What does leadership look like in your business?
At Virgin Care a leader could be a manager, a mentor or a colleague who’s inspired their team to do something different and enhance the team as a whole, for the benefit of patients and service users. Teams from all of our services across England need leadership that enables colleagues to deliver the best care for patients.
I asked my colleagues to tell me about their leaders and what they’ve done to help them. Throughout our services we have hundreds of leaders, here is a selection of their stories from across the country.
"Jenny has been incredibly supportive and understanding through the recent transition as Virgin Care began providing Community Children’s Services in Wiltshire.
"Through supporting us as team leaders it has enabled us to access support from Virgin Care and to effectively support our own teams through the change. She has acknowledged the transition from our points of view and empathised with the situation, working with us to develop solutions and learning the new knowledge and skills required to complete the task in hand."
"When Gregg joined the team he further enhanced our level of technical ability and business knowledge and immediately impressed us all.
"He was willing to share his knowhow and added to the team with experienced analysts that augmented and fitted in well with the existing members. His high standards are motivating and his relaxed manner and cheerfulness eases the pressures and makes for a pleasant workplace environment for his team, leading in the Virgin way."
Quiz: What's your leadership style?
"With Virgin Care’s funding and support I am due to qualify as District Nurse and have worked in the Elmbridge team for 15 years and have worked under many good leaders.
"For the past five years I have worked with District Nursing Sister and Practice Teacher Catherine Parsons as my manager. Without her support, guidance and encouragement over the past few years I may never have had the confidence to undertake my Specialist Practice Degree. She saw the potential in me and encouraged me to succeed as I have seen her do to many others over the years."
"Sue is always bright, friendly & cheerful. She’s always truly approachable and makes time to get to know her team - their strengths, weaknesses and how they operate best. It is truly amazing to watch her adapt her approach on an individual level whilst maintaining integrity. Sue appears calm and considered (she tells me she isn't always but that certainly is not apparent from the outside). She is the ultimate professional, meeting the challenges of the role with her sleeves rolled up and a can-do attitude. Sue is a gifted manager but she remains a practical, sensible and down-to-earth nurse and a kind and genuinely helpful person.
"The difference Sue’s made is that her combined abilities enable her to pull teams together, reframe challenges and be a model of diplomacy and professionalism. Sue leads from the front, bringing her team with her to set a high standard of service for patients. What more does one need in a leader?"
We’ve invested in and delivered training to help our colleagues become better leaders to their teams and better work together and adapt their own working styles to help others’. We’ve put people and personalities at the centre of our programme – we teach colleagues how to lead themselves, lead their colleagues and spread leadership skills through their teams.