1. What inspired me this week?
- Seeing Caroline working with Zoe, a graduate who has just moved into the NHS website redesign team. When we put skills transfer into our contractors’ outcomes, we really mean it.
- FutureGov kicking off their work with our Urgent and Emergency Care team in London, while simultaneously in Leeds Tero, Rochelle and Michael were running a service design workshop on Type 2 Diabetes for their “Empower the Person” colleagues. (You wait ages for a portfolio-level service design workshop and then 2 come along at once.)
- Reading the draft submissions of my peers in my Nye Bevan Programme learning set. Can’t wait to meet up with them all on Monday.
2. What did I learn about myself?
- Thanks to Sally in our OD team for helping me interpret the feedback from my Healthcare leadership model 360. My line manager, peers and direct reports all said nice things, but also gave me pointers to ways I need to be a better leader. Of the 9 leadership dimensions in the model, I’ve identified “holding to account” as the area I need to work on most.
3. What goals were met?
- We supported the team going for a service assessment that I mentioned in last week’s note. Fingers crossed for them. Whatever the outcome, we will use the assessment feedback to make things better.
4. What goals were set?
- I proposed some criteria to be applied as our organisation changes its line management model. The intent behind the change is good, and I want to make sure it works out well for the people in the profession that I lead.
5. What connections did I make?
- With Mohammed and Trilly, I spent some time talking project management and HR colleagues through our delivery management and product management roles.
- In a few conversations this week, I came back to the interdependence of clarity – the expectations of quality set out in our standards and design principles – and capability – delivery organisations having the knowledge, skills and experience to meet those expectations. It’ll take plenty of both to transform the way the NHS does digital.
6. What do I need to take care of?
- This week brought home to me the need to lead our people with care through a time of reorganisation.
- I also need to think about my own professional priorities over the next few months. There’s lots I want to achieve, and an uncertain window of opportunity to do so. I can’t do it all, at least not on my own, and not all at once.
Matt Edgar writes here 