A NHS trust
Leadership Training
A NHS trust faced continuing financial pressures. There were mixed reports from external bodies and increasing concern from the most senior operational leaders about the morale and focus of the 30 most senior managers. Attracting new managers to the organisation was proving very difficult.
Wellbeing Works was asked to assess the capability of these senior managers with a view to establishing the likelihood of them being able to manage the demands the trust faced over the next three years.
Approach
We utilised an international skills potential assessment tool and created a bespoke set of competencies directly related to the trust’s situation. We received feedback on a comparable basis against top performing managers, both nationally and globally. .
The trust also received an analysis both of individual employee’s levels of potential and also as a collective picture. This highlighted both areas of strength (e.g. loyalty and commitment) and areas for improvement (e.g. financial management, prioritisation, optimal team working, strategic engagement and personal effectiveness).
A series of six workshops were delivered with a strong focus on proactive actions being undertaken by attendees.
Outcomes
This has led to improved;
- departmental planning
- team working
- inter-department co-operation
- projects
- focus on personal effective working based on prioritisation of activity
- focus on being pro-active, rather than reactive
- morale – with a substantial uplift in morale of managers
These improvements were deemed to be more effective than the previous way of working, which was reactive with higher levels of budgeting control.
The outcome has been to start to bring stability to the financial position of the most vulnerable departments. There is a greater focus on proactivity and on managing the changes the trust must address.
The overall results are best summarised by one very long serving manager who said:
