Developing clinical leadership

For the foreseeable future, Government spending in the NHS will be severely constrained. To do more with less, and simultaneously increase quality, the service will need both to retain its best people and motivate them to give of their best while they are at work.

This will require effective leadership at all levels, with clinical leadership playing a vital role. Research has shown that employee engagement is key to retaining employees and ensuring that they contribute their utmost to the organisation. Research also tells us that leadership from the immediate manager and senior managers directly determines levels of engagement and this, in turn, will determine productivity.

Edgecumbe can help your organisation to develop its clinical leaders

We do this by helping them to understand what leadership comprises in the context in which they must lead, with reference to:

• current NHS leadership frameworks and
• effective leadership techniques in other professional fields.

To draw these together we have created an underlying model of leadership capabilities that is the basis of most leadership frameworks including those developed by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. The advantage of our model – which we have used extensively throughout the NHS and the corporate sector – is that it provides a common framework that allows other models, as well as the quality of leadership, to be compared. This enables Trusts to audit their clinical leadership against other organisations.

As psychologists with vast experience in the NHS and in business, we also help clinical leaders to understand the personal qualities they bring to their role, and to identify the competencies that are their natural strengths, development challenges and areas where they need help from others. We achieve this through our specialised leadership capability assessment, which can also incorporate our unique leadership 360 degree feedback tool designed to support our leadership capability model.

Programme objectives

Our programmes – which can be tailored to the specific context and requirement of each client – will draw together the leadership audit and the development of personal insights. By the end of the programme, clinical leaders will:

• Understand the context in which they must lead
• Understand what leadership comprises and what is required from them, in this context
• Understand their personal impact on others and how their personality helps or hinders their leadership
• Develop their vision and aspirations for their service and know how to communicate to and engage others
• Be able to lead and motivate multi-disciplinary teams and work effectively through others
• Understand how to work with and influence senior managers in the organisation to bring about change and service improvements.

Who the programme is for

• Consultants
• Lead Clinicians
• Clinical Directors
• Heads of Service
• Divisional Directors

Programme format

This is tailored to each client. Typically it is a modular format following this sequence of core modules:

1. Understanding myself as a leader
2. Working through others: leading teams
3. Engaging effectively with the Organisation
4. Understanding the wider context of the NHS

Additional Masterclasses are offered by specialists in particular areas, where required – for example, Equality and Diversity; Negotiation and Influencing; Conflict resolution; Appraisal and Job Planning.

Working in partnership

Edgecumbe is always open to co-developing leadership programmes and working flexibly with the client to deliver a programme entirely geared towards their needs. Drawing together our expertise in people and organisations with internal expertise within the Trust (in areas such as business, finance and HR), and external expertise in specialist areas (e.g. service improvement methodology) has proved a winning combination.

We have already developed some highly successful strategic partnerships in the field of leadership development in the NHS – including the Oxford Saïd Business School and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre – in each case, working at the most senior levels of NHS organisations.

Coaching for aspiring or newly appointed clinical leaders

As part of our service, we offer one-to-one coaching with participants on our programmes who wish to spend more time looking at specific elements of their leadership that have been identified through their leadership assessment and the programme itself. Depending on the areas of performance to be addressed, we will identify a coach from our team with the appropriate expertise and approach. Coaching sessions can be delivered face-to-face and by telephone, as appropriate.