The Health Foundation Leadership Fellows scheme offers personalised leadership development to individuals with demonstrable potential to make an outstanding contribution to improving the quality of healthcare in the UK.
The scheme, which targets healthcare practitioners, health service managers and policy makers, aims to provide evidence that investment in leadership development leads to significant improvements in the quality of patient care.
Rebecca Pulford, a current award holder, was unit manager of the emergency assessment unit at Colchester General Hospital at the time of applying and was considering ways of moving her career forwards.
“I wanted to build on my leadership skills to help take my nursing career onto a higher level,” she says. “I thought this scheme was ideal, not only because of what I would learn about myself, but also because I would be benefiting from others’ experiences.”
Making connections
As Rebecca explains, the link between quality and leadership was particularly important in prompting her to apply: “The high level of support on offer was important, but the connection the scheme makes between effective leadership and improved quality of care for patients was a huge attraction for me.”
While the application process itself was challenging, Rebecca feels it was valuable as it gave her the opportunity to gather objective feedback on her performance. “I obtained references from the trust chief executive and my line manager, in support of my application. Even if I hadn’t succeeded, the process of seeking feedback on my performance was really helpful.”
“I was then invited to a selection centre for a day and a half of rigorous testing,” she continues. “This involved an interview, giving a presentation, participating in a mock meeting and completing various psychometric tests. I was astonished to get through but, again, I learnt an awful lot.”
The awards, which run for 22-months, involve a mixture of one-to-one coaching sessions, group seminars with guest speakers and workshops. Rebecca believes that the success of the programme depends on the people who participate. “We’re lucky to have a superb and diverse group who are stimulating, supportive and passionate about their work.”
“Not only is the scheme very inspiring but it enables me to explore challenging practical situations within the learning set, or separately with my coach. I’m probably one of the more junior in career terms, but this is by no means a barrier. We learn from each other.”
Confidence boost
During the course of the award, Rebecca has taken on a new role which gives her the opportunity to influence change in elderly care and feels the scheme has played an important part in improving her confidence. “The award has particularly improved my self-belief by helping me to focus on my abilities, rather than being overly self-critical,” she says.
And, even if she was apprehensive at first, Rebecca now sees the benefit of the all the scheme’s component parts. “Coaching was completely new to me and something I felt I wouldn’t get on with, but I was wrong,” she admits. “It certainly helped me explore all my options when considering my next career move and helped prepare me to be successful in that.”
“Overall, the award has validated my beliefs about care and leadership and allowed me to strive passionately to be the best leader I can be.”
26 May 2006