As a blogger on healthcare entrepreneurialism, we have a real life interesting dilemma which I can share and currently do not know the answer. This is on whether we pivot and change direction or continue to push on doors as a new start up business.
We have recognised our own skills in creating workforces with purpose that are happy and enjoy being part of a family and wished to scale our expertise to support wider industry.
For 6 months, we have approached NHS strategic figures, local organisations, both NHS and private to disrupt the locum model of staffing delivery. We believed that we needed to employ staff and support them with a robust wraparound service. This includes training that enables staff to be resilient, understand their emotions and be part of the solution creating a positive culture of ‘Nurture Ripples’. Our model was unfamiliar, with an attempt to provide 3-6 month placements rather than crisis workforce solutions and our staff were paid standard banding salaries but with our nurture support, rather than the elevated agency/locum rates.
On commencing our marketing and due diligence, we identified that there are staffing frameworks which are currently closed until next year. Although, we found possible alternative mechanisms for funding, our model was difficult to explain and possibly confusing and in addition there is distrust of the industry and the anticipation that anything offered is ‘to good to be true’ and ‘we have been promised and let down before.’
Even placing people for free, led to conversations about whether we were going to fund any additional training needs, honorary contracts and secondment that required processes which were already overwhelmed and poor understanding of where accountability and risk lie creating further barriers.
We have reinforced our knowledge that health and social care staff need additional support, that their careers are not meeting their expectations and that they are overwhelmed and often unhappy. Our health and social care workforce themselves are also prepared to talk to new businesses and are asking for support.
We know that our values and content are aligned to the current eco-system with shared language of psychological safety, trauma informed organisations, inclusion, freedom to speak up, authentic leadership, activation to hear hidden voices, sustainability and shared perspectives.
In starting a new business, obviously the best outcome, is that all your assumptions are correct, that the resources flow and that scaling and growth are achieved without challenge.
However, our initial assumptions are incorrect.
- We assumed health and social care would jump at the opportunity for staff
- We assumed attracting the workforce would be difficult
In studying pivot and change, many businesses significantly pivot during their life time.
The path to enduring success is rarely a straight line. ‘Cornelius Vanderbilt switched from steamships to railroads, William Wrigley from baking powder to gum. Twitter launched as a podcast directory and YouTube was once a dating site’.
Research shows that new ventures that reinvent their businesses—even multiple times—cut their chances of failure by conserving resources while continuing to learn more about customers, business partners, and new technologies.
Being able to say I am wrong!
Changing your mind is always hard. Asking questions, challenging assumptions and swallowing your pride is never easy but is part of running a service and creating innovation as it is only through experience that we can learn.
Accepting or Rejecting Conventional Wisdom
When looking at our next step, we have to consider our risk appetite.
My heart says that we should risk everything to make a difference to those we serve and that even the smallest chance should be taken to create a health and social care workforce that thrives.
I, however, recognise that this is irresponsible where resources are stretched and that we need to make the best decisions which utilise our resources wisely and enable us all to have security in our roles.
In addition, many of us have mortgages to pay, limited hours to spend on new endeavours and need to ensure that our futures are secure so cannot take any risk.
Our current position sits between these extremes. We are fortunate that we can take some risk and afford to experiment and redesign but basing this on evidence creating realistic solutions to build success.
So it is our choice whether to pivot or push.
We believe we are looking at true transformation and therefore have to accept a real chance of failure alongside success and this is OK providing:
- The difference we make, really will change culture and enable people to thrive
and
- That we enjoy the journey and through exploration are learning and moving forward
Doing Our Due Diligence
Everything is unpredictable, however we have looked at all our insight from all our sources.
We clearly have the continued crisis of staffing: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/81/health-and-social-care-committee/news/172310/persistent-understaffing-of-nhs-a-serious-risk-to-patient-safety-warn-mps/,
We have tested the market place and know we can make a difference:
- Helping Hands Team
- Wisdom Academy
Our Business Analysis shows that across our landscape there is significant competition, so our employers have lots of choice and do not have time to analyse competition. They have their own workforce strategies which appear to have many similar threads to our own offering although their ability to provide sustainable change is proving challenging.
Our workforce, despite having numerous organisations, statutory, private and third sector, employer programmes and employer assistance with access to a multitude of education and wider resources are still asking for something different.
Focussing on our workforce as our customer therefore feels the priority, with the challenge of demonstrating credibility, creating a unique USP and a strong brand with an offering that people value and want to return is our challenge.
How to make the best from our pivot position.
While pivoting can breathe new life into something that might otherwise fail, it also means starting from scratch and abandoning the investment that you have put in up until this point.
We do not underestimate the barriers to entry but want to create happier staff, who feel psychological safety in their day to day practice. This enables them to belong, be creative and achieve their ambitions. In turn, they can create a ripple of positivity enabling culture change in health and social care. We believe we can achieve this one person at a time!
In chatting to our workforce, they feel exhausted, overwhelmed and that they came into a role to care for others and find themselves unable to care for anyone. Enabling them direct access to our Helping Hands Team and to source education that supports them to understand how to manage risk and uncertainty, toxic cultures and how these come about, will be our focus.
We have decided to pivot and I can share whether this is a successful strategy from our blog and will share what we learn from the experience and how we move forward.
Below is an interesting Masters of Scale Podcast which explores this subject.
