Lead-In Event: Learning Leadership – How to Become a Leader in the NHS.
by Cindy Lai
It can often be difficult to see yourself as a leader when you are at the bottom of the medical hierarchy. Lead-In’s tenth speaker event challenged our audience to consider what great leadership entails and how to develop and practice these skills as a medical student.
Anyone Can Be a Leader
Our first speaker was Professor Aidan Halligan, Chief of Safety at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Director of Education at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust. Aidan has made a career out of challenging conventional leadership paradigms and provoked our audience to question their contributions as students.
He shared a story about finding inspirational leadership in an unlikely place. He met Dolly, a health care assistant, whilst visiting a hospital A&E department. Dolly quietly commanded everyone’s respect - from consultants to juniors. But what was her secret? How could a health care assistant have so much influence within a team of doctors and nurses? Her secret was ‘kindness’ - whenever a staff member had a bad day, she would make them a cup of tea. The gift of tea became a powerful tool for effecting behavioural change in those around her. This story shows that leadership ispossible regardless of hierarchy.
He gave the following memorable advice to medical students on how to gain respect and authority and influence:
“Some people shouldn’t do medicine yet are very good at passing exams. You find that out after you qualify, but patients find it out sooner…You get your authority from how much you care.”
This shows that being a good clinical leader doesn’t necessary correlate with being in the top decile; it comes from your patient manner.
Importance of Teamwork
Our second speaker was Dr George Evetts, Specialist Registrar in Anaesthetics and Critical Care for the RAF and Imperial College Hospital. He feels there are numerous parallels between the military and the NHS; there is a hierarchy, a common goal, ongoing training, high staff turnover and heavy consequences following mistakes.
His recurring theme was the importance of teamwork to achieve a common goal:
“[At Cranwell] there is inspection where you have to iron your shirt and do your shoes, it teaches discipline but also if your next door neighbour shirts aren’t ironed– both of you get it in the neck. You slowly begin to realise if you do his shirts and he does your boots, everyone’s a winner.”
George performed multiple missions repatriating critically unwell servicemen and women during his deployment in Afghanistan. He said that everything he learns from his military training he takes back to the NHS – the military is not about the shouting or the guns, it’s about sharing a common set of values, an ethos.
His key message was that it is possible to practice good medicine in difficult situations by transforming your team - by motivating them to perform tasks themselves.
What makes a good leader?
Our final speaker was Dr Claire Lemer, Consultant Paediatrician and co-founder of Diagnosis a social enterprise which aims to expand young doctors views of healthcare. She gave an interactive talk about leadership and honest reflection on the attributes of great leaders.
She warned that taking on a leadership role should not be about the glamour, the better pay or the prestige. The reasons people become leaders are because they are passionate about something or because there is something they want to change.
“Leadership is blooming hard; it’s really challenging and it can be really lonely sometimes… The only thing keeps you going when things get tough is your passion for the cause.”
Throughout, she posed the audience questions – asking us to reflect on who we respected as leaders in the current NHS, and whether we felt like leaders as medical students. The audience was notably reluctant to say they were leaders, but more than half felt their contributions to sports teams or orchestras demonstrated leadership. This disparity underlies medical student’s lack of self awareness in their leadership potential. Her question highlighted the need for students to recognise their leadership skills and the need to use them in proactively effecting change.
Here is Claire’s key advice for future leaders:
1. If you’re leading be yourself - do it because you’re passionate about something.
2. You don’t need a position of authority or a leadership qualification to be a good leader.
3. A good leader is inspirational and nurturing.
The event has planted seeds of wisdom into the audience and has given medical students to realise their potential to go on and influence change in the clinical setting.
Ways in which you could get more involved in medical leadership
1. Come to our Lead In events - our next event will be a workshop on Quality Improvement on Thursday 3rd April at the Royal College of GPs.
2. Make a pledge for NHS Change Day on 3rd March for your medical school (https://changeday.nhs.uk)
3. Join the Linked In Diagnosis page for notifications of leadership opportunities
4. Join FMLM as a student member
5. Take part in a quality improvement project in your local hospital
6. Visit the Institute of Health Improvement website for online courses in patient safety and improvement (www.ihi.org)
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About Lead-In
Lead-In was founded in 2011, taking on the idea of broadening medical student education. Lead-In has subsequently deepened its focus on teaching Leadership and Innovation.
Our Mission
The overarching mission is to educate and engage the next generation of medical professionals in the wider context of medical practice.
We aim to contribute towards the active debate about important healthcare issues, and to provide a forum for sharing ideas and discussion. We hope to inspire tomorrow's doctors to be more than just excellent clinicians, but to be informed leaders too.
To find out more about us and to subscribe to our mailing list for latest events and news here: www.lead-in.co.uk/home
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