18 Jun Visualising Commitment – #1kHands
If you would like some background to this then go here: Commitment Of A Thousand Hands – #pcic4 With a background in illustration and graphic design the power of the ‘visual’ is central to what I do. Done well, visualisation can be an incredibly powerful tool – drawing, filmmaking, photography – they all draw the eye, and the eye of the mind, leaving an picture that’s not easily forgotten. Great story telling is a powerful learning tool and an image has the potential to tell a story in a glance. I hoped that The Commitment of A Thousand Hands (1kHands) would capture visually what change can look like when many put their hands to the work. Equally the individual contributions had to mean something in isolation. I believe I achieved that. So lets hurtle back three weeks and see what happened:
Compare and contrast…
Above: The image in my head – used to promote the idea of #1kHands before the event
Below: What actually happened – hands (commitment) gathered during 28th May
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Below – Watch 1kHands build throughout the day… [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Zx7A-U25U&w=584&h=329] It wasn’t easy and there was a distinctly slow start. The first day was spent letting people know that 1kHands was coming and what they had to do; but I wanted them to be moved and/or inspired by the plenaries and workshops so the real work didn’t start until day two. To be fair, asking clinical people to draw around their hands comes across as a little odd, but in the vein of the ‘Lone Dancing Guy’ (Derek Sivers TED talk which played out at the end of the conference), the ‘arty type’ soldiered on. 
Appropriately enough the 1kHands definitely experienced the same pattern of momentum seen in the video. It takes courage to join a movement during the very early stages and I’m not sure it would have taken off at all had it not been for the serendipity of having a late keynote speaker. Keen to fill time the event organisers hastily filled the main hall with coloured paper and my instructions to “Draw around hands and commit!” By 11am the speaker had arrived, spoken, and I couldn’t move for coloured hands. 
After that it was easy… 1kHands had reached critical mass; the tipping point; and everyone wanted to get involved with the weird thing up the corner with all the coloured hands on it… or so it seemed. The reality was that I counted around 200 hands on the final piece (about a third of the attendees) but it looked (and felt) like much more. However, the seed is sown and I see no reason why 1kHands can’t continue elsewhere. Another conference. Another sector even. Perhaps it’ll work online. The point is that #1kHands is not strictly about healthcare. It’s about collaboration, courage and thinking differently in the face of resistance, strange looks and scepticism. The Dancing Guy may be the innovative leader but until someone else sees the value and invests in the idea the Lone Dancing Guy is still just a guy dancing on his own. 
The 1kHands wall at Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s Learning Session Four (Glasgow, May 2014) (#PCIC4) celebrates the army of ‘dancers’ who were prepared to put up their hand and commit to doing better. Beyond that 1kHands celebrates anyone prepared to put up their hand and commit to meaningful change. 
The inspiration for #1kHands was from a talk at the previous Learning Session by Dr David Reilly who has since been in touch and is very encouraged by this next step, as illustrated by his tweet:
From Conversation to Commitment: The Thousand Hands.#1kHands @ #PCIC4 Person Centred Health & Care Collaborative pic.twitter.com/fA5PSRMIoE
— David Reilly (@DrDavidReilly) May 30, 2014
We intend to meet up and talk about the future of #1kHands… the ‘movement’ (that’s a medical reference). Until then please keep the has tag alive – tweet your commitment (with a pic of your hand if you can) and tag it #1kHands – it doesn’t matter if you’re health care, social care, local government, education, public, private or voluntary; and if you want to create your own 1kHands wall of commitment at an event then be my guest – just tweet or email me about it – whatever you do just put up your hand and commit. Below: The final #1kHands wall 
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