As part of FabChange70, led by the Academy of Fab Stuff, the North West Fab ambassadors aimed to build a regional network of change agents, with no leader, no hierarchical power; a network that provides opportunity to share, learn and adapt from each other.
I produced an invitation for the launch of our North West Fabulous Change Agent Network NWFabCAN:
Feeling positive, I sent it out on Twitter and various social media platforms. The feedback I received was encouraging, however this was from healthcare professionals. The power of Twitter is to challenge others. This is exactly what I got:
These responses gave me food for thought and overnight thinking with a shed tear. It was not my intent to upset anyone.
I woke up in the morning and knew I needed to right this wrong.
Firstly an open apology:
Secondly I amended the invitation and re-posted on social media:
This made my day:
But this made me weep:
Moral of the story:
I learned from failure, the failure to involve patients at the launch of the network. I am proud of myself for having a growth mind set, learning from failure. Being a leader of improvement we are told to develop a growth mind set. Well I have first-hand experience that this is so right!
I understand why we need to involve patients in improvement, and I pledge to involve patients at the beginning of any improvement project. I will be advocating this with every conversation I have with healthcare professionals and when planning future healthcare events – where is your patient and please don’t attend without a patient.
My message to you reading this is – firstly, don’t be afraid to admit you’re wrong and openly apologise to those you have failed, and secondly, now is the time to involve patients. Don’t wait till you’re ready, because you will never be ready. Learn together turning ME into WE.