29. only a fool learns from their own mistakes
a wise person learns from the mistakes of others
Editor's Notes
20 minutes A very interesting time as lots of activity but at a time of uncertainty for many physicians engaged in web based learning and FOAM. The rules are not yet set and this is a time for leadership Themes All of us are leaders protect ourselves and colleagues develop others and encourage allow subversion facilitate reward don’t just preach to the converted
List of information and experience from med student through to GMC Also involvement in blogging and web based learning for man yyears in the UK Not attributable
Thanks to Chris Nickson. Invite back in Asked to come to SMACC - so excited to be here and invited.... What do you want to talk about?? So we said - kids - risk - UK experience in social media. Expected one Ended up with 6 Not really sure why I got invited to be honest. Especially interested that one talk is called anarchy in the UK - the other is leadership. Anarchy means lack of leader - so basically invited half way round the world to have an argument with myself over a period of two days. Thanks Chris
Contradiction in terms between the two lectures
So, with that in mind it’s worth thinking about how we put together a talk on leadership and having a think about what it means for us. Nebulous term. We know it when we see it. Leadership means different things to different people. Position in the hierachy is important Washington crossing the Delaware This painting probably hangs proudly in a lot of CEO’s offices. It’s nice, don’t get me wrong. Captain Morgan would be proud. There’s nothing that says “I’m your leader” more than looking stoic while everyone else rows your ass around the Delaware. I’m not sure everyone else on the boat would be so happy. I know what I’d be thinking. “Sit down and grab an oar buddy, you’re about ready to tip over our boat.”
leaders - some part of this is seniority but subversive nature means that expertise is also if not more important. Meritocracy. Great examples of junior doctors and clinicians making progress and driving ideas forward. who are we leading - introspection the norm. don’t just preach to the converted. What is being led. Ideas. Help. Sharing the message. Supporting and developing others. Concern at SMACC is that it might be preaching to the converted. True leadership is defined at times of stress and concern.
You might hear a lot of negatives and there is a lot of concern out there at the moment, but we have a role in ensuring that this is balanced and that not all the converstaions with those outside of the cult are negative!
So leadership There are apparently many characteristics and it is pretty clear that no-one agrees about them
Did not want to go to something from business. That’s not what we are about EM and critical care has more to do with military action and professional kitchens than business. Did not want to go for something from education as it’s usually too wishy washy What does it feel like to be an EP - it feels like warfare so where better than Sandhurst
Military links 5 themes that are present in all forms of effective leadership
Excellence IN self and others A ruthless pursuit of excellence A ruthless pursuit of pushing boundaries and making clinical care as good as it can be. Passionate about the fact that educators must be credible and superb clinicians Not ‘those who can do, those who can’t teach’ How do we demonstrate excellence at a distance?
To be positive and balanced. To reflect and recognised flaws as well as strengths. To show something of ourselves and our foibles - in a safe way. In what we do and how we deliver it. role modelling if we make things happen and we show things can be done then others will form themselves in our image. In what we do IN how we interact with others In maintaining a positive approach to colleagues.
Personally - No-one is as good as they can be. Onus must be on developing those around us as well as in ourselves. how we do that is a challenge. Issues For others - important to share and develop others in a space without rules. No Developing the next generation Support and defence and advice/protection Encouragement Realisation and referral
Responsibility - to patients, to colleagues, to our organisations and in particular to allow an ‘umbrella of practice’ for those starting off. It is a feature of many blogs and web based learning that a small number of individuals sign off content. Protects personal reputation, organisation or more loosely based collectives such as St.Emlyns Only a fools makes their own mistakes. Responsibility to ourselves and also to trainees to ensure that we do not waste time in education and that we utilise work and specific teaching time to develop ourselves. Also an element of accountability. This is an obligation as a physician
Good judgement permeates all aspects of leadership. Judgement is especially important in situations where data is imperfect. This is the case at the moment where the rules are uncertain. The rules are uncertain from a legal perspective but also about what can and will work. Judgement therefore requires decisions about what we do and also about how we evaluate what has been done. application of intuition deduction born of analysis Empthy Compassion Ruthfullness We stand at a time when the rule are not yet developed, very much a time when the rules, the game, the goalposts are changing and we will need to exercise excellent judgement on how we develop.
The third of May 1908 by Goya Sometimes social media feels risky and that there are lots of people trying to tell us not to engage in social spaces. Significant concern in the UK about any patient related learning or cases.
So for all of us engaged in social media facilitated learning what are we going to get out of it, and if we want to engage new participants and established organisations how are we going to recognise this? IN a
Is this vanity publishing? Does it undermine traditional academic methods and process? HOw this will be influenced is interesting. We can write this ourselves if we want to but that still risks the self publicist/vanity accusations. Lastly it has to be said that social media based learning although cheap in comparison to other formats still costs money and if we are to ensure sustainability it needs to be funded and it will only get funded if recognised. We therefore end up in a catch 22 situation
do we want to lead people in this direction Not open access, open to manipulation and can for
reactive fashionable topical risky edge of reason
quantity is not quantity As edu leaders we need to get into training programs and make sure that they get credit for social media related learning.
So in summary we are at an intersting time. The rules of Social Media learning have not yet been written They are in evolution and risk being influenced by people and organisations who do not share the values of FOAM. It is up to all of us who are involved to make sure that that the concerns related to social media (some rightly) do not allow the stifling of innovation that we have already seen. In order to do this we need to demonstrate, clinical excellence through example. We need to develop oursleves and our colleagues by supporting them with good responsible judgement. But perhaps most importantly we need to ensure that we lead in the places where the message of FOAM is not heard as loudly and as easily as it is here. If we are to lead clinicians to a better way to learn it is to the unconverted that we perhaps need to focus our efforts. There lies the challenge and there lies the battles where leadership will be most valuable.