Compassionate leadership in social care

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Hello, I'm Michael West

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I'm Senior Visiting Fellow

in The King's Fund in London...

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...and Professor of Organisational

Psychology at Lancaster University.

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I want to describe what we mean by...

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..compassionate leadership

in social care across Wales.

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It means four behaviours -

attending to those we lead...

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..understanding

the challenges they face...

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..empathising with them

and then helping them.

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Attending means paying attention

to those we lead.

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Being present with them.

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Listening to them with fascination.

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And given the pressure

that social care staff are under...

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..then seeking to understand

the challenges they face.

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Not by imposing our understanding

from a hierarchical position afar.

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But through a dialogue, to arrive

at a shared understanding...

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..of the challenges

they face in their work.

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Third, it's having an empathic,

feeling, caring response.

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Feeling the pressure they're under,

feeling the anxieties.

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Feeling sometimes the sense

of inadequacy that staff may have.

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That gives us the motivation for

the fourth element of compassion...

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..which is helping,

or serving those we lead.

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That's achieved by helping

to remove the obstacles...

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..that get in the way of them

doing their work effectively...

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..and helping to find

the resources they need.

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The right numbers of staff

with the right skills...

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..the right equipment

and technologies, computing...

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..and the right training

and development...

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..to give them the skills they need

to do their jobs effectively.

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Those behaviours that constitute

compassionate leadership...

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Those behaviours that constitute

compassionate leadership...

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..are key to effective leadership...

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..and to team

and organisational effectiveness.

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This is not some soft-cushion

scented candles approach...

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..to leadership.

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On the contrary,

compassionate leadership...

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..requires a great deal

more courage and authenticity...

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..than the rather easy opt-out

of command and control leadership.

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Because our compassion

ultimately as leaders...

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..is for the people of Wales

that we serve.

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The communities we serve.

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That entails a very strong focus

on performance...

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..and performance management

in a compassionate way.

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Also, it's not some

easy consensus way forward.

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It's ensuring that

we are doing what's best...

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..in our social care settings...

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..to enable us to provide

high-quality care and support...

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..for the people and communities

we serve.

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So it's about ensuring

that leadership is effective...

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..by creating an inspiring

sense of vision or direction.

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That's a daily beacon

that guides our decision-making...

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..hour by hour and moment by moment.

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It ensures alignment

of people's efforts...

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..within our teams

and organisations...

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..by making sure

there are clear goals...

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..and that people are coordinating

their work effectively.

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And by creating a sense of

trust and commitment...

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..across our teams

and organisations.

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It's also about ensuring

inclusive leadership.

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If leadership is not inclusive,

it's not compassionate.

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So ensuring that everybody feels

included by our leadership...

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..regardless of their

professional background...

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..or gender or ethnicity

or nationality.

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Because inclusion and compassion...

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..are in a sense

two sides to the same coin.

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They are about blurring the

boundaries between self and other...

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..and creating a sense of connection

and safety and support.

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Compassionate leadership

is also about being collective...

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..and sharing power

and enabling all to feel...

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..they have leadership rights

and responsibilities.

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That means encouraging

shared leadership in teams.

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So we may have

a hierarchical team leader...

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..but their role is to bring

everybody's contribution...

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..and knowledge to bear

on delivering high-quality care...

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..for the people and the communities

we serve.

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Compassionate leadership...

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..is also about working

compassionately and helpfully...

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..across boundaries with

other teams and organisations...

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..and sectors we work with,

prioritising overall...

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..the delivery of high-quality care

for the communities we serve.

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And always asking the question of

other teams and organisations...

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.."How can we help you?"

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So compassionate leadership is core

to creating the cultures we need...

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..in transforming health

and social care across Wales...

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..for the coming years...

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..for the benefit of the people and

communities all across the country.