I didn’t have time to write a diary for last week because I was busy writing the NI Healthcare Social Media Guide so I have combined the last two weeks in this post. It’s been a busy and exciting couple of weeks with lots of meetings, energy and collaboration!
IHM Leadership Lunch with Anne Clydesdale
On Tuesday 19th I attended the IHM (@ihmnireland) Leadership Lunch with Anne Clydesdale, Director of the Leadership Institute at Queens University Belfast. The title of her presentation was, ‘The Journey From Management to Leadership’.
In her presentation Anne explored how the journey to a leadership position in an organisation is usually via several management positions, and new leaders therefore find it very difficult to adapt to their new role because of the seven seismic shifts described by Michael D Watkins in his Harvard Business Review Article ‘How Managers Become Leaders‘.
Anne explained how, when new leaders start to struggle or feel threatened or overwhelmed in their new role they revert back to the management behaviours which are more natural to them and have brought them success thus far. Unfortunately, in a leadership role these management behaviours just exacerbate the problem and make things worse. Following this there was some discussion about how to recruit and select people with leadership potential.
Anne explained that potential leaders usually make bad managers because of their different characters, skills and behaviours. I therefore asked whether it was a good idea to choose our leaders from a pool of successful managers? When I read interviews with great business leaders they often comment that they found the culture in large, beaurocratic organisations to be stifling and eventually left to work for themselves. They may never have survived or achieved anything in an organisation where management gets you ahead. I named some examples of great and revered leaders and asked why we don’t hear the names of public sector leaders in such lists? Can the public sector ever produce great leaders? Is the environment and culture conducive? Anne answered that it was possible, but her facial expression and body language suggested she wasn’t sure or confident in her answer (and I pointed this out). Unfortunately time constraints prevented us exploring this any further.
Are they any examples of GREAT leaders in the public sector? Leaders who would be up there with Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, jack Welch, Richard Branson, Philip Green, Alan Sugar? Can those with fantastic leadership potential thrive in the public sector and make it to the top? Can they become great leaders? Is the culture and environment conducive? If not, can we change it?
Titanic Belfast
On Wednesday 20th I visited Titanic Belfast to make further arrangements for this year’s Medical Leadership Symposium. The Titanic Suite really is a fantastic backdrop for the event and both the Titanic Building and the professionalism of its staff are something Northern Ireland can be proud of.
HSC Safety Forum
On Thursday21st I met with Dr Gavin Lavery (@lavery_gg), Clinical Director of the HSC Safety Forum. We discussed our joint interest in human factors in healthcare, plans for the Improvement Network for NI, the 12-week patient safety SSC for first year medical students at QUB, plans to set up an IHI Open School ‘chapter’ in NI, and handover. We are both interested in the opportunity for improvement around handover. Gavin has been in discussion with Dr David Stewart, Medical Director at the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority regarding the recent Review of Hospitals at Nights and Weekends and the data collected on handover during the review. I was fortunate to be a member of the review team and have already done a lot of research into handover in relation to that so we’ve decided to collaborate on a piece of work around handover.
We also discussed the HSC Safety Forum’s involvement in this year’s Medical Leadership Symposium. I’m delighted that they will be involved, having a stand in the exhibition area and running a workshop on small cycle change and quality improvement.
Future-Engage-Deliver
On Tuesday 26th I had a meeting with Mike Eales from Steve Radcliffe Associates. I’m a big fan of Steve’s Future-Engage-Deliver model of leadership having seen him speak and read his book. We discussed the work Steve and Mike do using the FED model and my own experience of using it. We also discussed the possibility of Steve coming to speak at this year’s Medical Leadership Symposium.
Innovation & Collaboration with Industry
On Thursday 28th I met with Anne McMahon, a former midwife who is now the Local Account Manager for Pfizer in NI. We discussed the difficulty industry have in trying to collaborate with the health service and how their business models have evolved and adapted to the new environment of financial constraints. Anne explained some of the excellent work Pfizer is doing to support the health sector, particularly around leadership and health promotion and I agreed to help out with some of their health promotion work. We also discussed the leadership and culture within Pfizer. It sounds like they’re an innovative and forward thinking organisation and good to work for.
We also discussed the Medical Leadership Symposium and since Anne has a lot of experience in leadership and organisation development she gave me some good ideas for one of the workshops. She also confirmed that Pfizer would like to sponsor the symposium and provide assistance with the programme if required.
Queens Healthcare Leadership Forum
I met with Adam Dalby (@adamjohndalby) twice over the last fortnight. Adam is a fourth year medical student at Queens University Belfast who is interested in leadership and has done something about it. He is immersed in the work of the new Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management and set up the Queens Healthcare Leadership Forum. He showed great insight in deciding on a ‘healthcare leadership’ society instead of a ‘medical leadership’ society as there are many healthcare-related disciplines at QUB and this multi-professional society provides an opportunity to bring them together. This networking, engagement, and collaboration at undergraduate level can only be a good thing.
I was meeting with Adam as part of my continued support for him and the society he has founded. I think it’s important to encourage and support energetic young leaders and I’m helping Adam to plan an exciting QHLF event for May.
Growing Medical Leadership
On Friday 29th I had lunch with an enthusiastic FY1 at RVH who contacted me to discuss his interest in leadership, management and quality improvement. He was very keen to do something rather than just talk about it, so by the end of lunch we had agreed that he will start a Leadership Club to run at lunchtimes. This will be analogous to a Journal Club, but with the focus on leadership and quality improvement. We hope it will provide a forum for those interested to come together to learn and discuss leadership and hopefully some useful leadership and quality improvement initiatives will come out of it. For my part I offered help in getting the club started and in illiciting support from Trust management and arranging Consultant sponsors.
Perhaps we should aim to make this a multi-professional leadership club rather than limiting it to doctors.
Transforming Your Care
On Friday afternoon I met with Pamela McCreedy, TYC Director at the HSC Board. We discussed the exciting changes taking place in NI healthcare and the fantastic opportunities for further change and improvement. I sense an impressive energy and optimism from those involved in TYC. We also discussed the ongoing work to build the leadership capacity of the HSC. It was uplifting to see the energy, enthusiasm and effort directed at improving the HSC for all patients and service users in Northern Ireland.
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