Developing Beyond Clinical Expertise

Barbara Milleret has spent nearly 14 years at Salts Healthcare, progressing from Stoma Nurse Specialist to Team Leader and, within the last two years, Clinical Service Lead.

Today, she combines direct patient care with responsibility for the nursing team, clinical governance and service delivery. Her progression had brought a new set of leadership demands alongside the clinical expertise she had developed throughout her career.

When her manager raised Leadership in Management as part of her development, Barbara saw an opportunity to take a closer look at how she was approaching that responsibility. She wanted to understand her own leadership style better, build confidence in her decision-making and develop her approach to teamwork, conflict and strategy.

“I was really keen to attend to gather more knowledge and insights into my leadership style and look at different scenarios within leadership.”

She expected to come away with new and useful tools and ideas. What she hadn't anticipated was how much of the learning would come from reflecting on her own behaviour.

Seeing Her Leadership in Action

Rather than discussing leadership only in theory, Leadership in Management gave Barbara opportunities to lead, observe her own behaviour and receive feedback on her performance and the impact she was having on others.

Working outside her usual environment meant familiar roles and relationship dynamics couldn't bias the interactions she encountered during team activities which gave Barbara a clearer view of her own behaviours and how others responded to them.

During the residential, Barbara resisted her usual tendency to scan the brief quickly and instead properly considered the task before the team entered.

The difference was reflected immediately in their feedback. They experienced her as prepared and in control, with a clear understanding of what needed to happen and how responsibilities should be allocated.

It was a relatively simple change with an important result: taking more time to understand the situation changed how confidently and clearly she was able to lead it.

Feedback elsewhere in the programme added another perspective. Honest observations from others helped Barbara understand the strengths she was already bringing to leadership alongside the behaviours she wanted to develop. Building trust enabled the team to develop together and that process of experience, feedback and reflection gave Barbara the opportunity to recognise her own patterns and test different ways of leading, offering learning she could then take back into her role at Salts Healthcare. 

Behavioural Change

Back at Salts Healthcare, some of those lessons have translated into significant changes in Barbara's everyday leadership.

She listens more attentively before reaching conclusions, gives herself more time before committing to decisions and is more conscious of separating facts from opinions when giving feedback.

Another important shift has been knowing when to step back. During Leadership in Management, Barbara was introduced to the Helicopter Model: the idea of moving between what is happening immediately around you and a wider view of the situation.

For someone with a clinical background, that has particular relevance. Barbara’s instinct is often to get involved and help directly. At the same time, her leadership role also requires her to recognise when the greater value comes from creating enough distance to see what the team and wider organisation need.

As she puts it, the more time she spends “on the ground helping”, the less time she has available to think strategically.

That shift in perspective has also supported one of the areas Barbara most wanted to develop: her understanding of business strategy.

She says she has since helped bridge the gap between the nursing team and the commercial side of Salts Healthcare. Understanding the wider business more clearly has also helped her give her team greater context around where they fit and contribute.

Bringing Her Nursing Background Into Leadership

The programme also changed something more personal in how Barbara viewed herself as a leader.

Before attending, she describes experiencing imposter syndrome as she moved further into leadership - something we can all experience from time to time. Part of Barbara’s transition involved working out how the qualities developed throughout her nursing career fitted within a commercial environment.

Through the feedback and self-reflection of the programme, Barbara began to recognise that her empathy, ability to support others and focus on people were already part of her leadership.

“I can still be part of a commercial business as a Nurse lead and combine the two.”

She could build greater strategic awareness and become more deliberate in her decision-making without losing the fantastic qualities that had shaped her clinical career.

Looking back, one message has stayed with her more than she expected: “Trust myself.”

And for another leader considering Leadership in Management, Barbara's recommendation is straightforward:

“100% go for it. You will learn so much about yourself.”