There are days when the sky breaks and you start to see the light of understanding through the clouds. A somewhat philosophical
description but it describes the feeling I had after seeing the BBC2 program on “Can Sir Gerry Robinson fix the NHS”. As a successful business manager (former chairman of Granada and Allied Domecq) he put his
teeth in the serious problems around the health care in the UK. I up to now watched only
the episode “ one years on”, but with the numerous flashbacks I got a good feel for the problems that he noticed when he started
to work on it.
The program was content wise very interesting and showed how much progress had been made (considerable !). But it was
interesting from other aspects as well. The series have been financed by the Open University and have been broadcasted by
BBC2. Through the dramatization the problems and issues in institutions are clearly shown and everybody can see the manifestations
of a broken system. It also shows how the change agent operates and what is needed to break through fixed mental models. Layman
might get a better understanding and ability to manage their encounters with health care, people with professional interest
might pick up some of the methods for their own work or even decide to follow one of the Open University courses.
But in my view more importantly, this initiative of education industry working with the mass media is showing a way
for problem solving in the current complex world. Current persistent problems, be it in healthcare or in other areas, can
not be solved in their own disciplines (i.e. at the level they have been created). It needs an approach at a higher level,
involving (people of) other disciplines or background. The broadcast shows us the problematic social interactions, the coach
(Sir Gerry) ways how to tackle them, the website gives theoretical background and frameworks and the OU can give you further
professional training. If only we could order a DVD with the material!
A nice example of cross-media developments and possibly an “ecosystem” that could have applicability elsewhere.
