Earlier month I was at the #FMC Dentistry Scotland show with my co-founders Paddy and Doug of OPP & ITE. It was a great opportunity to meet new clients and imparticular the BUPA team….
Now before you start groaning… I d say I’m one of the first to moan about corporates …. But I have to admit, in this instance I was pleasantly surprised.
We had an in-depth chat about the culture of their organisation and how it has changed …. putting it bluntly getting g rid of the old ‘Tesco type mangers’. There was many parallels with one of the new members to out team, Steve, who is pilot and also trains pilots. Basically we got into Black box thinking and how its appears to be missing from the dental world….
So, what is black box thinking and can we benefit from it?
For those who haven’t come across it, Black box thinking is a concept brought to the masses by Matthew Syed. It emphasises the learning from failures and mistakes to improve performance and prevent errors in the future. Applying this approach to dentistry can help us enhance patient safety, improve treatment outcomes and, foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Going deeper, we can benefit from the black box thinking approach by:
Error identification and analysis: We can use black box thinking to identify errors or complications that occur during treatments. By acknowledging and investigating these incidents, we can gain valuable insights into what went wrong, understand contributing factors, and determine how to prevent similar errors in the future as opposed to trying to hide them for fear of ‘punishment’ from our regulators.
Learning from mistakes. Again, Black box thinking encourages us to embrace mistakes as learning opportunities rather than viewing them as failures. By analyzing mistakes, we can identify areas for improvement in our skills, techniques, or protocols. This iterative learning process can help us refine our approaches, enhance patient outcomes, and reduce the likelihood of repeating errors.
Implementing preventive measures. We can use black box thinking to proactively implement preventive measures. Analyzing past incidents and errors we can identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them. This may include modifying treatment protocols, improving communication with patients, implementing additional safety checks, or investing in new technologies/ equipment.
Perhaps the the biggest culture change is in ‘sharing and collaboration’. Black box thinking encourages us to share our experiences, both successful (we all know the Facebook Instagram warriors) AND unsuccessful, with our peers (not many have the courage to share their ‘adverse outcomes’ and what not to do). By fostering a culture of openness we can all learn from each other's mistakes, discuss best practices, and exchange valuable insights.
So if you’d like to hear from pilots and ex special forces on how they undertake Black Box Thinking, embrace 'failure' and, assist you in implementing it in your practice then let me know and I ll forward details of our workshops. Lets push back against current culture of 'hide from our regulators' and stand tall.
