Self-health: Successfully managing long-term conditions

Thursday 31st May 2012 – 9:22 AM

Empowering people to manage long-term conditions – like asthma, diabetes, COPD and depression– is at the heart of an exciting new initiative we’re spearheading in the West Midlands. We’ve just completed the first six week programme with local people facing some complex and potentially debilitating long-term conditions, and already it’s getting great feedback!

 “At first I was not sure that it would be for me, but I went with an open mind on the first day. To my surprise I found it very helpful. By the second week I was already having some benefits, I put this down to the way it was run. Things were explained and time given so you could take on board what you were being told. I am very grateful.”  Participant (Thank you letter)

The Chronic Disease Management Programme is part of an initiative spearheaded by the Department of Health and draws on techniques developed by Stanford University, as well as our own expertise in social change and behavioural support.

For me, the programme is all about helping people manage their own health, in a way that’s right for them, by building their personal confidence, skills and knowledge. It’s really helping local people to take control of their conditions – rather than letting their conditions control them.

We’ve been overseeing the structured 2½ hour sessions in a range of community locations across Coventry, all run to tight guidelines endorsed by the Department of Health.

Trained co-ordinators, who have direct experience of living with long-term conditions, are helping tackle issues such as dealing with pain, fatigue, learning to relax, exercise and living healthily. The programme is also supporting people dealing with conditions including COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), stroke, high blood pressure and depression.

At the moment, we’re concentrating on the Coventry area and are now planning courses in Stoke-on-Trent from next month.

If you’d like to find out more about the programme, you can contact your local team on 0800 612 4580 or selfhealth@icecreates.com.

Simon Dudman, Director of Health & Lifestyle Change – simon.dudman@icecreates.com

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Social mobility and aspirational change: one and the same?

Tuesday 29th May 2012 – 9:15 AM

Nick Clegg has “vowed to address the absolute scandal of Britain’s lack of social mobility and open up a society that is too closed and too static”.  This got me thinking about change and about personal growth.

I think equality is a key driver but not the only one and the Guardian article quotes that “…during the long economic upturn from the mid-90s to the financial crash, social mobility rates remained flat”.  So, what drives social mobility?  Income equality for sure, but there is something else needed as well and that revolves around our belief as individuals of our place in society.  This, in turn, is strongly influenced by our background (and the equality factor), by our parents, peers and understanding of social position.

A key driver in aspirational change has to be knowledge and understanding of the world, which in turn, is heavily influenced both at home and in schooling.  Education then must be one of the keys to the door of social mobility by providing the role models (teachers) that are able to inspire as well as teach.  But, on a personal level, what is the means of raising belief and aspirations to the point where self belief allows individuals to make step change in their lives?  How about personal and peer development techniques?

Personal development tends to be the remit of leaders, managers and self help gurus.  It’s often used in mid life when individuals need to solve problems or raise their game but why not incorporate into schools?  As one eminent leader once said, “If you believe a thing to be possible, or if you believe it to be impossible… you will be right”.  Is there then an opportunity to support people with all of the techniques that help us to improve from the start of our lives, not halfway through?  Why not introduce at school techniques such as:

  • Understanding of learning styles
  • Understanding personality traits
  • Knowledge about how to deal with different styles
  • Authentic communication
  • Apply active listening and appreciative enquiry
  • Challenging the status quo

And many, many more aspects of personal development.  Providing these as part of pupils’ toolkit from day one, rather than bolting on at a later date could make a real difference.  I think there is some evidence of where this can work, for example. the school that introduces techniques to allow children to respond to the temptations of socially unacceptable behaviour by giving them a range of approaches, which they have modeled in the classroom.  These are the sort of approaches that can be applied throughout life and help everyone to raise their game and realise higher aspirations.

So Nick Clegg, if you’re serious about improving social mobility make sure you tackle it at all levels.  Challenging the establishment is key but it is one aspect of a complex multi faceted society, which needs to be helped to build its aspirations.

My plea therefore is: include education, economy, establishment, use nudge theory, include slaps and shoves, change policy but make sure that you put some real detail into the how.  Aspiration is great but without the method to achieve it, all that happens is hopes are raised and dashed and that will do little to raise social mobility.

Jaime Beckett, Principal Organisational Practitioner – jaime.beckett@icecreates.com

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Under pressure to reach your sustainability targets?

Thursday 24th May 2012 – 2:15 PM

Imagine a land where the waste we produce grows greater day-by-day. A land where recycling rates are poor, with an increasing demand on services AND increasing pressure on budgets… Not so far from the truth?

Now imagine an approach which could save you an estimated £100,000+ in service efficiencies, empower staff to work together collaboratively and drive an attitudinal shift among citizens to feel more positively about their local area.

Awareness raising just isn’t enough. Those are just some of the results we’ve seen in one UK city by tackling systems and behaviours simultaneously. Changing attitudes doesn’t happen overnight, but this proven formula for sustainable transformation – ‘So Change’ (Social + Organisational Change) – is already making the difference within Environmental Services nationally.

SO Change is also at the heart of a national recycling behaviour change programme we’re working on with schools, as well as a transformational project to help householders change the way they dispose of food waste. So why is it making such an impact?

SO Change: Making transformation happen
SO Change is a creative, design-led approach to change which brings together behavioural economics and system improvements. It’s all about:

  • Listening to people both within the organisation and the wider community.
  • Building on an existing understanding of citizen and stakeholder behaviours, using innovative research techniques like the STELA behaviour change tool to gain better insight into their feelings, perceptions and behaviours.
  • Establishing where you are, exploring what’s possible and experimenting with options for change.
  • Using innovative and creative ways to communicate, drawing on years of experience delivering population behaviour change.

With tough national recycling targets for 2013 and 2020, there’s no doubt local authorities are facing a big challenge to get the right systems in place, while supporting people to make the right choices around recycling, litter and household waste.  Make sure you have the systems and behaviours needed to meet those targets!

SO Change can help your organisation redesign how it works and your communities rethink how they live.


For more about the work we’re doing nationally to develop these outcomes-driven programmes, contact me: Richard Forshaw, richard.forshaw@icecreates.com / 07540 412304

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Growth, sustainability, regeneration

Wednesday 23rd May 2012 – 10:14 AM

It’s my firm belief that small businesses are vital to growth, sustainability and regeneration. As a company, we’re proud to be part of a thriving business community, so it’s been very rewarding to have been chosen to work as ‘Business Support Managers’ for the Invest Wirral team.

As part of our corporate and social responsibility we’ve often supported small businesses both locally and in the wider North West region – investing time, energy and resources to help them grow and flourish.

Now our work with Invest Wirral is again demonstrating our commitment to the small business community by working to support local companies at a greatly reduced rate.

This work sees us supporting a growing number of SMEs, ranging from dental practices through to training suppliers. We are providing support in specific areas including leadership, social media and marketing and creative design. It isn’t about doing the work for the small businesses, rather, we are teaching them how to strategise and plan for the future by using techniques such as ‘co-creation’ and insight scoping.

The long-term aim of our support work is to help companies who may need advice and guidance in strategising for their business, especially in relation to marketing and communications.

So why do we do it? Because we believe in sharing our skills and learning, and supporting the businesses around us that will be the employers of the future generations. A lot of our staff based at our Wirral HQ live locally and we all want a growing, thriving and vibrant community to live in.

Are you a Wirral business that could benefit from business support? If so contact the Invest Wirral team and see if you can benefit from the support of not just ICE, but also the other businesses working as Business Support Managers.

Ian Dixon, Business Relationships Manager – ian.dixon@icecreates.com / 0797 003 7012

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Finding the ‘Happiness Factor’

Wednesday 16th May 2012 – 3:04 PM

I recently came across an interesting article, based on an economic journal study about happiness in life.  The article observes that: ‘Staying in education longer does not necessarily make someone happier, according to new research.’  The research was based on data from the UK and Germany and found that teenagers spending more time in education generally did better and achieved better jobs but that they weren’t necessarily happier with their lives. Is this a surprise?

Only if you think that a good job equals more money and that money equates to greater happiness. 

A good job can be demanding, stressful and take us out of our comfort zone into challenging territory.  Add to that questionable management, colleagues you don’t relate to and a growing realisation that you’re on a treadmill until you retire or fall over and is it any wonder that there’s no guarantee of happiness?  Much has been written on the subject and interpretation is subjective, according to our own attitudes and beliefs, but for what it’s worth, here are my thoughts:

“The concept of ‘work life balance’ is a fallacy” – Not because it isn’t important to consider both but because I think it’s more about ‘life’ – some of which includes paid activity and some of which we choose to do. We have one life and to enjoy it, we have to find satisfaction in all that we do, whether at work or at play.

“You do have the power to change your life for the better” – I like the expression, ‘you get what you tolerate’.  We have a tendency to blame others for our lack of success, failure on the job, missed promotion, etc. One thing we do have control over is ourselves, how we behave, how we respond and whether we choose to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to something or someone. Realising that we have this power and choosing to exercise it can be liberating!

“What is my purpose?” – Not a trite question in any sense. Being clear about what we want our lives to look like, what our values are, what principles we live by and where we belong are key to having a sense of direction.  How many people sit down and explicitly describe this?  Few of us know we want to be the proverbial train driver when we grow up but what we can do is define what sort of things we’re good at, what sort of environments we work well in and build on this knowledge to actively direct our lives.  Often friends, family or colleagues can provide objective insight – why not ask for it?

Okay, I could go on to list a hundred factors and there will be a hundred more but the point is, do you know what matters to you, how to live with integrity and direction, and what you need to do to make things better rather than accept the status quo? 

Everyone is different but there are some common themes, which apply to us all and these tend to include direction, focus, freedom and autonomy.  They have to include doing things that we value, with people who support us, and share some of our values.  We usually need some variety in our lives.  We also need some certainty.  Each of us sits at our own point on a spectrum. The trick is finding and recognising our own preferences, then actively working with what matters to us to move forward.

Back to the survey on happiness then, is it any surprise that more education doesn’t equate to more happiness?  Not unless school, college, university or apprenticeship includes some of the above (which to the best of my knowledge it rarely does).  So if you want to be happier, how do you go about finding your direction then steering an appropriate course?

My suggestion is play to your strengths – if you are a reader then there is plenty of guidance in print.  If you are more of a listener, or you learn better by doing, look for courses or coaches or seek a mentor.  If you just need to get on and do it yourself, then enlist the help of friends, family and colleagues, and make a bold statement about what you are going to do.

Then do it, reflect, learn and adapt again.  Remember, you get what you tolerate so the only question is, what will you tolerate in terms of happiness in life?

Jaime Beckett, Principal Organisational Practitioner – jaime.beckett@icecreates.com

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Finding cancer rates hard to swallow?

Thursday 10th May 2012 – 12:43 PM

Preventable cancers come under the global spotlight next week, with the World Cancer Research Fund’s Cancer Prevention Week 2012 (14-18 May). But how can you support local people to recognise – and act on – the symptoms of cancer and tackle its prevalence in your community?

Take oesophago-gastric (OG) cancer. Are people in your communities ignoring persistent incidents of heartburn, indigestion and difficulty swallowing? At ICE, we’ve been working on the national pilots to shift public and professional awareness of OG cancer, using a ‘Push and Pull’ strategy which is getting both external and internal partners involved in interventions that really resonate with target groups.

We’ve also used this ‘Push and Pull’ approach to deliver real outcomes around lung cancer:

  • Improved quality of life (in some our most deprived communities)
  • Higher footfall into secondary services
  • Sustainable stakeholder engagement

So, what’s the thinking behind a practical ‘Push and Pull’ strategy?

‘Pushing’ bespoke interventions – Working with stakeholders to develop insight-led interventions which meet local communities at a time and place that suits them. In this way, local NHS teams can engage people at their greatest point of need and ‘push’ them to make appointments sooner. That’s enabling earlier diagnosis and getting higher footfall into secondary care services.
‘Pulling’ stakeholders into the process – Getting sustainable buy-in from all partners has proved essential to driving people to see their GP and signposting them to secondary care. It’s all too easy to lose focus on stakeholder communications, but we know if they don’t sign up to your objectives, hitting your KPIs will be an uphill battle. Keeping them involved at every stage builds sustainable momentum for the future.

Other crucial elements of this people-centred approach include:

  • Demographic profiling: focusing on areas of highest prevalence and developing key interventions in cancer ‘hotspots.
  • Heath professionals: drawing on their role as ‘community connectors’, as well as their clinical expertise.
  • Robust evaluation: not only evaluating your work, but also being prepared to adapt your approach in conjunction with stakeholders to achieve the outcomes you need.

Of course, this is just a taster of the outcomes-driven programmes we’ve developed in this challenging area. Tackling the prevalence of cancer in our communities is a major concern, so if you’d like to discuss or share any aspects of our work, contact me direct:

Sarah Love, Principal Social Marketing Practitioner – sarah.love@icecreates.com / 0777 999 3783

Download a pdf version of this blog here

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Pinterest: Flash in the pan or the next big thing?

Tuesday 8th May 2012 – 11:45 AM

There’s been a real online buzz around Pinterest, the latest social networking sensation, in recent months. But what exactly is Pinterest, and what’s propelling its rise?

For the uninitiated, Pinterest does exactly what it says on the tin – with members able to ‘pin’ things that interest them in their personal and professional lives onto their own virtual pinboards. Users can create manage online images collections, alongside videos and other objects. Just take a look at ICE’s newly created Pinterest site as an example, where we’ve created boards such as ‘Things that excite us’, ‘Our world’ and ‘Perspectives’ to creatively showcase our work and interests.

Pinterest users can also interact via both their Twitter and Facebook accounts, and through an iPhone app. (A dedicated Android app is also said to be in the pipeline).

Its rapid growth is unprecedented. Time magazine listed the site in its ‘50 Best Websites of 2011’ article and it quickly broke into the top 10 largest social networking services. Then, earlier this year, it became the fastest EVER standalone site to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark in the US. Between January and February alone, online analytics reveal 52% growth. So, there’s no doubt Pinterest has been gaining momentum and capturing our imaginations!

Interestingly, 83% of American users are said to be women in the 35-44 age bracket, although there’s a role reversal in this country where users are predominately male – and slightly younger too.

What’s really striking about the Pinterest phenomenon though is its business potential. One recent article in Retail Week suggested that the site is uniquely placed to directly drive sales.

In fact, Pinterest is already claimed to be driving more referral traffic to retailers than LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+.  Mashable also cites the experience of Wayfair (the 2nd largest home goods retailer by revenue in the U.S.), which says shoppers referred by Pinterest are not only 10% more likely to make a purchase than visitors who arrive from other social networks, but also spend an average of 10% more as well.

So the early indications are that there’s plenty of scope for companies to turn Pinterest to their business advantage.  Time will tell, but with Pinterest already said to be worth as much as $500 million in a sale, this “new global platform for inspiration and ideas sharing” looks poised to grow and grow….

 

Heather Sewell – heather.sewell@icecreates.com / 0845 5193 423

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Writing web copy that really works: Top five tips

Thursday 3rd May 2012 – 4:15 PM

“79% of web users skim rather than read,” according to the so-called ‘king of usability’ Jakob Neilson.  So why do so many organisations still treat their websites as a marketing ‘push’ rather than gearing their web copy up to ‘pull’ in web users?

Web users are fundamentally goal-oriented and want to control their online experience for themselves. So the trick for any online copywriter is to satisfy these needs as fully as possibly – and then some.….

DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION OF THIS BLOG HERE

 

1.    Start well: Establish your brand by creating an instantly understandable, content-rich (not wordy!) home page. Keep it topic-focused (after all, does the end-user really care how your organisation is structured?) and include lots of meaningful links and short descriptions.

2. Stay people-focused: Who are your target groups? What are their key characteristics? Question your assumptions by developing online personas and real-life scenarios to keep you on track with your users’ wants, needs and accessibility requirements. (And keep on revisiting this with usability testing). Keep it real by using personal pronouns like “you” and “we” to show that your organisation contains real people!

3. Create clear pathways: Users are on a mission to find the information they need, so don’t make them think! Remember lots of people land inside websites (via search engines or email links), so stop them from using the back button by giving them somewhere useful to go.

4.    Think information, not documents: Presenting information in manageable chucks (with lots of topics & sub-topics, headings & sub-headings) will help you give your users the right amount of the right info at the right time – and make key words more searchable. Eye tracking research has shown that users tend to skim web pages, so use an ‘inverted pyramid style’ rather than a traditional narrative style. Also, beware of uploading paper-based pdfs, which may pose accessibility issues for some users.

 5. ‘New rules’ for press releases: The internet’s changed the distribution and lifespan of press releases forever. So make your news releases dynamic, up-to-date and searchable with lots of keyword-rich language, links to related content (like video, blog posts and e-books) and social media tags.

And it doesn’t stop there: keep reviewing, revising and adapting – working in a true partnership with your end-users……

For more advice on making your web copy come alive in the eyes of your customers, contact us direct: Richard Forshaw, richard.forshaw@icecreates.com / 07540 412304.

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To Shwop, or not to Shwop?

Thursday 3rd May 2012 – 1:56 PM

It’s been interesting to see Marks and Spencers’ new ‘Shwopping’ initiative this week – a clothes shopping and swapping scheme which will see all M&S stores accepting unwanted clothing of any brand, all year round. With clothes being resold, reused or recycled through Oxfam, the thinking is it will help reduce landfill.

Looking at it dispassionately, the behaviour change principles of Shwopping are good. It doesn’t take people too far too fast. It’s easy and convenient (all in one place, with at least two Shwop drop boxes per store near cash registers), and makes it real for people without being too demanding on their time. It also makes recycling fun (don’t underestimate the Joanna Lumley factor!), plus Shwoppers can even enter monthly prize draws via a Facebook app or by text.

Crucially, Shwopping is part of a long-term relationship with Oxfam and positions M&S as authentic and ethical (although some commentators have argued it doesn’t actually go far enough). As part of the ‘Plan A: Doing the Right Thing’ campaign, there’s clearly a long-standing commitment to being a truly sustainable retailer, drawing on a collaborative partnership with a globally renowned aid and development charity.

It’s certainly encouraging to see retailers and FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) firms taking a closer look at sustainability and behaviour change. There are also parallels with Unilever’s campaigns, which cleverly encourages behaviour change while promoting use of their products. In fact, it’s a fundamental part of the Lever history. However, authenticity is essential for people to place their trust in these organisations. Unilever still suffers from bad headlines generated by pay and pensions disputes, for example. Do employees feel able to walk the talk?

That’s why we advocate using our SO Change model, which combines social change and organisational change methodology – to recognise the the essential links between companies, their cultures and the communities they serve. Traditional agencies don’t understand behaviour change, they understand preference change. We understand that if you need to change behaviour of consumers, you MUST change organisational behaviours as well.

What about you, what do you think about the concept of Shwopping? I’d love to know your comments….

Richard Forshaw – richard.forshaw@icecreates.com / 0754 041 2304 

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Listening to young people – Innovation, creativity and engagement

Wednesday 25th April 2012 – 4:23 PM

What does it take to truly engage young people – and drive sustainable changes in their behaviour? Ask yourself, are you listening to their wants and needs? Do you understand what makes them tick?

The truth is, there is no ‘one size fits all’ and ensuring young people are at the heart of any intervention is easier said than done. But some key trends and tactics have emerged from working with these target groups, which we’d like to share:

1. Make it young-people led -‘Nudging’ positive changes in behaviour is all about designing appropriately targeted services with young people at their heart – and with full participation from young people themselves. Take the Asgard programme, where insight from 16-19 year olds was essential to developing this award-winning approach to support young people engaged in risky behaviours.

2. Use a peer-to-peer approach – Young people don’t want to feel judged or preached at. Time and time again, we’ve seen that they want to hear about things that matter to them from people they know and trust. One recent programme helped tackle the issue of 13-15 year olds binge drinking by recruiting peer mentors who could spread key messages much further and faster than any health professional.

3. Get interactive – 73% of young people watch videos online each month, while 55% log onto Facebook as soon as they turn on their computer. So using digital communications like viral video can deliver high impact results. Just look at Bad Nashers, the viral video we developed to encourage greater take up of dentists among 16-24 year olds in Coventry.

4. Keep it real! – It sounds obvious, but brief, targeted communications will prevent information overload. Talking ‘with’ young people and not ‘to’ them – in language they use and understand – will help you deliver lasting results. Take our work on Cut Films, which challenges young people to make two minute films to communicate the harm of smoking to their friends using cutting edge digital technology and social networking sites. In just 12 months, entries to the competition were viewed almost 30,000 times on YouTube. (Again, all peer-led!)

5. Use non-traditional settings – Provide innovative ways for young people to access services. For instance, the national ‘You’re Welcome’ initiative underlined the importance of providing flexible services in comfortable, non-traditional settings, at a time and place to suit them.

Find out how you can transform this advice into action by speaking to us direct: Richard Forshaw – 07540 412 304 / richard.forshaw@icecreates.com

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