I find it fascinating to watch the way people behave in different situations, and am slightly more tuned in at the moment on account of the reading I am doing about the culture of organisations in preparation for my first essay.

Yesterday morning, I attended what was described as a “stakeholder day”, where the top management of the NHS organisations within the area I work came together to inform each other of the work taking place to develop health care services. This will involve the building of a new hospital and 3 surgicentres, also the development of high tech diagnostic services, and changes which will be needed to community, intermediate and primary care services. The whole focus of this is really a service where the patient, not the service, or the clinician is central to the NHS; in other words a patient led NHS.

While interesting to listen to, the presentations were not the most dynamic, and the managers, many on serious salary packages, found it difficult to sit still and listen. Being such important people, though mindful of mobile phone protocol, there was a lot of movement in the room. A phone would silently ring (well vibrate I guess), and an individual would get up and leave the room, causing the door to bang slightly as they did so. There was also paper shuffling, the sound of things being dropped and picked up, not to mention whispers as the more cynical amongst them discussed what was being stated with incredulity. As I am the education lead within our trusts, my awareness to all this was heightened, after all if you are the person at the front (which is where I usually am) you notice the behaviour of participants, and it can be disconcerting when people don’t seem to be paying attention.

Sadly I couldn’t stay for the lunch as I had to rush off to meet with my course group in a pub near Trafalgar Square (I never said my life was easy!). I was a bit late and they were already tucking into their lunch and discussing essay stuff; I ordered my lunch and sat down to join in. A couple of hours passed enjoyably, though I will be glad when they ban smoking from areas where you eat as it was extremely smoky. We all left knowing what question we were answering, which is not a bad thing, and arranged to meet again a week before submission.

Back to the train, and this was where the most interesting 20 minutes of the day took place. Any one who has travelled on a British commuter train will know that it is a place where people, some of whom travel together daily, sit in silence, reading their paper / book, staring out of the window (obviously reflecting on the day in prospect or the one they just had), or increasingly, speaking on their mobile phones telling the person on the other end that they are “on the train”. However yesterday 3 people got on, who had obviously (their bags were a give away) been Christmas Shopping. Boy were these people noisy! Not only did they speak in loud voices to each other, but they also spoke to their fellow passengers, and laughed uproariously at every opportunity. As the journey got underway, they began to do a crossword puzzle very loudly, encouraging fellow passengers to join in. The interesting thing though was that the lady sitting next to me found this to be completely outside of the expected culture of the train, and sat huffing and puffing, around me a few people made muttered comments to each other. I in turn was close to laughing at the surreal nature of it all.

The picture at the top has nothing to do with the topic, but is of my cat who likes to sit in a cardboard box, and I guess, why not, after all it is probably a good place for people watching!