Team strategic philosophy: requiem for the infinite game

Five principles are necessary to lead an infinite game: first, a fair basis, such that sacrifices for its advancement are promoted; second, a trusting blame-free team culture and environment; third, competitors viewed as worthy rivals rather than adversaries, promoting healthy competition; fourth, existential flexibility when faced with credible evidence; and finally, transformational leadership, including infinite game theory into healthcare planning, may be difficult, but the potential rewards are surely worth the existential fight. Conventions or laws may govern how players conduct themselves, but within a broad envelope, players can operate however they wish. [...]the way the game is played may change at any time for any reason. Inherent to the aforementioned are existential mindsets driven by ‘making the numbers’ or ‘hitting the targets’, whereby staff are incentivised by arbitrary time-bound metrics. [...]these scenarios are in keeping with a quantitative myth, the McNamara fallacy.4 Robert McNamara had by any standards, a stellar career profile: [...]the target has not been met for more than 4 years, with over one in five patients waiting longer than 4 hours in December 2019. [...]targets may result in unintended consequences.