Jane-Claire Judson National Director

About me

Jane-Claire is a GenerationQ Fellow and National Director for Diabetes UK Scotland.

She is responsible for leading and managing the charity’s activities in Scotland.

After graduating from the University of Dundee in 2000, with an MA in English Literature and Contemporary European Studies, Jane-Claire went on to work in corporate policy and public affairs. She held management positions at NUS Scotland and the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body before joining Diabetes UK in 2008.

Jane-Claire is a board member for Volunteer Development Scotland, where she focuses on strategic direction, governance and volunteer engagement within the NHS.

Having previously completed an MBA at the Open University, Jane-Claire already had some insights her leadership style and how she responds to change. But she says that GenerationQ has given her a much deeper understanding of her approach to leadership.

'As someone in the early stages of their leadership career, I really valued having a safe and supportive environment in which to learn and develop. As well as exploring my natural leadership instincts, I was able to work out what my values are as a leader and how to apply and manage them in the workplace.' Jane-Claire says that she’s become more conscious of how she communicates with people and that this has strengthened her ability to influence and lead.

'The relational leadership aspect of the programme helped me to understand the choices I can make to get my message across to people as effectively as possible. I’m a born campaigner with a somewhat feisty nature and GenerationQ has encouraged me to embrace that, but I also appreciate that a different approach is called for in some situations. It’s enabled me to build deeper connections with the people I work with and gain support for my views and ideas.'

GenerationQ has given Jane-Claire the opportunity to explore how health improvement models can be applied in a charity setting. 'In Scotland there are around 250,000 people who have diabetes and while we reach many people through our programmes, it’s a challenge to engage meaningfully across such a large number. I think there’s enormous potential for us to extend our reach by adopting improvement models that are traditionally used in health care settings. I’m particularly interested in the concept of ‘high-performing teams’ and how we can foster internal excellence that will enable us to increase our external impact.'