Jehan Al Fannah: Wicked Wisdom

In this Wicked & Agile Interview, I spoke with Jehan Al Fannah to examine Agility in action in hospitals in the Middle East during COVID.

Jehan is a transdisciplinary practitioner, which shares similar principles to Agile. Transdisciplinary objective is to cross boundaries and understand the in-between to better deal with complexity. It also works with collaborative stakeholders while not being held by a certain disciplinary. 

During our conversation, Jehan reflected on the problems with in-patient care. At the beginning of COVID, staff became robotic. When times were tough, they needed to bring back human connections and purposefully meet face to face.

She noted that pre-COVID, teams did not connect to user feedback and kept to tasks and deadlines. Post-COVID, they became more empathetic with the users and incorporated more of the user feedback in the designing of the solution. When things got particularly bad, collaboration and empathy become a bigger factor at producing the right solution.

Jehan also highlighted one of my firm beliefs: give the opportunity or problem to the team and they will choose what tool they want to use to resolve it.

Read Jehan’s Wicked Wisdom from her experiences below and then watch the full interview for more insights from our conversation!

Jehan's Wicked Wisdom

1. There isn’t a direct solution for wicked problems but to create more communication platforms, like this one!

• Wicked problems as in complex and multilayered rather than morally wicked! Healthcare is about a “need” not a “want” but where do you draw the line when continuously faced with an endless dilemma of not meeting the demand!

2. There’s no right or wrong

• When trying to solve wicked problems there’s no right or wrong, there’s better or worse!

3. Listen in order to see problems through a new perspective

• Sometimes when faced with complexity, strip yourself of all titles, knowledge, experience and just listen! You will be surprised of the new lens you gain!

Watch the Wicked & Agile Interview recording with Jehan Al Fannah and Joanne Stone below.

About Jehan Al Fannah

Jehan Al Fannah currently defines her profession as a transdisciplinary practitioner. She started her career in the healthcare sector in Oman as a clinical pharmacist and worked closely with sick children, their parents, and a diverse group of healthcare providers. Later in her career she moved into healthcare organizational performance improvement, sustainability, quality, and patient safety.

Professionally, Jehan is passionate about breaking boundaries beyond the scope of a defined profession. Transdisciplinary practice is about dealing with the complexity of a daily professional life in the knowledge era. It is about overcoming the compartmentalization of knowledge that creates boundaries to integrated problem solving. Healthcare especially, is one of the most complex work environments. It overseas the birth and demise of human beings all in one day and the dilemmas of the in-between. This calls for agility, creativity, imagination, stretching our professional expertise and challenging our lifelong assumptions and personal values.  

Outside the professional world, Jehan is passionate about hiking, climbing, canyoning and abseiling the vast mountains! They remind her of using her physical intelligence beyond the scope of the cognitive intelligence of the knowledge era, to handle pain, scarcity and to toughen up!