Communication is Key - Tackling the FT Innovative Lawyers - Global Legal Hackathon Worldwide Challenge

Viewpoints
May 29, 2020
2 minutes

Proud to have joined forces with team members from Ropes & Gray, a global pharmaceutical company, Methods Analytics, University of Exeter Business School, and Raadical Entertainment to create a data-analytics and behavioral science-based solution to address communication challenges from the ground-up within the NHS and other public health organizations during this time of crisis and beyond.  

Public health organizations are facing unprecedented challenges. Small, unidentified needs experienced by those on the front lines can quickly escalate. We developed a tool combining data collection, analytics, and behavioral science techniques to amplify employee voices in real time so that decision makers can make the right decisions.

Our platform uses technology to gauge, monitor, and optimize resource allocation based on real-time feedback from the front lines. Our prototype survey takes less than five minutes to complete and is directed to engage public health employees across regions and seniority levels whose anonymous feedback provides crucial assessments of all types of needs, from physical resources like PPE, to human needs, such as extra mental health support. The survey also gauges morale among those on the front lines, including employee confidence in the organization to manage the current crisis and in preparedness for a second wave of COVID-19 cases. Free text options give employees an opportunity to raise issues or concerns not otherwise anticipated by the survey, to get as close to a conversation as possible. 

We use data analytics and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to efficiently process the survey data. Decision makers can then review the results via easily accessible dashboards that use color-coding and graphs to summarize trends. A heat map provides a system-wide overview of strengths and vulnerabilities, while the dashboards allow users to drill down into a particular location’s survey results and hot points, including a measure of overall employee satisfaction, areas most in need of attention, and specific concerns raised by respondents. Furthermore, NLP identifies recurring key words to detect potential risk areas not specifically predicted in the survey, such as workplace harassment or cultural issues, which may not yet be on management's radar.

Our platform can also be configured to guide leaders on recommended next steps. For example, if a certain percentage of respondents in an area indicate they lack confidence in management’s crisis preparation, the tool will alert users that they will need to set up follow-on conversations with personnel in the flagged areas. This human interaction is a critical component of the overall design of this offering in facilitating management engagement in identified hotspots.

For a detailed explanation of our solution and demonstration, please view our submission here.