Post-pandemic leadership in healthcare
Post-pandemic leadership in healthcare
The pandemic and its aftermath have raised expectations of leaders in the NHS to new heights.
The physical and emotional toll on the workforce has demanded leaders who are highly visible and empathetic. Frontline staff have wanted to know that their executive team have a deep understanding of the pressures, have seen a lot of it for themselves, and will do everything they can to enable staff to recover, in the interests of their wellbeing and of patient safety.
A key characteristic of the pandemic response has been staff feeling empowered to take risks. Some of this has had legal force – such as the presumption in favour of appropriate data sharing – but much has been down to the culture of individual organisations. Cutting through governance and decision-making structures has been dependent on staff believing that senior managers have their back, and will support actions taken for the benefit of patients even when mistakes are made.
The hallmark of recent months has been the intense collaboration. In a matter of days, implementing changes went from feeling like a series of hurdles to overcome, to being a collaborative effort between clinical and nonclinical professionals to drive the best outcome. As the irresistible force of the emergency subsides, pre-pandemic processes will quickly reassert themselves unless leaders actively decide to learn from the experiences of the pandemic and streamline and rationalise the way the organisation makes decisions.
“Leaders need to learn from that spirit of pandemic collaboration and build on it for the long term. ”
Governance and process are a vital part of healthcare, of course, helping deliver everything from wise use of public money to clinical quality. But leaders still need to learn from that spirit of pandemic collaboration and build on it for the long term. According to HSJ, the NHS staff survey has revealed widespread fears that it is already being lost. Leaders need to nurture that passion for breaking down silos and transforming services around patient needs, finally nailing the idea that the NHS is slow to change.
Being personally resilient, being able to take tough decisions under pressure and being calm under fire are traits that are common among NHS leaders, but they have never been tested like this. There have been countless outstanding examples of clinical and managerial leaders who have role-modelled the behaviours and values they expect of their staff when their organisations were at their limits.
The challenge now is to maintain that level of organisational and personal resilience at a high pitch for many months to come, as the health service gets to grips with the scale of unmet need and backlog of operations.
Bearing down on the elective waiting list is obviously the major priority ahead, but right now the focus needs to be on supporting exhausted staff to recover, identifying and helping people with burnout, and creating an environment in which people want to continue rather than quit.
“Everything will depend on workforce planning across organisations and integrated care systems to address elective care.”
With too few staff for too much work, everything will depend on workforce planning across organisations and integrated care systems to address elective care. This will inevitably mean tough decisions nationally and locally about which services to prioritise, and honesty and transparency with staff and communities about what decisions have been taken and why.
With so much to do, it will be more important than ever for executives to remember to look after themselves and each other. Coaching, mentoring, keeping at least a modicum of work-life balance and staying fit will be vital in facing the challenges ahead.
Through our dedicated team in our global healthcare practice we work with executives on these issues almost daily. Do get in touch if we can help advise or lend a perspective on the challenges you face in your organisation today.
Global Managing Director, Healthcare & Academia
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