Scenius Day

Often times when organizations make statements about the importance of addressing climate change, it's hard to nail down the relevance of it to the day to day functioning any given employee.

Sustainability is everybody's business.

Tackling the challenges of climate change is not up to a handful of people, but an organization-wide initiative. Building awareness is a healthcare leadership prerogative, but making those small incremental changes within the organization is a top-down+bottom-up effort. Unless you have employee buy-in you won't see the changes you are looking to implement. Employee buy-in will not happen unless you value your team and take their insights into account when looking to build resilience.

Brian Eno, the musician discusses the concept of "scenius", where great ideas come from an ecology of talent.

It involves a whole scene of people supporting each other working towards a unified vision. In healthcare,  we know good work isn't created in a vacuum - patient care is a result of collaboration.

What would it look like within a healthcare organization?

Prerequisites: a) your team understands why sustainability is integral to the success of your organization b) the need to address the current unsustainable situation  and c) a common vision of what a sustainable future looks like.

1. Defining the objective: Setting a clear intent for the brainstorming session. This can include a host of initiatives such as reducing waste, conserving energy, using environmentally-friendly products, or high-value, low-carbon patient experiences.
2. Assembling a team: To ensure a variety of perspectives and ideas bring together a cross-functional team from all the departments of the hospital.
3. Gathering information: Collect data and review practices already in place related to the objective. This creates a baseline for the scenius process and can highlight areas where improvements can be made. Here, a gap analysis can help identify areas that are yet to be addressed or have bottlenecks that need to be worked through. A good tool is the Triple Bottom Line Business Model Canvas by Alexandre Joyce et. al., that layers environmental life cycle and social stakeholder elements onto the business model canvas.

4. Generating ideas: Use creative problem-solving methods methods to generate as many ideas as possible. No idea is too small or too big at this stage - it can be anything from fixing a leaky toilet to revamping the organization's procurement policies.

5. Evaluating and prioritizing ideas: Now comes that hard part. Each idea needs to be reviewed and ranked for cost-effectiveness, feasibility, and how well it aligns with the hospital's sustainability mission and values. Once the ideas have been ranked we can start with the ideas that are easy to implement and have a high impact

6. Developing a sustainability action plan: A detailed road map for implementing the selected ideas is created. Responsibilities are delegated, timelines are determined, and communication strategies are set in place to ensure successful implementation.

7. Monitoring progress: As with any project, its necessary to monitor progress and gather feedback. After all the system is only as good as the people who implement it. Remember to celebrate successes and share progress updates with staff and patients to promote participation and buy-in.

Brainstorming  sustainability initiatives in a healthcare organization can help identify and implement greener practices, reduce costs, and improve patient experiences. Its important to remember that there are multiple pathways to get there.

Thanks for reading!

References:

1) Joyce, A., Paquin, R., & Pigneur, Y. 2015. The triple layered business model canvas: a tool to design a more sustainable business model. ARTEM Organizational Creativity International Conference. Nancy, France.