So many books , blogs , articles have been written about leadership and what it means to be a leader .
Bad, poor and insufficient leadership will and does impact on many lives within the work environment as well as lots of public places that we visit – poor leadership highlights faults in schools , places of education, libraries, cafes , shops and transport among many others.
In the NHS frontline employees exist within the world of patients , colleagues, service users and relatives. Sometimes in their lives those employees cross from that “safe” world to become a visitor in it as they help their own relatives at appointments, visits to accident and emergency departments, hospital wards , maternity units and may even become service users themselves.
Today I took my family out for breakfast. My daughter and her partner, my son , my niece and her daughter (my great niece) . Four of us had variations of the same breakfast , one had a routine breakfast, my great niece had a children’s portion of an adult meal and we played around with the coffee choices . The young woman who served us kept her cool all the way through the order and never once did her smile drop , “Katie” said “yes” to all our demands and agreed to everything. Even though I could feel the eyes of the person behind me boring a hole into the back of my head , Katie was impervious to this . So in my view Katie is a leader she is an ambassador for the place we ate at . Because of Katie we will go again – separately or together.
Leaders are people who give others positive experiences, they are kind , compassionate and caring . Leaders understand. Leaders don’t embarrass people in front of others or put themselves first . Leaders don’t embarrass themselves – non leaders do .
Leaders put others first -right at that moment when others need to be put first . The nurse who helps the elderly man through the heavy non-automatic hospital doors is a leader . The cleaner who stops doing his job to show someone the right way to a department is a leader .
The manager who pulls a Midwife out of a room (where the midwife is caring for a woman in advanced labour) to discuss “an issue” is not a leader . The professional who berates a colleague in front of other colleagues is not a leader . The colleague who stops the professional from doing this is a leader . The junior Dr who answers the labour ward phone because everyone is busy and tries her best to deal with the call is a leader .
A leader doesn’t brag , belittle , gossip or drag down . A leader is self effacing , true , shows continuous integrity and raises others up .
A leader simply goes about doing the best she/he can to make life better for others and this in turn will make her/ his own life more enjoyable.
Leadership is not about control but about uplifting others ❤️
Look for the leaders where you work . Aspire to be like them – make a note of what it is about them that you admire.
Put some of that magic into your own self at work .
If you’d like to read another blog I have written about leadership for NHS Leadership Academy called “Leadership Is an every day event” then please Click here to read
Be kind ❤️
My thoughts
Thank you for reading
JennyTheM ❤️
@JennyTheM©️ 