Adam Kohlrus on Healthcare Innovation

When facilitating persona exercises (exercises that identify an organization's culture), we often ask: "What's your superpower? What unique skills do you bring to your position that no one else can?"

Answers come from every direction, and we get it. From talented artists to strategy rockstars, we have plenty of superheroes on our team—but Adam Kohlrus, MS, CPHQ, CPPS is a bit different.

For two years, Adam traveled to health centers in Swaziland, Africa, and Guyana for the Peace Corps . For over a decade, Adam helped Illinois hospitals improve quality, safety, and health policy. For two months, Adam has worked as a full-time partner and business designer at Do Tank.

Adam isn't a superhero. He's a down-to-earth communicator, with a talent for bringing people together and lighting up a conference hall. We're lucky to have him.

So, after an exciting onboarding process, Adam agreed to answer a few questions about his experiences inside the tank. Here's a summary of our conversation.

What's the most satisfying impact you've had this month?

The reaction from our partners, the IHI association and Rush Health , on the new digital hub; a place to connect a whole bunch of equity champions across the country.

It's exciting because I had to push for this. We started with the classic webinars, strategic planning, and workshop idea and said: "No. If you're going to this national collaboration right, let us show you how we can activate feedback, innovation, and peer-to-peer interaction through digital."

There was plenty of hesitation initially, but now that the prototypes are seeing the light, I couldn't be more pumped to hit the on-switch next month.

For a lot of our clients, digital is the last thing on their minds. They want us in the room hosting events, running workshops, and championing change. We're starting to get more adept at explaining the impact of digital; how digital can exponentially supercharge the human-centered design process if done the right way.

How useful is your background in healthcare when engaging with projects?

I think it's invaluable. I have an idea of how the ecosystem within a hospital and healthcare setting works from the front line to the C-suite. There's a delicacy in many of those relationships, and a lack of relationships across the healthcare continuum.

One of my biggest goals with any program we do is to de-silo communication and increase access to expertise. We need to get the right people around the table when we're problem-solving, which doesn't always happen in healthcare.

My experiences allow me to approach the same old problems in a very different, more inclusive way.

How do you approach a new project?

With the end goal and user in mind.

We ask: What's the burning platform? Who is the client? Who is the individual? Then, I meet with them to talk about the deliverables they have to reach and the impact they want to make on the population they're targeting.

Describe your work in two words.

Clarify complexity.

Essentially what we do (really well) is create simple structures to hold complex conversations. We can guide people through those conversations in a super pragmatic and effective way using human-centered design and visual tools. We're up against huge, nebulous challenges where people don't know where to start. There's no doubt these are wicked problems, but our approach helps people clarify where to go next.

Want to work with Adam on your next project? Reach out at [email protected] or on Linkedin!