Merlin Kong on Rethinking Innovation in Aged Care

What does it actually mean to be innovative?  And how many people within your organsiation would you consider to be innovators? Is it the Head of Technology that just rolled out a company-wide digital transformation project, or could it be the carer who came up with a clever way to engage the residents they look after? 

Innovation has traditionally been seen by many organisations as something that happens by senior people within a board room, but Merlin Kong believes that anyone can become an innovator if given the opportunity to think, and a platform to share their ideas.

As the former director of InnovAgeing, Merlin sought to democratise “innovation” within the sector, by creating a forum that was open to everyone, not just those at the top.

In this episode of The Business of Ageing, we discuss how innovation should be viewed as a cultural mindset within every organisation and that providers need to build in more “slack” into their workforce to give employees the opportunity to stop and think, rather than just running around and putting out fires.

The Business of Ageing podcast has been produced by Shaun Alexander at Pluss Communities

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Click here to learn more about Merlin Kong and Youtopient