Compassionate Leadership was not a soft option, but it could help leaders manage the performance of individuals, teams and organisations, Mellany McLoone, IHA Manager, Dublin North City and West HSE and HMI Council Member, told the Conference.
She said by positioning Compassionate Leadership at the heart of organisational performance, IHA Dublin North City and West would strive to create an inclusive workplace culture that supported staff, improved patient outcomes and delivered sustainable, effective health services,
Compassionate leaders empathised with their colleagues and sought to understand the challenges they faced. They were committed to supporting others to cope with and respond successfully to work challenges; and they were focused on enabling those they led to be effective and thrive in their work.
Compassionate leaders did not have all the answers and did not simply tell people what to do, instead they engaged with the people they worked with to find shared solutions to problems.
“Compassionate Leadership means taking time to properly explore and understand the situations people are struggling with, valuing and exploring conflicting perspectives rather than leaders simply imposing their own understanding and taking time to listen to the challenges, obstacles, frustrations and harms colleagues experience.
“Compassionate Leadership is an action, not a position or title or at the top of the organisation, it is about shared leadership, everyone is a leader. It is about inclusion, valuing equality and diversity, removing barriers and boundaries and creating effective teams who feel safe and empowered to make improvements. It is about self-compassion and promotion of health and well-being and creating a supportive and inclusive environment where everyone contributes to positive change.”
Ms. McLoone said the Compassionate Leadership Community was growing both nationally and internationally. Healthcare leaders in Ireland had signing the pledge committing to model and build compassionate and inclusive workplace. They included Dr. Andy Philliops, REO for South West HSE, June Stanley, CEO, National Rehabilitation Hospital, Teresa McNally, CEO, Irish Home Care and Ethel Ryan and Angela Hughes, who signed pledge on behalf of HSE Clinical Director Programme.
Ms. McLoone said Compassionate Leadership, provided a language where leaders could talk and engage constructively and deal with challenging conversations.
It had four behaviour elements. Attending – paying attention to staff in a non-judgemental way and listening with fascination. Understanding – finding a shared understanding of the situation they faced. Empathising and Helping – taking intelligent actions to help and ensure they had support to do their jobs effectively.
“In Dublin North City and West, seeds were sown for this Compassionate Leadership journey following a 2021 Staff Survey which indicated 19% suggested there should be a focus on improving diversity, equal staff treatment and organisation culture and 55% had a positive culture which reflected the HSE’s core values of care, compassion, trust and learning.
“We engaged with RCSI to devise a programme to support implementation of Sláintecare goals and objectives with a focus on promoting networking and relationship building across teams. Eighteen groups have completed the RCSI Leadership programme ‘Embracing New Ways of Integrated Working.’ Twelve groups were initially strategically aligned to the Community Healthcare Networks to work on projects under heading such as Integrated Pathways, Service User Feedback, Digital Innovation and Communications.
“The establishment of IHAs saw participation extended to include colleagues from acute hospitals and voluntary community providers to become the first truly integrated programme of its kind. It provided for an enriched diversity and an experienced group of participants from all professions and services.
“The third phase of the programme took place earlier this year. It saw three groups work on the theme of Compassionate Leadership projects, focusing on different elements of how it could be embedded within the IHA The conversation quickly evolved into how this could be practically implemented in the IHA.”
Ms. McLoone said three teams were established. Team 1 looked at integration of Compassionate Leadership into induction and practice in our IHA. Its recommendations included – Define ownership and governance, Identify champions to represent diverse stakeholders, Disseminate accessible, relevant and actionable information, Training, Champions, Pledge
Team 2 explored understanding and interpretation of CL in their teams, how embedding compassionate leadership contributed to high performing team and it surveyed MDT staff members including HSCPs . They found the vast majority were interested in participating/further discussion in compassionate leadership.
Team 3 looked at embedding a culture of Compassionate Leadership across our Integrated Health Areas. Their recommendations included developing a group of CL champions, who once trained, could work with others in the organisation and outlining a roadmap that could be utilised to embed Compassionate Leadership across the organisation.”
Ms. McLoone said she signed the pledge in May, with a commitment to create:
- A compassionate and inclusive workplace – embedding the Compassionate Leadership Principles.
- Cultivating a culture prioritising empathy, inclusion, and psychological safety – leading to enhancing staff wellbeing, engagement, and ultimately, quality patient care.
- Foundational organisational value embedded at every level and within all systems e.g. clinical governance, service design, patient engagement, and digital ethics and not just a leadership trait.
“IHA Dublin North City & West commits to pursuing, promoting, developing and embedding the Compassionate Leadership Pledge Principles across all services within the IHA. “
“We acknowledge it will take a period of time, resources, leadership commitment, resilience and patience, but by embracing compassionate leadership, a more inclusive and productive workplace can be created.
“The development of an action plan to enable a structure and joined up approach to enable implement Compassionate Leadership across the IHA is recommended.
Our Commitment is to:
- Embed Compassionate Leadership pledge principles across services.
- Support improvements to services delivered to our population by staff.
- Engage staff and communities.
- Build an inclusive, honest and respectful workplace.
