 1 – This session started a process of mapping the project proposal and involved defining the stages in proposal development, what needs to happen and when. The output was a structured work plan with clearly identified steps.
• 3.15    Mapping 2 – Building on the earlier mapping exercise this session focused on determining the strategic networks and stakeholder engagement that were required to move the proposal forward.
• 4.30 – Personal visioning.
• 5.00 – Review and actions.

Workshop 2. 26^th January 2015:

The aim of the second workshop was to review progress, learn from each other about what has worked, identify the challenges faced and strategies to overcome them, identify areas for personal and professional development and define SMART goals for the further development of the innovation.

Participants came out with renewed motivation, solutions to challenges faced and anticipation of future challenges, have identified personal strategies for managing the process and with clear goals to progress the project.

• 9.00 – Welcome
• 9.20 – Review: what worked well, what are the challenges
• 11.00 – The personal opportunity and challenge – Tapping into confidence, getting out of your own way; the inner critic; establishing personal commitment
• 12.30 – Lunch
• 1.30 – Addressing the challenges/Creating Opportunities
• 3.00 – Resources. Personal strengths – An exercise to draw out individual strengths and identify a) how these can be applied to the process and b) what strengths need to be developed.
• 3.45 – Paired coaching session to draw out lessons from the day, identify actions that need to follow and create SMART goals setting for the project.
• 4.30 – Group review and setting up the 1-1 and group coaching.

Over the course of the programme and up to 6 months after commencement all participants received 3 sessions of 1:1 coaching (45 minutes per session) with Will Medd via phone or Skype.

6 months following commencement there was also a group coaching session via phone/Skype to review progress within a group context and provide closure for the group.

Facilitators:

Dr Will Medd: Accredited Certified Coach (ICF),Co-active Professional Certified Coach (CTI), Organisational and Relationship Systems Coaching. As well as being a professional coach Will has a background as an established researcher well versed in the challenges of inter-disciplinary and cross institutional research, and with a reputation for high-impact research involving strong stakeholder involvement. Recent research projects were evaluated as ‘outstanding’ by the ESRC.

Dr Lynne Goodacre: Assistant Director NHS Research & Development NW. With a clinical background in occupational therapy a significant proportion of Lynne’s clinical career was spent working in close collaboration with industry in the field of assistive technologies. After moving into academia alongside researching the challenges of living with and managing rheumatic conditions Lynne also undertook collaborative projects with the Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art          focused on the involvement of patients in the design process and the facilitation of an inclusive design process. Alongside her work on developing research and innovation capability she is currently part of a collaboration to develop novel heated gloves for people with Raynauds Disease using innovative knitted materials.

Application:

This programme was open to NHS employees within the member or partner organisations of the NWC AHSN who had:

• Submitted a successful application outlining an innovation project
• Committed to engaging with all aspects of the programme
• Provided a statement of support from their line manager to ensure they have the required time to participate in the programme and support from their organisation relating to the innovation
• Agreeded to the NWC AHSN using selected material for publicity purposes