NHS has no red teams - we need them
Defence forces have red teams. The US defence has had red
teams since the early 2000s, soon the UK defence forces followed with their own
version with slight variation. A few private companies such as IBM use red
teams.
An internet search did not reveal healthcare especially the
NHS using Red Teams.
What is Red Team?
A red team is an 'independent' team within an organisation
that is deliberately created by the organisation to critically analyse from a variety of
perspectives (especially from an opponent or competitors perspective) and
challenge the organisations' strategies, assumptions, operations and all other aspects with a view to helping
the operational part of the organisation get to a better position.
Basically you hire and pay a team of people to stuff you so
that when you get out in the big bad world you don't get stuffed real time.
Red Team is something
but not fully like the opposition in the parliament whose job is to
oppose the ruling party yet work for the benefit of the country. The opposition
in the parliament provides an alternate view of the issue in question which the
government must consider but need not necessarily act upon. A good government
would willingly adopt the opposition's ideas if it would benefit the country.
Of course given the unsavory political overtones and entrenched positions of
political parties these days, this may not be the best example in practice but
I think you get the gist. A red team in your organisation is a paid opposition
without the baggage of politics - the ability to thoroughly analyse and provide
an alternative point of view to the powers that be but no inherent ability to
act on their own views.
A Red Team is
not................
Red Team is not about providing innovation or offering
solutions. Red Teaming is not strategy formulation by the management or
organisation. Red Teaming process runs either in parallel to the strategy
formulation or immediately after the strategy formulation but before it is
finalised, signed off for implementation.
Red Team is not made up of union reps, protestors,
resistors, laggards, innovators, management cronies, enthusiasts and so on. Red
team is not a group with representatives from any area. Red Teams are not the
same as whistle-blowers. They are certainly not people from 'risk', 'clinical
governance' or any other over used cliched terms. They are not part of
management or operations.
Executives are not obliged to follow the red team's advice
or recommendations; they are only obliged to listen carefully and consider if
they are suitable for implementation. Post-implementation, executives will be
obliged to review their operations in the light of the prior recommendations of
the red teams so that better learning can happen and be captured for future
operations. The red team does not do operations, it is not the boss. The
executives are responsible for the operations and results. The red team
provides feedback, reflections but has no power to implement, reward or punish.
Red team never says 'I told you so' irrespective of whether things have gone
right or wrong; they take no credit or flak for success or failure of
operations - that belongs purely to the executives.
Red Teaming
Red Teaming are a large set of tools and techniques that
take time to learn, taught to people with prior operational experience and high
level of maturity. Red Teams are friends who are playing the role of the enemy.
Red Teams will face resistance and hostility. Red Teams are people who will
pick holes in your plans and shred your strategy during the day and yet party
with you in the night. Their level of development is such that they will have
to think and act like the enemy, be the enemy so that they can help their
friends. Red Teams often do not have automatic rights on most things, they will
have to engage and negotiate at every turn. They have to be nice to you to you
before you will consider their help in tearing down your own plans - see the
complexity in human interactions here? Red Team exists to falsify the
organisations' and its executives' theory.
It is important to remember that Red Teams and Red Teaming
is not 'process driven', it has been described as an art, something to help
with intuitive decision making. To convert them into 'tick boxing' so that we
can claim we have a Red Team who have done the Red Teaming is very tempting so
that operations staff can move on with carrying out their high pressure
functions on a day to day basis but would be an expensive same side goal.
Healthcare needs Red
Teams
Essentially, one of the fundamentals of the army is the
business of protecting lives and minimising loss of life; like healthcare I
suppose. Evidence based healthcare has huge problems and still in its infancy.
Even if enough good evidence was available the complexity of healthcare means
that the decisions will still be very different from many other industries.
While other industries will need Red Teaming to look at from the competition's
perspective, healthcare especially the NHS, needs Red Teams to look at itself.
That will be an even more specialised art. We need that art and those artists
urgently.
Do we in healthcare have the guts or the maturity to have
red teams?
© HEMADRI
Follow me on twitter @HemadriTweets
Further reading
UK version of Red Team https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/142533/20130301_red_teaming_ed2.pdf
US version of Red Team http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/UFMCS/Repository/RT_Handbook_v6.pdf
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