As the "Chief Combobulator" of the strategic innovation company Crazy Might Work, Paul is all for thinking outside the box. It's precisely why he's undertaking his PhD.I.
Five years ago he established DisruptivebyDesign®-a system for bringing together cross-organisational, multi-disciplinary teams to tackle some of society's most vexing problems. Think systemic and pervasive problems like addressing the high rates of Type 2 diabetes in western Sydney populations, improving mental health in the workplace or making aged care a better experience.
Paul's program is built on the premise that only by thinking differently can we approach a problem differently, and thereby find novel and meaningful solutions. Once educated on the DisruptivebyDesign® approach, teams apply it in real time to produce real world outcomes.
"The groups we assemble are very diverse, comprising people with very different outlooks, and we've already shown the potential for these interactions to be game changing," he says. "We tend to engage with complex social challenges, and move our small, autonomous teams through steps that incorporate neuroscience, anthropology, systems thinking, design thinking, appreciative inquiry and strategic story-telling."
When engaged by the Health Education and Training Institute (HETI) and NSW Health to help find ways to recruit and retain clinicians in rural and remote Australia, Paul invited everyone from private recruitment agencies to representatives from local health districts, education providers, police and ambulance officers to contribute. He recognised that it was not a problem confined to a single organisation, and encouraged the collaborators to "unleash their creative intelligence" by seeking exemplars in other industries.
"As part of their ethnographic field work, our teams go out and gain their own insights by speaking to people with lived experience of the problem," Paul says. "In the case of recruiting rural clinicians, they concluded that the roles are hard to fill because a health district is never only recruiting one person. Generally, the clinician has a partner and may have a family, so when they contemplate taking a role in the outback they have to think carefully about schools, jobs for their partner and how they might maintain their own clinical skills."
A second, related project with HETI explored ways to improve remote learning, and maintain clinical skills, among a similar group of clinicians. Which is where the International Space Station came in. Keen to take the team's blue-sky thinking to a new dimension, Paul organised a session with NASA - to learn from their experiences and challenge the thinking and inventiveness of participants.
"It doesn't get any more rural or remote than the Moon or Mars, and so we brought in the head of learning and development for the International Space Station, who provided their unique perspective," Paul says. "These are the kinds of conversations that stimulate new ideas that haven't yet been considered."
The first challenge led to the creation of a concierge service that addressed the employment needs of clinicians through a mentoring program, but also introduced them to schools, accommodation options and local community members, who could provide relocation support. The second led to a wonderful exchange of ideas and fresh thinking about how educational technology (like simulations) from the NASA space program could be applied back on Earth.
"At the end of each 6-8-week project we normally get about six really innovative and practical solutions, because we've had all the relevant participants in the room," Paul says. "Then we have a panel like on Shark Tank to review the ideas and make a decision on which one to proceed with or commercialise. It ends up being a much more human and rounded solution because we have considered the whole picture."
No sooner had the HETI and NSW Health teams concluded their second project than COVID-19 struck and they shifted overnight to crisis mode. They immediately applied elements of the methodology to the development of NSW Health’s contract tracing program, which was rolled out in record time and has become the gold standard for COVID containment. "It is innovation for impact, and that's just the kind of work we want to be supporting, where innovation is applied in a way that produces something of value to society," Paul says.
Undertaking a PhD.I at UNE allows candidates to earn their doctorate from their workplace, without sacrificing academic rigour. In Paul's case, it's providing the opportunity to evaluate the Crazy Might Work process. "We believe that it works, from the feedback we've been getting and the types of solutions being produced, but my PhD.I will allow for more vigorous assessment and development," he says. "I'm keen to understand what makes it different and why it produces a more penetrating result. It's exciting to think that we may be able to apply what I learn more widely, to address some of the other big challenges we face, like climate change and adapting education to future needs."
It's an approach with a lot of heart. "The field work is based on very good research showing that empathy is a powerful stimulus for cognitive flexibility, and we try to be provocative about who our teams interact with," Paul says. "This helps to discover solutions that are not only more novel but ultimately also more useful."
Last year the Crazy Might Work team faced intense challenges guiding frontline organisations (including intensive care units, ambulance services and the Federal Police) that needed to innovate rapidly in the wake of COVID-19. However, even in the most serious of circumstances, Paul believes in the power of levity.
"We don't take ourselves too seriously and that's deliberate; playfulness is a prerequisite for imaginative thinking and discovering solutions," he says. "It's a great way to establish a feeling of psychological safety within teams. We want people to relax and be themselves and not feel under threat or scrutiny, so they can be more creative."
