Happy New Year!
I'm kicking off 2022 by talking to the person who helps bring our Whose Shoes events alive and ensures they have lasting impact. Our combined approach to coproduction has been described as magic. One and one definitely equals more than two.
Anna Geyer, Director of New Possibilities, is my long-term friend and partner in crime. We look back at what we've achieved together - a fascinating and often unpredictable journey, not least with everything we've had to change and develop during the pandemic.
We celebrate 20 years of Anna's fab enterprise. When I first invented Whose Shoes and jumped ship from my day job in 2008, I never knew I'd find a partner who’d add so much to what I was trying to achieve. Visual recording enables people to hold on to the conversations and ensure they lead to real action.
Lemon lightbulbs 🍋💡🍋
- Visual minutes ensure people’s voices are heard; they love seeing their contributions on a permanent record
- BIG responsibility to record people’s voices authentically
- You can’t demand that people have open, honest conversations
- Whose Shoes puts people at ease and creates the conditions for difficult conversations about sensitive topics; graphic recording captures these and inspires follow-up action
- Start with a blank canvas – you can’t pre-select key words and shoehorn the messages to fit
- Let the conversations flow, people will tell you what is important to them
- Through our engaging, informal approach, we see the culture of an organisation; whether people feel able to speak out, take ownership and make improvements without seeking permission
- People who go the extra mile in organising Whose Shoes events reap the benefits - participants feel the love that's gone into making them feel welcome and valued
- Display the graphic record in a prominent place to keep the conversations alive
- Similar themes come through all our workshops, regardless of topic: people united by vulnerability, who want their voices heard
- It’s powerful when people understand each other’s perspectives, then work together for positive change
- The board game, with its carefully researched scenarios, is used in even the most sensitive subject areas
- People welcome the opportunity to speak about their experiences, including difficult/taboo subjects
- Anna carefully records the words and the mood – no cartoons or caricatures
- Key messages are themed to give meaning, not distort the story
- Lemon lightbulbs - the impact of inappropriate language!
- It's hard to navigate systems – by looking across organisations, gaps are revealed; then people collaborate to join things up
- QI ideas are more likely to be embraced when they come from the team rather than imposed from on high
- Share snippets of the graphic records on social media!
- Whose Shoes brings out the things people want to say in a safe and anonymized way
- Unexpected outcomes – a woman in early labour used the graphic record as pain relief!
- People unite behind the key messages – it's no longer about what you think / I think, but what WE said
- “It would've taken 600+ meetings to get to the point we reached today!”
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I tweet as @WhoseShoes and @WildCardWS and am on Instagram as @WildCardWS.
Please recommend 'Wild Card - Whose Shoes' to others who enjoy hearing passionate people talk about their experiences of improving health care.
