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69. Curiosity, Connection and Creativity in the NHS: An Intentional Coffee with Dr Ben Allen
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🎙️ Wild Card – Whose Shoes? with Gill Phillips
Episode: An #IntentionalCoffee with Dr Ben Allen
In this episode, Gill Phillips speaks for the very first time with Dr Ben Allen - transformative GP, former ICB leader, and curious explorer of how the NHS can work better for staff, patients, and communities.
Ben and Gill have connected through LinkedIn where Ben describes himself as: "GP, NHS leader, convener and innovator. Releasing potential, creating joyful and effective teams. Supporting large scale improvement."
On the podcast, Ben shares his bold decision to step away from a formal leadership role to pursue a two-year “personal learning experiment” - visiting teams, shadowing people across the NHS and beyond, and testing new ways of connecting, leading, and learning.
✨ Ben and Gill dive into:
- Building trust and psychological safety in teams.
- Why creativity (perhaps a RAP or a ball of wool!) can shift culture.
- The power of connections and ripples in complex systems.
- How social media can be more than noise - a space for learning, challenge, and collaboration.
- The hope found in unlocking the untapped potential of human beings.
It’s a rich, hopeful, and energising conversation about leadership, curiosity, and finding new ways to make change happen.
🍋💡🍋 Lemon lightbulbs
🍋 “Make everything work harder” – capture, share, and amplify learning so others can benefit.
🍋 Psychological safety is built when we stretch people’s vulnerability just enough – trust grows through human connection.
🍋 Creativity in healthcare (a poem, a musical, a ball of wool!) can feel radical because our systems are so rigid – yet these moments are what people remember.
🍋 Impact in complex systems is messy and hard to measure – but ripples matter.
🍋 Relationships are as vital as evidence; systems are only as strong as their connections.
🍋 Social media isn’t just a hobby – it’s an underused engine for ideas, learning, and collaboration.
🍋 Hope comes from recognising untapped potential in people and organisations – not just from more money or resources.
🍋 Stepping out of your comfort zone to explore and learn can bring rich rewards.
Useful links
Find out more about #CYPWhoseShoes:
'Whose News?' Edition 14
BRAND NEW - The #CYPWhoseShoes story so far, told with a ball of string!
Listen to the episodes around #UniversalHealthcare (Episodes 56-62) - explore further some of the issues and people mentioned in this conversation:
56. Becky Malby – Universal Healthcare
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1838805/15239449
57. Tom Holliday - Children get less
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1838805/15363315
58. George Winder – Don’t medicalise poverty
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1838805/15461390
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I tweet as @WhoseShoes and @WildCardWS and am on Instagram as @WildCardWS.
Please recommend 'Wild Card - Whose Shoes' to others who enjoy hearing passionate people talk about their experiences of improving health care.
Chapters
1. Welcome & Introductions Gill sets the scene, introduces Whose Shoes? and her guest Dr Ben Allen. (00:00:00)
2. Ben’s Journey: From GP to System Explorer Ben shares his background, home life, and why he stepped away from an ICB leadership role (00:02:40)
3. Making Everything Work Harder How capturing and sharing learning creates ripples of impact. (00:07:25)
4. Creativity and Discipline in Change From GP crisis RAPS to liberating structures – why creativity matters in the NHS (00:10:47)
5. Storytelling, Evidence & Celebration Gill describes Whose Shoes? work in Staffordshire and the challenge of capturing impact (00:14:07)
6. Outrageous Creativity in a Serious System Ben on poetry, playfulness, and why NHS culture finds creativity “radical.” (00:15:39)
7. MatExp the Musical Gill recalls a bold, unforgettable (and slightly naughty!) NHS Expo performance (00:19:35)
8. Psychological Safety in Practice Ben’s risky but powerful facilitation exercise – making people feel what’s at stake. (00:22:55)
9. The Power of Connections Networks, liberating structures, and unplanned collaborations that change systems (00:28:32)
10. Social Media as a Learning Engine How Twitter and LinkedIn fuel ideas, challenges, and collaboration (00:32:57)
11. Teams, Trust and Culture Exploring how individuals can influence and shift team culture (00:36:51)
12. Human Connections at Work Stories of small changes (like staff rooms or train journeys) that build stronger teams (00:40:18)
13. Two Years of Exploration Ben’s “learning experiment” – shadowing, visiting, and feeding insights back into NHS design (00:45:55)
14. Bridging Roles & Next Steps Ben’s new role as Medical Director and why he wants to be a “bridge” across systems (00:50:04)
15. Closing Reflections Ben leaves a message of hope; Gill wraps up with thanks and next steps (00:55:57)
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