I have blogged a lot about meeting current nhs leaders and I hope it isn't getting too boring but it really is one of the best things about the grad scheme! It is so easy to get bogged down in the day to day firefighting in my operational role, and hearing some of the great changes that people have made is really inspiring and also gives me hope for the future.
Julian Hartley, the new chief executive of NHS quality improvement spoke to us about three key ideas developed as part of 'the Blackpool way' which I will try to follow in my current and future leadership positions.
1. Great communication. This includes visible senior leadership and setting the tone of openness. In my current placement I work closely with the divisional general manager, who is hardly ever at her desk, as she spends a lot of her time out in the clinical areas talking to staff and patients! Whilst this is excellent, there isn't much written communication on a local level that means that the key messages are not getting out in a consistent way. Julian also discussed a rumour board- where anyone could submit a rumour anonymously and the answers from the trust board were published on the intranet.
2. Recognition. Thanking people formally and informally from the executive team down creates a positive environment. This also ties in with a recent blog post I read about the 'imposter' syndrome. The majority of nhs leaders feel at times that they are not up to the job, and that they will get 'found out' at any minute. Recognition when it is due is a key way to tackle this and support colleagues in their roles. However it is clearly not about tolerating poor practice, or appreciating mediocre behaviour, but making sure thanks are loud and clear when they are due.
3. Enlightened management style. Julian talked about some ideas which he managed to embed into daily practice. As part of 'the Blackpool way' each manager had an evaluation done by their subordinates on to what extent do they live by the values of the organisation. These scores were then built into their appraisals. Another story he told was about before he became the chief executive of Blackpool, he wrote a letter to each senior manager to ask them what they thought the three top priorities were for the organisation. He learnt a lot even before he got there about the staff, their opinion on future strategy and improvements needed in the organisation.
Whilst a lot of the conversation revolved around key changes that had been implemented, Julian also cautioned us about making changes for the sake of it. When new management comes in, making big changes becomes part of making a mark and symbolising a new leader, but this isn't always necessary. This was a good end to a day discussing service improvement, as there is a tendency for changes to be made quickly with no real insight into the root cause of the problem, and changes are not given enough time to embed before a new management 'craze' is tried instead.
Julian Hartley, the new chief executive of NHS quality improvement spoke to us about three key ideas developed as part of 'the Blackpool way' which I will try to follow in my current and future leadership positions.
1. Great communication. This includes visible senior leadership and setting the tone of openness. In my current placement I work closely with the divisional general manager, who is hardly ever at her desk, as she spends a lot of her time out in the clinical areas talking to staff and patients! Whilst this is excellent, there isn't much written communication on a local level that means that the key messages are not getting out in a consistent way. Julian also discussed a rumour board- where anyone could submit a rumour anonymously and the answers from the trust board were published on the intranet.
2. Recognition. Thanking people formally and informally from the executive team down creates a positive environment. This also ties in with a recent blog post I read about the 'imposter' syndrome. The majority of nhs leaders feel at times that they are not up to the job, and that they will get 'found out' at any minute. Recognition when it is due is a key way to tackle this and support colleagues in their roles. However it is clearly not about tolerating poor practice, or appreciating mediocre behaviour, but making sure thanks are loud and clear when they are due.
3. Enlightened management style. Julian talked about some ideas which he managed to embed into daily practice. As part of 'the Blackpool way' each manager had an evaluation done by their subordinates on to what extent do they live by the values of the organisation. These scores were then built into their appraisals. Another story he told was about before he became the chief executive of Blackpool, he wrote a letter to each senior manager to ask them what they thought the three top priorities were for the organisation. He learnt a lot even before he got there about the staff, their opinion on future strategy and improvements needed in the organisation.
Whilst a lot of the conversation revolved around key changes that had been implemented, Julian also cautioned us about making changes for the sake of it. When new management comes in, making big changes becomes part of making a mark and symbolising a new leader, but this isn't always necessary. This was a good end to a day discussing service improvement, as there is a tendency for changes to be made quickly with no real insight into the root cause of the problem, and changes are not given enough time to embed before a new management 'craze' is tried instead.
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