32. Dr. Bob Klaber - kindness matters!

Wild Card - Whose Shoes?

Today, I‘m talking to Bob Klaber - a charismatic London paediatrician, building a global movement for kindness.

Like ‘Whose Shoes’, Bob is exploring a topic that could be seen as ‘soft and fluffy’, and bringing it centre stage. Bob’s kindness movement was featured at the Quality and Safety Forum in Gothenburg. I was delighted to contribute to one of the crowdsourced videos.

Lemon lightbulbs 🍋💡🍋

• Important to contextualise healthcare in people’s lives - find out what matters to them
• Share the power. Use healthcare appointments to codesign ways to maximise quality of life
• See things from children’s perspective, including language!
• Life aspirations are typically far more pressing than short-term medical considerations
• As a hospital consultant, find ways to make yourself accessible, not aloof!
• Everyday sexism is rife! Find ways to counter it
• #NoHierarchyJustPeople - sparking real conversations, breaking down barriers
• Storytelling – put something of yourself out there, show some vulnerability, let people know what you really care about
• Let’s act. Let’s move. This is urgent!
• Can you measure kindness? Should you try? 🤷🏼‍♀️
• Think beyond the processes. Be clear what you want to achieve. Don’t just measure things because you can!
• Exploring feelings and experiences is deep and energising … and hard work
• The tide has turned. There’s no place for leadership through bullying and shouting at people
• The most downloaded podcast episodes aren’t necessarily the most influential!
• Kindness, #WMTY, patient stories - coming together as a big movement
• NHS must look outwards – patients, local residents, the wider community
• Coproduce the things that will make the biggest impact
• See things from different perspectives, recognise and acknowledge the tensions - can help us move forward
• Be curious! Challenge yourself to be open-minded rather than thinking “Oh well, that’s how it is”
• Be like children.The ‘5 Why’s’ ? 🤷🏼‍♀️ Children ask 19 whys in a row!
• The human side of care: people join the monthly kindness sessions from Australia and New Zealand in the middle of the night!
• There are people from 30 different countries - a sense of collective power, collective learning, collective curiosity, give people a sense of hope and community
• Informal connections - the ripples are powerful
• There is value in feeling and experiencing the impact, rather than having to measure everything
• It ‘s important to reflect – but it doesn’t always need to be through formal channels. It could be on Bob‘s bike!
• Find the balance between reflection - and doing things!
• Find the things that matter most, that will have the biggest impact. Be deliberate
• Shoutout to Dr Mary Salama! #IntentionalCoffee ☕️☕️
• Relational meetings - find out what people are thinking – as opposed to transactional meetings
• Kindness goes beyond the individual leader – build it into the organisation, into the system

Links and resources
Prof. Marshall Ganz: The story of self, us, now: https://youtu.be/EfsfG3DkSuA

Crowdsourced kindness videos, shown at Quality and Safety Forum 2022 - clip including Gill Phillips: https://youtu.be/ghI7eMq1NfQ
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Chapters

1. 32. Dr. Bob Klaber - kindness matters! (00:00:00)

2. Bob tells us what is important to him – kindness and so much more (00:02:34)

3. Contextualising healthcare in people’s lives - ensuring healthcare professionals support people to have the best possible quality of life, finding out what matters to them (00:04:30)

4. Let’s share the power. Let’s codesign what time we have to get we have together to get the most out of it for you and your life (00:06:20)

5. Working with children - seeing things from their perspective, including language! (00:06:54)

6. Working with young people with sickle cell disease – life aspirations typically more pressing than short-term medical considerations (00:07:10)

7. As a consultant, Bob does all he can to make himself accessible – not aloof! (00:09:20)

8. Everyday sexism! And how to try and counter it – no hierarchy, just people. (00:10:39)

9. ‘No hierarchy, just people’ is the key to sparking real conversations, breaking down the barriers. (00:13:12)

10. Storytelling – you need to put something of yourself out there, show some vulnerability, let people know what you really care about (00:14:46)

11. Let’s act. Let’s move. This is urgent… (00:16:00)

12. Pledges for action. Can you measure everything? Should you even try? (00:17:25)

13. What about measuring kindness? (00:18:26)

14. Think beyond the processes. Be clear what you want to achieve. Don’t just measure things because you can! (00:20:00)

15. Exploring feelings and experiences is not easy. It is deep and energising… and can be really hard work (00:20:07)

16. The power of connections – linking with people who are doing great work in the same space, around the human side of care (00:23:20)

17. The tide has turned. There is no longer a place for leadership through bullying and shouting at people (00:24:32)

18. The podcast episodes with the most downloads are not necessarily the ones that should be most influential! (00:24:50)

19. Kindness, #WMTY, patient stories - coming together as a big movement (00:25:42)

20. The NHS is starting to look outwards more – not just with patients but local residents and the wider community. Coproducing the things that will make the biggest difference (00:25:59)

21. Seeing things from different perspectives, recognising and acknowledging the tensions, can help us all move forward (00:28:11)

22. Be curious! Challenge yourself to be a bit more open-minded rather than thinking “Oh well, that’s how it is” (00:29:25)

23. The ‘5 Why’s’ - children ask 19 whys in a row!! (00:30:05)

24. The kindness movement now has people from 30 different countries, who have found a sense of collective power, collective learning, collective curiosity (00:31:25)

25. Connecting with like-minded people around this topic of kindness is giving people a real sense of hope, a sense of connection (00:32:00)

26. People join the monthly kindness sessions from Australia and New Zealand in the middle of the night! (00:32:55)

27. The informal connections, the ripples are very powerful (00:33:59)

28. Sometimes there is value in feeling and experiencing the impact, rather than necessarily having to measure everything (00:34:09)

29. It is important to reflect – but it doesn’t always need to be through formal, written channels. It could be on Bob‘s bike! (00:34:55)

30. Finding the right balance between reflection… And actually getting on and doing things! (00:36:12)

31. Find the things that matter most, that are going to have the biggest impact. Be deliberate. (00:37:15)

32. Shoutout to Dr Mary Salama! # IntentionalCoffee (00:37:33)

33. Relational meetings - to find out what people are thinking – as opposed to transactional meetings (00:38:06)

34. Kindness goes beyond the individual kind leader – it needs to be built into the organisation, into the health system. A great note to finish on! (00:39:20)