How to improve healthcare? Identify, nurture and embed individuals and teams with “deep smarts”

Purpose: Unlocking and transferring skills and capabilities in individuals to the teams they work within, and across, is the key to positive organisational development and improved patient care. Using the “deep smarts” model, the purpose of this paper is to examine these issues. Design/methodology/approach: The “deep smarts” model is described, reviewed and proposed as a way of transferring knowledge and capabilities within healthcare organisations. Findings: Effective healthcare delivery is achieved through, and continues to require, integrative care involving numerous, dispersed service providers. In the space of overlapping organisational boundaries, there is a need for “deep smarts” people who act as “boundary spanners”. These are critical integrative, networking roles employing clinical, organisational and people skills across multiple settings. Research limitations/implications: Studies evaluating the barriers and enablers to the application of the deep smarts model and 13 knowledge development strategies proposed are required. Such future research will empirically and contemporary ground our understanding of organisational development in modern complex healthcare settings. Practical implications: An organisation with “deep smarts” people – in managerial, auxiliary and clinical positions – has a greater capacity for integration and achieving improved patient-centred care. Originality/value: In total, 13 developmental strategies, to transfer individual capabilities into organisational capability, are proposed. These strategies are applicable to different contexts and challenges faced by individuals and teams in complex healthcare organisations.