An Interview with Wg Cdr Keri Spencer Thomas on H4MoD and innovation in Defence
Dr Ali Hawks recently had a chance to interview Wg Cdr Keri Spencer Thomas on the role H4MoD plays in Defence innovation. This was originally published on the MoD’s Defence Connect intranet 20 April 2021.
H4MOD is a taught postgraduate university module across UK universities and delivered on the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC) where teams of 4-5 postgraduate students learn and apply Lean Startup methods to solving national Security or Defence problems in 10 weeks.
The student team works with a “problem sponsor” who either owns or experiences the problem, as well as an industry or Other Government Department (OGD) mentor who may be solving that same problem in industry or familiar with relevant technology. As part of the proof of concept, H4MOD is in seven universities in the UK with numerous other universities having expressed an interest. “Hacking for Sustainability” also launched this year at the University of Newcastle. This term, H4MOD is being taught at five universities.
With some of the new cohort of students having just completed their course, we caught up recently with one of the programme’s champions, Wing Commander Keri Spencer-Thomas, to learn more about how the academic programme is being embraced by Defence as one of the ways to embed innovation into Defence, helping to create a culture in Defence that is ‘innovative by instinct’.
In our conversation, Keri discussed her introduction to H4MOD, why it was of interest to Defence, the impact the H4MOD course is having and what lies ahead.
Ali: Hi Keri, thanks for joining me to have this conversation. To get started, it would be great to hear how and when you were introduced to H4MOD and what about the programme really caught your attention?
Keri: H4MOD started at a time when we were deep into drafting our Defence People Strategy (released March 2020). We became interested in the programme as it supported the Strategy’s objectives, particularly around an adaptable and sustainable workforce and maximising talent. H4MOD also linked very strongly with our broader interest in engaging with society, where we were looking at our Defence ‘enterprise approach’, the way to improve flows into, across and out of the organisation while increasing cognitive diversity within the organisation. In terms of ways to improve relationships between Defence, academia and industry, we were particularly drawn to the US’s experience of getting university students to develop a positive view of Defence by being involved in solving Defence problems.
Ali: What has MOD’s approach to innovative behaviours been previously?
Keri: Our approach to innovation has been focused on integrating and adapting emerging technology to retain our competitive advantage. MOD doesn’t always understand the problem that new and emerging technology is solving. Furthermore, innovation is often perceived to be the responsibility of a few rather than the majority, so it has not become a Defence-wide workforce habit. The paradigm shift from understanding innovation to mean rapid acquisition and experimentation to really understanding the problem is crucial to determine whether we are developing the right solutions to a validated problem.
Ali: I absolutely agree and that's really the ethos and methodology behind Hacking for MOD, the intense focus on the problem first. Why do you think it is important to make this change from innovation being the preserve of a few to be a habit for the majority?
Keri: We are now in a much more complex and dynamic operating environment. We need to do things that allow us to be flexible and operate at a pace, fail fast, learn from the lessons and move on. As we continuously operate in the sub-threshold below war-fighting, multi-domain integration will require our people to be much more agile and adaptable. They also need new cutting-edge skills and the ability to collaborate across the whole of the Defence enterprise, including with industry, our allies, partners and OGDs. Some of these skills include being able to validate problems quickly to determine what problems are truly investable, e.g. the solution is scalable.
Ali: That is really interesting, especially the concept of innovation as everyone’s business. So, what do you think is different now?
Keri: We're still in the very early stages, but a lot has already happened. We're starting to see reform in UK Professional Military Education (PME). The vision within the UK Defence Academy is for people both to understand art and the science of war but also develop new skills that enhance traditional STEM skills. So, we are seeing a greater emphasis on entrepreneurship, creativity, collaboration, innovation. The results of the pivot to more problem-led and experiential learning on the MSc for Defence Innovation have been really encouraging. Seeing these kinds of changes accelerated and becoming more mainstream for a wider range of people learning within the Defence enterprise will be important.
Also, MOD Problem Sponsors are being exposed to different innovation tools and techniques which they are able to apply in their daily lives and share with their colleagues. We are finding they are starting to encourage their staff to work with these tools and techniques. In some cases, they encourage their staff to become Problem Sponsors for new H4MOD problems for either PME students or students at one of the other further education establishments to validate and solve.
All these activities will contribute to breaking down barriers to innovation which the Defence Innovation Unit lead on and who we work closely with. Ultimately, helping to deliver the Defence Innovation vision of creating an organisation that is ‘innovation by instinct’.
Ali: That sounds really encouraging and the programme is growing with quite a lot of momentum. Would you be able to share some success stories?
Keri: The overall success story is that this programme has proven it can be scaled in Defence. Seven universities and eight university departments have taken part, amounting to 200 students having worked on 45 Defence problems. The proof of concept has validated a demand signal coming from both the MOD and higher education that they want to build a stronger relationship, and this fast-paced exciting class enables this cross-society innovation to grow.
What is really exciting, though, is how many students want to engage with Defence in the future, after taking H4MOD; with over 81% saying they would look to, or have a desire, to continue working with MOD, this course is changing student attitudes and awareness of Defence. For example, 71% of students will apply for funding to continue working on their problem and other students have expressed an interest in joining the Armed Forces so they can keep working on our problems. Others want to work with us in other ways such as contractor or consultant.
My own exposure to the programme was as a Problem Sponsor, looking at low level complaints resolution and awareness across the ranks. In 10 weeks, my students did 60 interviews revealing that one solution is to raise awareness of the informal and formal processes by having a simple ‘how to’ guide as a page on the series of MyApps.
Ali: That's amazing and incredibly exciting. Pulling in people who are students who have never really considered working in Defence before and having the opportunity to work on a problem that is currently trying to be solved or is either felt across Defence and then being a stakeholder in that potential solution, it's such a great opportunity for post-graduate students. So, what's next for the programme?
Keri: We are now in the process of moving beyond the proof of concept and using a combination of Defence innovation funding and matched TLB funding, we are procuring a new Mission Driven Entrepreneurship (MDE) programme. This will build on the H4MOD proof of concept we have just completed with the Common Mission Project and scale MDE in more UK universities over the next three years.
Wg Cdr Keri Spencer-Thomas has served in the Royal Air Force for 20 years, coming from an HR background. Her Service includes Combat Air and non-complex weapons programming at Air Command, which gave her insight into the capability development and delivery world; as well as Command at RAF Coningsby, managing people and training and related matters.
Since 2016, she has been assigned to the Defence People Team where she has responsibility for Defence People Strategy and Plans development, the People contribution to Defence Force Development and Innovation. She is also coordinator for People inputs to the TLB Ideas Scheme, and in that capacity worked to bring H4MOD in through a mix of Defence Innovation Funding and matched funding from Navy, Army, Air, the Defence People Team and the Defence Academy.
Defence Innovation Priorities: