O ur NHS our future’ highlighted leadership.

Public Service Review: Health 17 included two

perspectives: Debbie Keith (re:source) on

commercial leadership and Dr Steven Allder (Plymouth

Hospitals) on doctors’ need for “a more visible and

coherent leadership of their profession”.

Talk of ‘leaders’ easily leads to talk of ‘great leaders’. We

can learn from them – but the likes of Nelson Mandela are

first and foremost extraordinary people. If leadership

programmes are about creating leaders like this, they have

been conspicuously unsuccessful. Each generation sees

only a handful.

Organisations enthusiastically seek leadership programmes

for participants who have or will have the role of a ‘leader’.

An alternative is to emphasise leadership and integrate it

into all roles.

The Arsenal Football Club Manager, Arsene Wenger, met

criticism that his team lacked a strong leader by saying:

“You need 11 leaders and everyone can take the initiative

at the right moment.” That concept surely transfers well to

the vision of locally-led, patient-focused change that “Our

NHS our future” espouses.

What underpins leadership?This vision entails developing across-the-board

approaches and skills that will help people be confident to

take the lead when this can carry agendas forward, rather

than waiting for a ‘leader’ to turn up and do it. So what are

these skills and how do we get them going?

It’s not the ability to make inspiring speeches, although

that will help. It’s not the ability to write clearly and

persuasively, although that will help. Arguably, it’s the

ability to converse – to have great conversations, big and

small, formal and informal. It is this ability that allows

leadership to embed and to drive direction, understanding

and performance day in day out.

This works with a key leadership attribute – understanding

the ‘big picture’, setting direction within it and

communicating this. We all have a ‘big picture’ – it’s the

environment that surrounds our own picture. We want to

influence it; we want to set our own direction in a way

that fits it: To do that we must converse.

Great conversations as the key enablerWhat will embed this direction and understanding arethese daily conversations – group or one-to-one, in theboardroom or at the coffee point.

There is no earthly reason why any rank or role should be presumed automatically to be able to do greatconversations. Generally it will not have been the focus ofdevelopment but will have taken second place to thetechnical and professional skills that help advancement.That is likely to be the reality that underlies the currentcalls to step up and take leadership responsibilitywherever you are in the NHS.

The key to great conversationsThe key to all interactions is self-awareness, leading toawareness of others: “What makes me tick, what makesthem tick and how can I best get my point across to themand understand theirs?” This point we can certainly learnfrom Nelson Mandela: “One of the things I learnt when Iwas negotiating was that until I changed in myself I couldnot change others.”

Learning and developmentYou can use any psychometric tool that informs self-awareness, supported by practical experientialinterventions where people can be coached in realconversations – a great arena for using professional roleplayers. The conversations will take many forms but willalways be adult to adult, always be at the right time, andalways focus on helping people be the best they can.

Going forwardThis focus will create the foundation for leadership. It willallow the learning and development from leadership andother programmes to be brought slap bang into dailyworking life and not get left in the course manuals.

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Leading from within Chris Packman, of Stratagem Learning and Development, considers ‘leaders’ and ‘leadership’ and

suggests one possible key development response for the NHS…

Chris PackmanLearning and Development Consultant Stratagem Learning and Development Tel: +44 (0)1225 445355chrispackman@stratagem-uk.comwww.strategem-uk.com