Towards a New Model of Leadership for the NHS

Foreword I am delighted to introduce this paper which shares the beginning of the evidence base underpinning our new leadership model. The NHS has and continues to be really well served by leaders from all professions. Although change in the NHS is often preceded by enquiries into failures of care we tend to be less quick to learn from success and what has gone well. The NHS' Leadership Framework (LF) has for over a decade described what good leadership looks like and supported those entering their career as well as those well established, to think more deeply about what they know and what they can do as a leader. The LF has been an example of how learning from what works well can inspire, encourage and improve our leaders. But times are changing and what we need from our leaders is changing too. As described well in this paper our leadership community need to continue to learn, develop and flex their style and behaviours. A relentless focus on improving leadership improves the climate and conditions for staff, which improves the care and treatment of our patients and communities. Technical competence, professional skills, managerial excellence all contribute to good leadership but the real test of what separates those people in an organisation such as the NHS is the care, compassion and genuine investment in staff that great leaders recognise as being the key difference between adequate technical clinical care and great healthcare service. Preface This paper was commissioned by the NHS Leadership Academy as a contribution to thinking about the future development of leadership in and around the NHS. It was prepared in collaboration with the Hay Group. The backdrop and one of the triggers was the launch of a new suite of professional development programmes sponsored and organised by the NHS Leadership Academy. The NHS is facing a whole array of unprecedented changes and challenges. There are resource constraints, new demands, new institutions, and high expectations from patients and the public that service and care will be delivered efficiently, effectively and with compassion. To meet such an array of needs it is recognised that appropriate leadership is vital. Over the past decade, leadership frameworks for the NHS have been developed, including the current Leadership Framework (LF), which has done much to organise thinking about what good leadership behaviour should constitute. These have fed into leadership development, selection, appraisal and reward. …