A dynamic of experimentation and innovation...

Today I had the privilege of presenting a short thought piece at the Canterbury Health and Education forum in Christchurch - a forum of 100 professionals and young people exploring innovation at the nexus of the Health and Education sectors.....

Canterbury Health and Education Forum Feb 2013 from Chris Jansen

We reflected on the changing face of Christchurch - a city that has recently been recognised in Lonely Planet's top 10 cities to visit in the world; "Christchurch is bouncing back with new energy and inventiveness..."

Several examples of this "emerging dynamic of experimentation and innovation" were explored as case studies including Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) and CHCH101: Rebuilding Christchurch: An introduction to Community Engagement - a partnership between the University of Canterbury and the Student Volunteer Army.  

We acknowledged the barriers that can exist in finding collaborative solutions including organisational inertia, jargon differences, cynicism and personal exhaustion.   However we also realised that; "education's students are health's clients and patients.."

In order to comtemplate, initiate and implement projects that transcend sector boundaries we need people who show the following leadership qualities; 

• informal - dream up ideas and hatch plans over coffee
• connected - tuned into voices and conversations from across sectors and communities
• un-precious - willing to humbly put aside titles, qualifications and protocols
• agile - ready to nimbly seize windows of opportunity
• inspired - willing to change BAU (business as usual) based on a higher purpose
• gutsy - not risk averse, courageous, willing to give an idea a punt realising that failure is possible
• engaged - giving 100% attention and creativity to the project.

You can watch a video of this presentation through the YouTube portal below;