Who goes to work to do a bad job?
Who goes to work to do a bad job? I certainly believe that nobody does, yet when you follow the media coverage of the health service you might get the impression that many do. We are constantly reminded of system and people failures yet in the context of all of our daily interactions the amount of poor performances or errors is quite small.
I do accept that we should aspire to have a zero error or failure rate but we do work in a human enterprise and the work we do is not without risk.
Many believe good leaders and managers are born but I like to think they can be developed with good training, careful nurturing and proper mentoring and support. Good leadership in healthcare is extremely important and because of this at last year’s annual conference the Health Management Institute announced that it was launching the ‘Health Management Institute Leadership Award’. That process begins today. The award allows all of us in the health service the opportunity to talent spot and identify individuals who have demonstrated their leadership skills in their work record to date. We are interested in hearing the evidence, identifying the individuals and supporting them as they develop further. I believe this is the best way to support best practice and good people.
The Health Service of Ireland has got talent, we just need to identify and reward it. So we’re doing what we can and we’re asking you to help us to identify, showcase and support it.
Derek Greene,
President HMI
