I have a good idea – what do I do about it?

We have all been there. We have an idea we believe will help to improve our service but we don’t know where to start to make it a reality.

These ideas are critical to continuous improvement in physiotherapy. Whether you’re a newly qualified physiotherapist, support worker or advanced practitioner, you’re well placed to influence those that matter to enable you to implement change.

Whether it’s winning the hearts and minds of your team or service users, or securing funding via commissioners, careful planning is the key to successful influencing.

Here’s where you can start:

Set an achievable objective 

• Ensure you know what success looks like for you and consider how will you measure this. 

Know your stakeholders

• Identify and prioritise the groups or individuals you need to influence to help achieve your objective. 
• Know their priorities so you are speaking the same language.

What’s the best time and format for engagement? 

• Consider what challenges your stakeholders face, what is relevant to them at the time and therefore how you can best engage with them eg 1:1 conversations, written information or a group meeting. 

What is your overall message to your stakeholders? 

• You’re more likely to win over your stakeholders if it’s clear what your idea will achieve. How will the stakeholders benefit?

What is your evidence base? 

• Showing evidence behind your idea will add strength. Think about what data, qualitative or quantitative, you have to support your idea and what will be most impactful for your stakeholders. 

Consider your delivery plan

• Be clear on exactly what is needed to successfully implement your idea; what resources and support are required and what are your timescales?

Communication

• Consider who will need to know about changes taking place and what information needs to be disseminated to others. How will you share information.