Aim of workshop

1. Aim of workshop To promote an understanding of how to work with diverse interprofessional groups on a range of academic and professional levels, including supporting the next generation of leaders

2. Workshop outcomes • To have explored issues of leadership in healthcare education with a specific focus on developing leaders in IPE • To have established an interest group in this area

3. Leicester Medical School Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders in Health & Social Care Education FDTL 4 Funded Project Judy McKimm

4. Project aims • The project aims to develop a sustainable development programme specifically for aspiring leaders in health and social care education modelled on an agreed set of attributes and skills • Equip up to 70 aspiring leaders with the skills necessary to: • Manage and enhance the quality of the student learning experience across the HE/NHS/Social care interface • Manage change and the development of health and SC education • Work within a well-established network to ensure spread of good practice

5. Project partners • University of Leicester Medical School with Imperial College, London; University of Leeds; University College, Northampton & Liverpool John Moore University • Participants drawn from 40+ HEIs (typically 24 in each of three cohorts) • Appointed mentors drawn from across the sector

6. “Leadership is about being, not doing. This means thinking about how you are as an individual in your life and work….if you want to succeed, you must be clear about your aims, you must be committed to success and you must be ready to learn the new attitudes, skills and knowledge you need” Sir Christopher Ball, Chair of The Talent Foundation, 2004

7. Planning the programme • Literature review • Questionnaire survey of 24 putative participants • Focus groups of 24 mentors • Views of established ‘experts’ already in curriculum leadership roles • 22 in-depth structured interviews • Focus group of 24 leaders • Establish core themes and activities

8. Programme structure • Personal development planning supported by mentors and course tutors • Action learning sets • Five residential or one-day events covering key leadership topics • VLE/website with leadership resources • Formal assessment for PGCert and SEDA PDF Award including two written assignments and a professional development portfolio

9. Programme modules • Issues for leaders in contemporary health and social care education • Understanding the leadership context and environment • Developing yourself as a leader • Leading change and managing performance

10. Programme evaluation • Stage 1 – questionnaire • Stage 2 – focus groups • Stage 3 – individual interviews • Participants, sponsors and mentors • Kirkpatrick 4-stage framework used to include impact and change at organisational level

11. Issues/concerns identified by participants • Lack of training and development opportunities in educational leadership and management • Lack of organisational support for aspiring leaders eg. succession planning • Lack of knowledge about HE/health service and how things work in ‘senior management’ • Lack of someone to talk to about career progression, isolation • Gender issues, ‘being a woman’

12. Support for leadership development • Lack of support, absence of formal training and career development for aspiring leaders and managers - stark contrast to amount of training for clinical role • Healthcare education leaders receive more formal coaching, mentoring and self-development opportunities than medical education leaders • Support from senior colleagues is vital – for self-reflection, sounding board, offering opportunities for risk-taking and career development • Role models (both positive and negative) were seen as influential in shaping future leaders’ behaviour and philosophies

13. Learning how to be a leader • Aspiring leaders felt the need for formal development programmes • Some current leaders said that it was vital to have formal management/leadership training, especially understanding of NHS/HE interface and current issues in HE • Current leaders said they had acquired most skills (especially ‘people’ skills) through experience of different leadership positions • They felt that they had a ‘natural’ inclination towards leadership and an interest in management • Structure and ethos of an organisation is very important to provide an environment where aspiring leaders can flourish and be enabled and nurtured

14. Issues and challenges facing healthcare education leaders (1) Personal issues: • Maintaining an appropriate work-life balance is difficult, especially for those with domestic commitments • Culture of senior management practice in both clinical and academic life has impact on career progression for those with domestic responsibilities • Some women noted the existence of the ‘glass ceiling’ and impact of taking career breaks

15. Issues and challenges facing healthcare education leaders (2) Personal issues: • Leaders who had trained as clinicians had to make decisions as to how to manage both clinical and academic careers and when/if to leave clinical practice • Leaving clinical practice is tied in with maintaining credibility as a leader • Aspiring leaders with non-traditional career backgrounds feel that they will be overlooked in consideration for senior management positions, especially at medical schools

16. Issues and challenges facing healthcare education leaders (3) Organisational and cultural issues: • There are many organisational barriers to leadership, leaders need to understand the culture and anthropology of their own organisation to succeed • Some leaders felt that their profession, discipline or clinical specialty is perceived in a stereotyped or ‘less serious’ way by others and this has impeded progress into a leadership role in medical education • Clinicians from some specialties may be able to cope with the dual demands of clinical and academic life than those from other specialties

17. Issues and challenges facing healthcare education leaders (4) Balancing competing agendas: • Overwhelming issue identified is working within a rapidly changing and complex NHS • Dual demands of working in HE which is highly accountable and NHS which is subject to rapid change puts a strain on healthcare education leaders not found in other sectors of HE • Tensions between management styles, cultures, values and demands of HE and NHS – ‘crowded stage’ with multiple task masters

18. Issues and challenges facing healthcare education leaders (5) The wider agenda: • Healthcare education leaders need to be aware of influential role in changing and improving healthcare systems • Need for an accessible forum for discussion of advanced medical education and change by senior medical education leaders • Leaders need to be aware of the wider educational and healthcare agendas and help drive issues such as inter-professional learning and collaboration, promoting diversity and innovation in educational management and leadership

19. What we learned (1) • Need for both mid-level and senior level leadership development programmes • Importance for participants in coming together for events on a national basis to share experiences and expertise and to consider commonality and differences between HEIs/subjects/professions • Inter-professional and inter-disciplinary focus valuable • Programmes should include some generic leadership topics and some subject specific topics, but always in wider context of HE • Leaders need to have some management skills and experience of managing people/programmes

20. What we learned (2) • First model of mentoring did not work (allocated model) due to geographic differences as well as variety of skills and expectations from mentors and participants • Revised model requires participants to select own mentors and provides more support to participants through course tutoring/life coaching • Vital that HEI fully supports the participants through ‘organisational sponsor’, follow up might be needed to support participants in longer term • Some participants wanted a formal award-bearing programme rather than a professional development programme • A formal recruitment and selection process was required for cohorts 2 and 3 as demand exceeded places

21. Discussion points • What are the benefits and disadvantages of national, regional and in-house programmes? • Is there a need for specially designed leadership development programmes for specific subject disciplines/professional groups? • What strategies can we adopt to help develop specific skills and competencies relating to IPE in leadership development programmes? j.mckimm@btopenworld.com