In healthcare, the challenges of providing increasing demands for service through the Covid-19 pandemic, the inevitable winter pressures, a rising mental health crisis, A&E capacity issues, staff sickness, budget shortfalls, remote working and increased public scrutiny are all coming together as a perfect VUCA storm. 

In these unchartered waters, there can be a tendency for a leader to delineate challenges amid complexity with an aim to selectively address only the most pressing issues and enable a semblance of control but in reality, the interdependency of all these external forces requires an inclusive team approach, collaborating on different perspectives to gain a greater understanding of the situation and prioritizing progress over perfection when taking action. 

In this 3½ hour workshop, we will constructively explore four models and their application with a view to gaining insights about your own situational leadership skills from a process-based and people-based view. We will identify ‘comfort zones’ and how systematic process-thinking as an approach can be useful to help move forward through situations of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. In sharing stories about your own journey, we will look at how expectations and perspectives shape our mindsets in the way we think and behave in challenges. By understanding our leadership ‘voices’, we can choose to adapt the way we communicate when faced with different ‘voices’ and get the best out of people as a change leader. Using these models back in the workplace, you, as a leader can support and nurture compassionate safe spaces for change within your own teams. 

Trauma-Informed Leadership understands and appreciates the emotional scars that people may struggle with. These might be directly related to the pandemic, indirectly triggered by what has happened with Covid19, or may result from people’s wider life experiences. Trauma might include loss, grief, neglect, abuse, betrayal of trust, a sudden change in circumstances, pain or a sense of powerlessness.  

Approaching leadership with an understanding of trauma helps us see and treat others, and ourselves, with more empathy and compassion. It can also help protect against stress and burnout.  

This virtual workshop is not about diagnosing or psycho-analysing yourself or your colleagues. It is not about being a therapist in your leadership role. It is about creating a working environment which is supportive to people who have experienced trauma – and that may include you.  

This workshop will offer you: 

an understanding of what trauma is and how it can be experienced in many different ways and from very diverse perspectives 

a practical toolkit to help you prepare, protect and care for yourself as a leader in the demanding months ahead 

a safe space to explore what compassionate leadership means in practice  

practical ways to model and create psychological safety in your teams 

The workshop will take place on Zoom over 2.5 hours, with several breaks. 

You will be encouraged to consider thought-provoking ideas, share your views, discuss issues with colleagues, reflect on your own leadership, apply your learning to your own context and ask any questions you have.   

You will not be asked to talk about traumatic experiences you have had. 

You 2.0 

When the world’s doing its worst it’s doubly important that you know how to be at your best! THE ART OF BEING BRILLIANT helps you shine by reconnecting you with you. 

It acts as the cornerstone of any personal or organisational change programme. We use cutting edge research but have surgically removed the big words and replaced them with simple, do-able principles that are applicable at work and home. We like to think of it as a personal upgrade that allows you to thrive no matter what the world throws at you. 

THE ART OF BEING BRILLIANT is your competitive advantage. In plain simple English, we want this to be the best training you have ever had. Whisper it quietly, but it might even change your life? 

Why this programme  

Our programmes are based on the research findings of Dr Andy Cope. Andy flipped psychology and instead of looking at illness, he looked at wellness. His Loughborough PhD (the first in the UK) was about employee engagement, with a specific focus on elevated states of wellbeing. Andy examined those at the top of the wellbeing spectrum (at Art of Brilliance, we call them the ‘2-percenters’, the small group of staff who are flourishing) and sought to answer 3 questions: 

Who are the 2-percenters? 

What are they doing that allows them to flourish? 

What can we learn from them that we might apply to the wider staffing population, so they might flourish too? 

Our programmes take in the wider areas of Positive Psychology (purpose, strengths, resilience, self-care, etc), but Andy’s original research provides the DNA of our portfolio. This gives our programmes a strong academic grounding, but our ‘uniqueness’ actually comes from bringing the messages to life through humour, story-telling and common-sense principles. 

From mental health to mental wealth.  The world has moved on and so must our thinking and behaviours. This session is absolutely not about challenging you to up your game or work harder, it’s about nudging you to remember who you are at your best. That’s not only good for you. It creates positive ripples that impact on your family, your team and your customers. Bouncing back is one thing, bouncing forward is quite another. RISING STRONGER has individual and team resilience at its core. 

What to expect in this session:

Your wellbeing 6-pack. RISING STRONGER is built around a wellbeing and resilience ‘6-pack’. 

Adaptability. With the new normal in charge, it’s important to be able to unlearn and relearn a mindset to match the challenges you face. 

The power of NOW. The best way to inoculate yourself against stress is to calm your thinking. Therefore, we include a smidgeon of mindfulness like you’ve never heard it before. 

Words create worlds. It’s so easy to slide back into old habits. We introduce a few words that will help you to rethink your thinking. 

Drop the guilt. A recurring theme of all our training is to do less and be more. To reboot, it’s often a matter of switching off and back on again. The same principle also applies to human beings. 

Impact. We’re all superheroes pretending to be normal. Pants on the outside is a fashion faux pas so, instead, RISING STRONGER is about rediscovering your mojo. 

Getting over it. We all carry mental baggage and it isn’t half easy to develop a habit of grumbling. To have your best year ever, you need to learn to let go 

Our programmes are based on the research findings of Dr Andy Cope. Andy flipped psychology and instead of looking at illness, he looked at wellness. His Loughborough PhD (the first in the UK) was about employee engagement, with a specific focus on elevated states of wellbeing. Andy examined those at the top of the wellbeing spectrum (at Art of Brilliance, we call them the ‘2-percenters’, the small group of staff who are flourishing) and sought to answer 3 questions: 

Who are the 2-percenters? 

What are they doing that allows them to flourish? 

What can we learn from them that we might apply to the wider staffing population, so they might flourish too? 

Our programmes take in the wider areas of Positive Psychology (purpose, strengths, resilience, self-care, etc), but Andy’s original research provides the DNA of our portfolio. This gives our programmes a strong academic grounding, but our ‘uniqueness’ actually comes from bringing the messages to life through humour, story-telling and common-sense principles. 

The need for a people-focused approach to leadership in the NHS has become vital in the recent turbulent times. Compassion and courage are two of the six NHS care values required by health and social care staff. This workshop will explore how they can make us effective leaders who focus on the need for a passionate commitment to do the ‘right things at the right time’ for service users. 

This engaging and interactive workshop, which will be split into two modules, will provide an important insight into what it means to lead with courage and compassion in the NHS. An interview with an expert guest speaker will outline why leading with courage and compassion is important in meeting the challenges of the current and future climate. A range of highly relevant case studies will be used, showing service users’ experiences and ethical dilemmas. These will provide a basis for facilitated group discussions on what is the ‘right thing’ and (importantly), how and when to do it to get successful and safe outcomes. You will have the opportunity to reflect on your values, your authenticity and how you demonstrate courage and compassion in your leadership role – along with how you transmit this through to your colleagues. 

Focussed on providing participants with an understanding of how to influence and lead when they lack formal authority or the feeling of power, to build participants confidence to understand the power and influence they have and arm them with practical tools to take back to their teams. 

What will be covered: 

This virtual workshop provides some protected ‘headspace’ and ‘thinking time’ to consider: 

How can I grow my confidence to use my power and influence, even if I don’t have formal authority? 

What are the differences between leading in a hierarchical context and influencing across teams and wider networks? 

Which aspects of my work are best achieved through a conventional management approach and which aspects require a more networked approach to leadership? 

How do I decide when a formal or more informal approach to influencing might work best? 

What are my key challenges in influencing beyond my sphere of authority? 

How do I apply this learning to my everyday work?

About the session:

A two-hour online collective inquiry into our experience of power in the workplace – and of the ways in which we might ethically improve our organisational presence and practice in this respect.

What to expect in this session:

In the course of this interactive event, participants will be invited to:

Reflect on their personal understanding of power

Explore power in the context of their workplace – both their own power and that of others

Expand their understanding of power in an organisational context in order to develop a more nuanced view of it and the way in which it presents itself

By the end of the session, the inquiry will have provided attenders with the opportunity to:

Acknowledge the way in which power inhabits organisational settings, notwithstanding corporate efforts to “disappear” it

Appreciate how they personally experience power – and the ways in which their power might be being experienced

Commit to rethinking their presence and practice in the workplace in a way that is positively mindful of the web of power in which we find ourselves enmeshed

What to expect Who is this session for?

The NHS Leadership Academy provides leadership development for people of all backgrounds and experiences across health and care.

Book your Place

Thursday 30th March 2023 – 11:00 – 13:00

SELA will retain a record of your name, job role, organisation, band, and contact details on its secure alumni register and contacts database for management information and communications purposes. Although we will be able to see your name and email address upon submission, this data will be anonymised from the EDI details. We appreciate your support in providing this information, which will help us to ensure our leadership development interventions are widely accessible and inclusive.

Your booking details (i.e. name, role, organisation, ICS) will be shared with the event provider and/or facilitator to allow them to understand participant thinking and adapt the event accordingly, in addition to other regional leadership academies (as required) and with the members of other relevant SELA networks to aid communication, sharing of good practice and support. Please note that this is in line with information governance and data protection guidelines. Please see our Privacy Policy here.

Should you have any queries, or if your circumstances change and you can no longer attend, or you wish to opt out of the above arrangements, please contact [email protected].

If you are unable to attend any of the sessions above please register via our Expression of Interest page, this will help us to understand the demand for our programmes and plan accordingly. You will also be notified when we release new dates for this workshop.

This interactive virtual workshop offers those attending a chance to explore and learn about everyday ways to bring compassionate practice to life with the option of spending time with peers to deepen their understanding of ways to apply in their work.

Why compassion?

It has long been known that human beings are social creatures, and we have an innate capacity to care. To care about the most vulnerable and those in need. It is also understandable that in these extraordinary times our personal reservoirs of compassion have become depleted and the need to renew and replenish ourselves has never been more important.

Compassionate Inclusion

‘Indifference, not cruelty, is the opposite of compassion’ -Erich H Loewy

We also know that as people and organisations build their capacity for compassion, they are more attentive to the needs of marginalised and excluded people. They become more inclusive. More engaged. More responsive to the needs of those who experience daily indignities, and whose wellbeing is quietly depleted. Compassion has the power to build our support for others, as well as own resilience.

We continue to lead through the challenges of Covid-19 and we know as we move into the winter this year the cost of living crisis will start to be felt by many in the NHS. While living with complexity, uncertainty, ambiguity and volatility compassion for ‘others’ can often be overlooked. Leaders need to think about their role in this changing landscape and how they can support the creation of relationship-based leadership work in the virtual and physical world.

This workshop series is for all leaders. It is about what you ‘do’ as a leader to create a socially inclusive culture and not who you ‘are’ as a leader.

Workshop One: Leading with Cultural Sensitivity

We will explore what ‘otherising’ means, seeking to appreciate difference and understanding bias in all its dimensions and drivers. Taking an appreciative & positive approach we will use various models and tools to support you to use your curiosity, to understand emergent challenges around cross cultural dimensions and how to build a bridge of trust with others, with empathy and sensitivity.

Workshop Two: Leading Inclusively and Appreciatively

We will build on the theme of understanding, to focus on communication and messaging and to be an active catalyst for an inclusive culture. We will explore how to recognise micro-aggressions, how to generate agency, supportiveness and allyship in others and how to be an active bystander through interventions. Developing the courage to lean into difficult situations, developing the skills for adaptive styles of communication and messaging are all themes of this workshop.

Whether it’s about your colleagues, patients, service-users or carers, you’ll learn, as inclusive leaders, how you can lead by example and develop a culture of appreciation for diversity and the challenges of also working in a virtual world.

Each workshop will last for 3.5 hours, with breaks, and we will use a variety of models and break-out techniques for you to explore challenges and barriers and develop a personal plan. This programme is not to teach you about ‘difference’ but to help you to lead with what makes us all unique and stronger together.

Supporting growth through adversity is a component part of the Complete Leadership Series aimed at leaders who are new to line management or in the first year or two in a line management role. Participants are welcomed from clinical or non-clinical backgrounds to this 2-Hour online session which will: 

Explore the psychology of now and the accumulative impact of sustained pressure and stretch on individuals, teams and organisations

Consider positive growth through adversity models and how we frame can our experiences and learning for ourselves and others as we move forward in our leadership.

Understand at the importance of psychological transition and the role of confidence, control and connection in 

This session is grounded in the psychology of how people think, feel and behave. It will provide you will valuable insights and helpful tools to support you in your leadership as you continue to enhance your own self-awareness and your awareness of others. 

This session will be delivered virtually. 

This is an interactive, inclusive and practical learning burst style session to support line managers and team leads in creating, sustaining and in some cases resetting their team culture. 

NHS Team Leaders, Managers and Clinical Leads shoulder an ever-increasing burden of responsibility as they are required to actively manage an increasing acute combination of competing factors facing their teams and the services they provide: financial constraints, backlog demands, workforce shortages, staff morale, over-reliance on regulation and a centrally-driven target culture. 

This is an opportunity for individuals to access practical, easy-to-apply methods and approaches which are designed to support their teams. Providing individuals with invaluable thinking time to consider their teams current culture baseline, and the strength of the team’s foundations combined with a focus on how to support teams to move forward. 

The approach 

We create a psychologically safe space for people to learn and share experiences developing new and trusted connections.

We are agile in our delivery building trust and connection. We are able to draw on extensive professional knowledge, expertise and psychological practice to ensure that the sessions can flex to meet needs that might present on the day.

We offer in the moment coaching feedback, and small group working to help build confidence and ensure a participative session.

We use a supportive facilitating style to encourage individuals to reflect and stretch their thinking and their abilities.

We provide opportunity for practice and consideration of application – to ensure new approaches, tools, and techniques are explored before they leave the session

We hope participants leave the session feeling confident, able and willing to ground their learning in their current context and implementation. The focus is on the transfer of learning and its application, ensuring that all material covered in the ‘virtual’ classroom can be used the same day in the work environment. 

We run a ‘last in the room’ approach to ending each virtual learning session. Rebekah is always the last one to leave the session and invites people who may have specific issues, or team challenges, or simply didn’t feel able to speak out during the session to stay on the call. 

Shaping Your Workplace Culture is aimed at leaders who are new to line management or in the first year or two in a line management role.  

What will be covered: 

Participants are welcomed from clinical or non-clinical backgrounds to this 2-Hour online session which will: 

Help you to understand what workplace “culture” is 

Describe what behaviours are required to deliver a compassionate & collaborative culture (Michael West 2017 Kings Fund) 

Introduce the model of Radical Candour (Kim Scott) 

Realise your preference & potential to influence in the workplace  

Provide some easy tools and techniques for influencing and negotiation  

Describe how to influence without authority 

Highlight ten top tips for influencing workplace culture  

As the NHS moves to a more collaborative style of leadership through the development of integrated care systems, there is a greater need for all leaders to deliver change through influence rather than authority.  This session will enable you to move forward with confidence to influence through a range of approaches and techniques.  

With the ongoing pressures working in health and social care, being compassionate at work is more important than ever. Yet this can be easier said than done. 

Many of us are emotionally and physically drained. We’re worried about the wellbeing of our colleagues and ourselves. Many of our teams are experiencing chronic stress. The pressures on our services are immense. And as human beings, a lot of us are far more fragile than usual. 

Under such pressures, we need human connection and mutual support more than ever. And yet under such stress, compassion and tolerance can quickly evaporate. Despite all our best intentions, creating and leading inclusive, compassionate cultures in the current context is courageous, challenging work. 

This interactive masterclass offers you a safe learning space to: 

consider how we create and sustain a climate of psychological safety and embed a sense of connection amongst our colleagues 

understand why and how compassion can wane or feel difficult in the current context 

apply practical tools to enhance your own compassionate leadership practice 

explore how to model inclusive, compassionate leadership, even when the pressure is on 

develop strategies for self-compassion 

You will be encouraged to consider thought-provoking ideas, share views, discuss issues with colleagues, reflect on your own practice, apply your learning to your own context and ask any questions you have. 

The number one challenge of NHS and other care organisations is retaining and attracting colleagues in an already stretched service.  One overlooked solution is ‘interpersonal resilience’. This is the resilience we gain from the quality of our work relationships and our levels of civility in the way we interact with others.  Everyone can play their part by adopting an Outward Mindset that drives respectful relationship building behaviour: 

In this 60 minute masterclass, you will cover: 

What is interpersonal resilience and why its crucial to surviving such difficult times 

Understand the difference between an Inward & Outward mindset 

Why we build our relationships and interpersonal resilience through how we regard others (Outward Mindset drives civility) 

Self reflection and discussion where ‘I’ might be negatively impacting others and reducing others resilience 

Tools and ideas for how we can play our part to create a resilient team or culture 

Giving and receiving feedback is an essential part of any role, when done in the right way and with the right intentions, feedback can lead to outstanding performance. Giving feedback is a skill. And like all skills, it takes practice to get it right. This 90-minute leadership espresso has been designed to support you to give feedback constructively and effectively across difference, for example race, gender, sexuality and disability. 

What will be covered: 

Explore and understand models for giving and receiving feedback 

understand the issues of giving and receiving feedback across difference, for example race, gender, sexuality and disability 

Reflect on unconscious bias in the feedback process – barriers and enablers to effective feedback 

Consider the art of non-violent conversation 

An opportunity to practice the skills of giving and receiving feedback 

This interactive workshop is aimed at managers at all levels and roles, and those aspiring to their first management role. Join us to gain insight and skills in understanding and responding to shifting team dynamics.  

Most managers have found themselves leading a team through periods of change and uncertainty; it can be challenging feeling that as the manager you are the person with all the answers. Creating a sense of shared endeavour is essential but can be difficult to achieve. 

Developing this leadership skill can support you in empowering and engaging your teams though relationships grounded in trust. If you recognise the need to support your team through change, and to develop your skills in increasing engagement, this workshop could be for you. 

This session will explore 

The lifecycle of teams

Teams and teaming

The impact of change & uncertainty

Finding “the best of what is” within the team

NB: This workshop is focused on the leadership skill set and is not positioned as coach training, or as coaching CPD. However, practicing coaches are welcome to attend. 

What makes an effective team? How, as a leader can I help build an environment of trust, respect and psychological safety?  

This 2-hour workshop will provide team leaders with a comprehensive interactive guide to developing their team using Lencioni’s team development model. It combines theory and practice with particular emphasis on the role of the manager in creating psychological safety and role modelling trust in their team. 

Expected Outcomes: 

Attendees develop the confidence and capability to create high performance within their teams, to include: 

Appreciating the role of the team leader in role modelling creating psychological safety within the team

Sharing best practice with peers of experience in building trust within teams 

Undertaking and interpreting assessments using the Lencioni team questionnaire

Applying theory and practice with a range of activities, including Kilmann’s Conflict Mode Instrument  

Signposting to key resources – Amy Edmondson, Michael West, Neil Greenberg, Martin Seligman 

Access to a ready toolkit to implement the programme after the session 

Objectives of the workshop: 

Develop understanding of Lencioni’s team effectiveness model

Gain confidence in assessing your team’s effectiveness using Lencioni questionnaire

Appreciation of trust building with peers 

Applying the model with your teams

Delivering a range of team development activities

Tools, techniques and tips to embed in everyday working 

Planning implementation of approaches with your team