It’s great to see this group starting – I’ve had a long-standing interest in the role of psychology in change and improvement etc.

My suspicion is that our inner mindsets (or lenses, action logics, values etc) might be a hidden factor that explains why some QI efforts prove to be highly transformative and others unsuccessful (I’ve been talking with a QI Professor at Jönköping about how one might research this topic).

I really enjoyed hearing from @annaburhouse @ashleygould and @lorrainemotuel about the Psychology of Improvement, at last week’s West of England AHSN conference.

One of the topics covered was how to overcome aversion to change, and what kind of ‘helping hand’ can be given.

I mentioned afterwards that there’s actually a great exercise for overcoming ‘Immunity to Change’, developed by Prof Robert Kegan and colleagues, at Harvard: https://www.extension.harvard.edu/inside-extension/surprising-reason-we-dont-keep-our-resolutions-how-overcome-it

It only takes 10-15 minutes to fill in the worksheet – though obviously what you then do with it can take far longer (eg working with an ‘immunity buddy’, testing your ‘big assumptions’ etc etc. And you need to do this kind of thing if you are going to overturn your immunity. The worksheet is just the start of a journey of change!).

I just don’t know how much this tool is used in health and care – anyone used it? (I think there was a training workshop in how to use it in Wales, as a Prof at Swansea Medical School was telling me about it; and I’ve seen articles about its use by medical professionals in the US).

If any of you want to try out the Immunity to Change exercise yourself, I can talk you through it (over Zoom?). It could be something that’s worth using with your teams? Let me know…

Goal Setting and Overcoming Immunity to Change | Harvard Extension School

https://www.extension.harvard.edu/inside-extension/surprising-reason-we-dont-keep-our-resolutions-how-overcome-it

Harvard Graduate School of Education professors Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey offer a four step process for overcoming obstacles and achieving lasting change