In this newsletter
1. Sum Up Social Care View
- The Wolf
- The Changemakers in Social Care – DISCA
- More dates for Deputies Effective Leadership Program
- Out and about in May
3. Events for June 2024
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The Wolf
The Wolf seems to be infiltrating every part of health and social care. If I could banish the wolf I would, but it isn’t an easy problem to solve.
This story isn’t aimed at the people reading this newsletter, the people who read this, I guess, will have personal experience of being in the presence of the wolf. The wolf is the leader who doesn’t take accountability, who ignores or rejects people when they try and speak out. The wolf can often be a political player, or worse, a narcissist. They could even be someone who hides behind others who perform well through fear of being found out for the imposter they are. A wolf can operate on their own but they can also work in packs.
The wolf is the behaviour that causes disruption, that disengages good people, that sees people leave health and social care and stifles innovation. The result of this is significantly poorer outcomes for patients, individuals using services and employees.
How do we stop the wolf? You may be surprised to hear that we do this through empowering people to lead well but most of all to lead well with compassion. We do this by teaching people the skills they need to handle the toughest of situations through behaviours that are not aligned to what is expected. We do this by being brave and taking the lead knowing that people have our back when we call the wolf out.
Michael West, author of Compassionate Leadership sets out a structure that certainly aligns to the IHSCM’s own high performance leadership program. This is why we have started to include this within our accredited leadership framework.
If anyone is interested in learning more about this type of leadership you can access lots of resources via our member portal. The link to Michael’s book is here.
We also need to be tougher on leaders. The heartbreaking stories of failures, from the NHS blood scandal, Lucy Letby, the Post Office and even our own UK Government (not just the present one), should never have happened. The wolf was, and still is, firmly embedded in our institutions and corporations alike. People need to feel safe to speak out, with the knowledge that what they are saying will be thoroughly investigated. The investigations need to happen with no judgements or biases. Leaders need to have clear lines of accountability with meaningful consequences when they fail. It isn’t right that innocent people can be interned yet that same privilege does not seem to apply to the leaders of those institutions.
If you want to extinguish the wolf, then join us, make the first step and become the brave wolf slayer we know you are.
The Changemakers
There are a lot of people who talk about changing social care but there are few who go ahead and actually change it.
Care providers have a deep understanding of the issues that are causing inefficiencies and slowing progress. John Powell, Unicare, Devon also runs Devon Integrated Social Care Alliance (DISCA). He has worked tirelessly to create a collaborative group across the region. He has now taken that one step further and created a platform that enables, care providers, health care professionals, families, paid and unpaid carers to communicate on one platform.
At our Social Care Innovators session last week. John showcased the platform to attendees. Now, in Devon, if a crisis happens e.g. severe traffic accident with multiple casualties, they can set up a crisis team that allows health and social care to work together. This is an amazing step forward. If you would like a copy of the recording, please email me.
Well done to John and all who were involved in the creation of Infra 360 (Round of applause).
New Deputies Leadership Training
Due to unprecedented demand for these sessions, we are delighted to announce we have now added another four dates that start in September. These sessions are designed for new and aspiring leaders that will give them those key skills to lead teams effectively.
The links are below.
Deputies Effective Leadership Training – Module 1 – Me, Myself & I
Deputies Effective Leadership Training – Module 2 – Developing Your Team
Deputies Effective Leadership Training – Module 3 – Leadership Excellence
Deputies Effective Leadership Training – Module 4 – Managing change and preparing to lead
Out and about in May
We are famous for our leadership training. This is our passion, empowering people with the skills and knowledge to be confident, compassionate and effective leaders. I had the absolute pleasure of delivering two in-person high performance leadership training days. One for BCA, Berkshire Care Association and one for EMCare, East Midlands Care Association.
Some snippets of the feedback below:
“The engagement exercises were brilliant and meeting different people”
“I think the way the topics were covered was really good, practical and inspiring”
“I enjoyed the different exercises we did. I enjoyed hearing the different situations businesses can get into and how to solve them.”
If you are a care association who would like your members to access our fantastic resources then please do visit our website here
Events for June
- Multiple Dates Deputies Effective Leadership sessions – Leadership training for new and aspiring leaders
5th June – 1.30 till 2.30 pm Deputies Effective Leadership Training – Module 1 – Me, Myself & I
12th June – 1.30 till 2.30 pm Deputies Effective Leadership Training – Module 2 – Developing Your Team–
19th June – 1.30 till 2.30 pm Deputies Effective Leadership Training – Module 3 – Leadership Excellence
26th June – 1.30 till 2.30 pm Deputies Effective Leadership Training – Module 4 – Managing change and preparing to lead
3th June – 12 till 1pm High Performance Leadership Workshop – Module 2 –Building High Performance Teams
4th June – 12 till 1pm – IHSCM PowerHour: Unlocking Wellbeing Excellence – IHSCM (ihm.org.uk) Join us for an engaging PowerHour session with Adam Campbell, CEO of Hapstar, as we delve into the critical role of wellbeing in personal and professional development within the health and social care sector.
4th June – 2 till 3pm – How To Organise your Workforce for Success –
In this masterclass, you will discover the key principles and strategies of effective workforce planning, leadership, and training, Learn how to align your workforce with your organisational goals and values. Gain insights into how to attract, develop and retain talent in the health and social care sector. Explore how to enhance the image and reputation of your workforce and your organisation.
7th June – 12 till 1pm – IHSCM Greener Care Special Interest Group Meeting – Two guest speakers will be joining us. Nathaniel Comer, Founder of Sun Screen IT will discuss Circular IT Asset Disposal for Healthcare – Funding Social & Environmental Outcomes. Also, Sophie Wragg, certified leadership and sustainability coach and founder of Be Your Best Version will join us to discuss Making Care Greener: Understanding Your Impact.
