The Changing NHS

If you saw the recent BBC series “Can Gerry Robinson Save the NHS?” then you might be wondering what’s so complicated about this leadership thing. In the words of Brian James, Chief Executive of Rotherham General NHS FT

“ Gerry mainly advocates that good management is really demonstrated by being out and about and talking to people directly, and getting them directly engaged and motivated in change. And certainly that was the style he deployed when he came to us. He was in direct communication with consultants; he was directly appealing to them to get involved in the changes that he wanted to see happen. And some of that worked reasonably well and some of it worked less well. But that was his style”. Read all Brian’s comments here.

But effective leaders need to be able to use different styles at different times, for different reasons. The best paper I’ve ever read on this is 'Leadership That Get’s Results' by Daniel Goleman, published in the Harvard Business Review. (Goleman is the person who created and popularised the notion of Emotional Intelligence.

Goleman suggests that leaders could have six styles. He suggests that four of these styles consistently have a positive effect and the most effective leaders are those who can accurately choose which style is most called for in a given situation and then use it well.

Goleman’s six styles were labeled Coercive, Authoritative, Affiliative, Democratic, Pacesetting, and Coaching.

Gerry Robinson seemed to be urging Brian to mainly use the Affiliative style – people come first etc with some aspects of the Pacesetting style thrown in – let’s get his done right now. Clearly this seemed to work well in some situations and may, given the prevailing culture within the Trust, be what is most needed, generally speaking, at this moment in time.

But Brian also will need to be able to use other styles for other situations, especially the Authoritative and Democratic styles.

Steve

www.stevepashley.co.uk