CORMETIS CONSULTING

An introduction to the fascinating phenomenon of wilful blindness:

The presence and impact of wilful blindness lies at the heart of many of the tragedies that have unfolded in public services. Understanding what wilful blindness is, how it manifests, and how to address it, is key to enabling leaders to provide safer services and avoid becoming the next headline.​​

Engaging effectively and building trust with external stakeholders:

Public service providers have seen trust in themselves and their services eroded. This has been amplified by the often inappropriate use of public relations which has focused on providing acceptable positive soundbites and good news stories while failing to acknowledge the reality of the challenges services face. 

Handling and learning from service-user complaints:

Whether seen as comments, compliments, concerns or complaints, the purposeful proactive gathering and harnessing of feedback from patients and service users, their carers, families and loved ones, is vital in building a learning organisation and ensuring the continuous improvement of services.

Learn how to raise concerns

and speak up in safety:

There is more than a grain of truth in the old saying that it ain't what you do it's the way that you do it. There are many ways to raise concerns and speak up safely even in closed cultures where people have previously been discouraged and ostracised for speaking up and sharing their concerns.

Modelling positive leadership behaviours to build trust:

Trust is key in creating open safe high-performing cultures. Real trust is only created when employees see stated values being lived in the actions and behaviours of senior leaders. Yet many leaders rely solely on the efforts of their internal communication departments to publicise their organisations values.

Redefining the role of

public service leaders:

It's often said public service leaders have an impossible job. Some feel their role has been reduced to that of dealers in hope. Learn how leaders can refresh their purpose and redefine their roles by delivering outcomes in the here and now while using their insight and influence to shape policy and inform the design and delivery of future services .

Wilful blindness and ethical fading in teams and organisations:

A state of wilful blindness creates the conditions in which a process known as ethical fading occurs. This is a cultural state where high ethical standards are not expected and poor behaviours become widely accepted. This leads to staff disengagement and ultimately to service-user harm. ​​

Building and maintaining

patient and user safe cultures:

Safe high quality patient care is provided when organisations and teams are led by leaders and managers who understand that their role is to create the right conditions in which safe high quality services can be provided. Safe responsive services are the product of positive open cultures. 

Engaging effectively and empathetically with employees:

An engaged workforce is an asset. A disengaged workforce is an accident in waiting. The links between an engaged workforce and the provision of high quality services are proven. Less than ten percent of employee perceptions about their employer are formed by official internal communication efforts, messages, channels and campaigns. 

Hold more impactful and better informed board meetings:

Leadership meetings in public services and the precious time and attention of their board members, directors and senior managers are often consumed by an excessive focus on process, policy and measurable performance metrics at the expense of potentially harmful and reputationally damaging situations. 

Implement the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework​:

Implementing PSIRF is the first of the twelve priorities listed in NHS England's Priorities and Operational Guidance for 2024/25. Successfully implementing PSIRF is more than merely establishing new ways of doing the same things. It entails seeing and responding to events in a radically different way. 

The  curved ball myth - from crisis reaction to proactive prevention:

Harmful events are not the unforeseeable curved balls many perceive them as. They are often predictable and entirely preventable. Just as excellence is the ultimate collective result of many small identifiable acts and decisions, so also are harm, tragedy and untoward events. 

​Understanding whistleblowing and working with whistleblowers:

Whistleblowing and the treatment of whistleblowers are sensitive topics. Many leaders and senior managers are unsure what constitutes whistleblowing and are wary of whistleblowers and unsure of their motives. Whistleblowers are often an organisations most invested employees and a valuable asset to be respected and utilised. ​

Bespoke interventions to address emerging or previous incidents: 

The topics above can be provided as standalone events or as part of a series. They can be delivered online or in person as seminars, interactive workshops or short masterclasses. If there are specific challenges you would like an intervention designed to address then please get in touch...

How to engage compassionately with victims of service failure:

Many of the complaints and claims made against public services relate to how those affected have been treated after an incident has occurred. How people are perceived, their needs are understood, and how they are communicated with following an incident are vitally important.

Ethics for leaders - The Orange 7th Hat, when and how to use it:

You may be familiar with Edward de Bono's famous and incredibly useful six hats thinking tool which encourages people to look at situations through varying lenses before arriving at a decision. Supplementing six hats thinking with the orange hat of ethics ensures that the ethical dimensions in any situation are not missed or ignored.

Use multi-channel listening to be a wilfully aware organisation:

Tom Peter's famously said that if managers think everything is okay, they are probably not looking hard enough. His observation has been proven right many times, often with tragic consequences. The key to minimising avoidable harms is to shift from reactive responding to proactive listening. 

Metis Management - seeking and valuing multiple perspectives:

Metis was the Titan Goddess of good counsel, wisdom, prudence and deep thought. The foresight, intelligence and skill in strategic planning she was known for came from the ability to interpret situations from different perspectives. She understood how to combine the practical with the political. 

The role of technology in

providing safe services:

The absence of joined-up technology remains a significant source of risk to public service users, especially in healthcare. The use of technology can not only reduce risk for service users, it facilitates the production of information and data that can be used to predict and prevent harmful events.

Using questions to shift perspective and create solutions:

The right questions asked in the right place at the right time and in the right way can be powerful catalysts for change. However, in culturally uniform organisations with strong hierarchical traditions, the asking of incisive questions does not always come naturally to staff and managers who are uncomfortable challenging.

Just want an in confidence conversation over a cuppa?

Making time to talk is an investment, not a luxury. There are few things that can't be resolved or alleviated with a good conversation. Engaging with others, no matter what level they work at or what sector they work in, can be both useful and a great source of personal and intellectual growth.