25.05.16
NHS Confed to host workshop on inclusive leadership
NHS leaders will discuss ways to make health leadership more diverse at a workshop at this year’s NHS Confederation conference.
The workshop, named ‘I love the sound of breaking glass’ after the concept of the ‘glass ceiling’, will consider the benefits of inclusive leadership as a means of bringing new ideas into organisations.
It will be led by Jackie Daniel, chief executive of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay trust, Alaba Okuyiga from the Employers’ Network for Equality and Inclusion, Dr Ruth Sealy from City University London, and Joan Saddler, an associate director of the NHS Confederation.
In a blog post to introduce the workshop, Paul Deemer, head of diversity and inclusion at NHS Employers, said the workshop would consider a number of ‘glass ceiling’ issues.
“We all know about it, refer to it, and maybe even experience it,” he said. “But is it real? Is it a suitable term to describe what is essentially discrimination and prejudice? Or has it become too ‘sanitised’ a phrase? Does it just apply to the failure of women to get into senior roles now, or encompass other areas of diversity too, such as race and disability?”
Greater diversity in leadership is vital both for breaking down discrimination within an organisation, and in benefiting the organisation by introducing fresh perspectives to its work.
Given the scale of the financial and performance challenges facing the NHS, now more than ever its leadership cannot afford to offer the ‘same old same old’, and this includes more diversity. For example, more women in board rooms could equate to more awareness of how physical and mental health issues affect women at a provider level.
Karen Lynas, interim managing director of the NHS Leadership Academy, wrote for NHE earlier this year with advice for women in the NHS trying to get into senior leadership roles.
NHE will be reporting from the workshop on 17 June, and all other events at the conference, with the latest ideas and trends in NHS leadership.
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an NHE columnist? If so, click here.