Social Media Month - Demystifying the use of Socal Media

Dr Sarah Fraser is holding a series of 45 minute online sessions on demystifying the use of social media. The sessions will be of interest to anyone involved in leading change. Please click here for further information on the sessions and there are also some hints and tips on conference calling. You can also log in to the discussion forum to log any questions you may have in relation to the discussion topics.

Improve your networking skills and become one of the 29% of people who are separated from the rest of the world by six degrees!

The 26% soulution by Milsner and Donovan after explaining that we are not all connected to everyone by six degrees and that it takes some work to be in that position, provides a 52 week guide to achieving this. You can view the week by week headlines here!

Hear Paul Batalden share his thoughts on new ideas for spread and improvement

This short podcast from Paul Batalden is available here. You can listen online, download, or if you prefer you can go to iTunes and sync with it there.(iTunes - select Podcasts - search for "Sarah Fraser" and you get a choice of podcast to which you can subscribe).

Increase personal productivity with smarter Google searches

If all you ever do is type in one or two keywords and then get back millions of responses of which you only look at the first ten, then use some top tricks to find what you are looking for-the smart way. Sarah Fraser & Associates have published a one page personal improvement bulletin to help you smarten up your online searches.

Sarah Fraser Podcasts Now Available Online

Sarah Fraser has developed two series of podcasts which you can now download direct to your PC. Series 1: “In conversation with…” is a 10 minute podcast featuring a diverse range of individuals sharing their experiences, wisdom, guidance and thoughts on topics concerning quality improvement, patient safety, personal and organisational transformation, leadership and the spread of good practice. Series 2: Helping individuals do better - these short descriptions provide you with an introduction, possibly a reminder of what you'd forgotten and a prompt to try them out next time you need to work with others in your organisation. Perhaps they will also give you some hints to seek ways to tweak your own behaviour. Listen to the podcasts here.

Integrating Improvement Initiatives into Organisations: Action & Resources Pack for Top Teams (2nd Ed)

This 22 page guide is a pack of customisable tools with seven exercises and table tasks to use around nine different tools - all designed to help you energise your top team and support the integration of your improvement project activities into the mainstream of the organisation's work. This new eProduct is available for download from the Sarah Fraser Storefront at the Lulu online store. It will be set to be a free download until at least the end of August 2008.

Two more resources from Sarah Fraser

Sarah has kindly told me about two resources she has put together. The first is a blog where she reviews relevant books. On there now are Time Traps by Todd Duncan and Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Grenny, Mcmillan & Switzler. The second resource is a series of podcasts which are currently available on iTunes but will soon be available to download from Sarah's new website (I will post a link to this when it is up and running). These include: 'In conversation with' Diane Stewart from PBGH, California on the challenges of spread measures and Kate Silvester, international expert on Lean Thinking in Healthcare. A third podcast is on 'Techniques for helping individuals'.

There's no such thing as resistance to change

Another insightful posting from Sarah Fraser around resistance to change being a perception rather than a reality and some useful pointers on how to handle perceoved resistance.

Undressing the Elephant: why good practice doesn't spread in healthcare

The premise of this book is that the concept of “spread” and the business of “spreading good practice” as we continue to apply it in healthcare, may be a large part of why “spread” doesn’t happen. If you’re looking for an alternative and occasionally irreverent view, then read on. This is Sarah Fraser's personal account reflecting on many years worth of consulting practice, mistakes included. Copy to be available through the PCT library.