South Warwickshire GP Federation were looking to deliver a leadership development programme across 7 Primary Care Networks (PCNs). The programme was aimed at Clinical Directors and their representatives in South Warwickshire to support leaders in being able to successfully define and deliver against their PCN objectives.
With delegates from a range of clinical and non clinical backgrounds, leadership experience was varied amongst delegates so the course needed to be designed and delivered in a way that would accommodate these differing levels of experience. The programme was initially designed to be delivered face to face but when COVID hit, the challenge was to maintain the quality of delivery within a remote environment.
The Action
Through Agencia’s Primary Care Direct service, we designed a course that was flexible to accommodate the learning needs of each individual. In addition to the overarching objectives of the Clinical Commissioning Group, delegates had their own personal objectives for the programme, including how to successfully lead across multiple practices, how to effectively deliver remote leadership across a PCN, how effective leadership can support delivery of PCN goals and how to inspire people through effective communication of the PCN vision.
Our approach was to incorporate a variety of delivery methods that could be implemented remotely. This included bespoke interactive workshops, incorporating case studies, group exercises and an opportunity to reflect on how learning could be implemented. These workshops were supported by the opportunity for each individual to complete a leadership styles questionnaire and receive individual coaching from our team of experts. Recognising that this group of senior leaders also needed to be given ‘head space’ to absorb and reflect on their learning to enable effective implementation was a priority, we provided this time in a structured and supported environment.
The Results
Between July 2020 and February 2021, 29 delegates from across 7 PCNs attended 6 workshops and individual coaching sessions. Despite being run remotely, the sessions were practical and interactive with the opportunity for shared learning.
The sessions were delivered through the height of the vaccine roll out, yet the Clinical Directors and their teams continued to attend the workshops and were able to start applying their learning to support their immediate challenges. Delivering this programme remotely provided a level of flexibility for participants that would not have been possible if it had been delivered face to face.
Feedback from delegates was extremely positive, with delegates commenting that the content was ‘thought provoking’ and ‘very useful to apply to an existing scenario’. One manager commented:
‘It’s been a very useful reflective exercise for me and has allowed me to see where I can improve to get better outcomes.’
