Patient-centred leadership in practice
Extracted from Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA) newsletter.
In last month's newsletter, HPMA president Kelvin Cheatle referenced conflicting demands, limited time, restricted resource and pressure for delivery as key challenges for NHS leaders. Of course, these are just the tip of the iceberg for leaders navigating the complex organisational dynamics of 21st century healthcare.
Under incessant scrutiny and pressure to deliver a world-class health service, leaders need to create an environment in which staff feel thoroughly engaged and able to perform at the highest level to deliver the very best patient care.
Patient-centred leadership that engages staff and patients is both challenging and vital. Too often, professionals are thrust into leadership positions and these roles sit hand in hand with a pressure to move beyond being an expert in one's field. These leaders will be technically brilliant but less experienced at engaging their people. This is where performance development and coaching are key.
High performing leaders need to be able survive and even thrive under pressure. They must make tough decisions, respond quickly to change and find opportunities despite all the challenges around them. They need to be able to identify, develop and retain their best people. They should be able to communicate openly with their people, be honest about the challenges and be open to challenge and questions from their teams.
In difficult circumstances, too many leaders focus on the constraints to performance rather than the supports and opportunities available. By focusing on the controllables, high performing leaders will be able to sustain performance and develop resilience.
With NHS chief executive David Nicholson calling on senior leaders to take responsibility for improving the quality of management in the health service, it is evidently vitally important. But what is not so clear, is the critical role that a performance coaching culture can play in creating a resilient organisation and high performing leaders who can facilitate world-class patient care.
A performance coaching culture supports the nurture and development of staff across multiple functions and levels. Lane4 has worked at a number of NHS trusts including Imperial College Healthcare, Barts & London and South Downs to equip them with the skills to act as role-models. A successful coaching culture generates accountability in others, ensures feedback is commonplace and makes communication more open, honest and frequent.
Developing leaders' performance coaching skills will enable them to deliver an effective patient-centred service because their people will feel engaged to deliver. In this way coaching can be used to maximise potential in others. Performance coaching can also help to build collaborative cross-functional relationships and influence key stakeholders across an organisation.
Furthermore, coaching can also be employed as a teaching tool. Developing clinicians' skills at earlier stages in their careers will support the development of an effective coaching culture. This can either happen with them directly, or through developing the coaching skills of those who train them.
To find out more about Lane4's healthcare offering please email fran.nash@lane4.co.uk
www.hpma.org.uk | Dr. Liz Campbell | 2009-03-27