Annual Review
Supporting collective leadership in mental health services
— Case study

Supporting collective leadership in mental health services

The South West AHSN has been delivering a leadership development course known as The Collective Leadership Programme to a cohort of 30 managers and clinicians at Livewell Southwest working in mental health care.

The aim of the training is to bring together inter-disciplinary leaders over six modules to enhance their personal and team leadership to facilitate positive change at the organisation and system level. 

Participants have explored team dynamics and worked with complex, adaptive or “wicked” problems. They have learnt a range of coaching skills, including Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and applying the GROW (Goal, Reality, Options, Will) model to leadership conversations. 

They have also had the opportunity to closely examine their own leadership style and behaviours and be part of an action learning set to work on an improvement project that draws on the leadership skills they have developed. 

The course finished in May 2023 with a celebration event (Module 6) during which participants gave a presentation on their improvement projects. 

An evaluation will now be carried out by the South West AHSN to assess the full impact the course has had. 
collective leadership logo

Participants completed a survey immediately after Modules 1 to 5, which has helped the course facilitators determine what has gone well and where improvements could be made. This Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) approach has allowed for an adjustment of the course content to ensure the needs of participants and the commissioning team are being met. 

Key impacts include:  

  • Direct application of key leadership, coaching and team development methods to support their staff  
  • The development of innovative and collaborative improvement projects in action learning sets to improve pathways and patient safety/experience 
  • Consistent feedback from participants, which demonstrates that they have enjoyed spending time together face-to-face on group work 

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“I’ve really enjoyed the course. It’s been great, informative, kind, inspiring. The recap of models has helped me formulate where I am and how to support my consolidation for the presentation.”

Steph Gallini, Advanced Practitioner Team Manager, Adult Social Care Mental Health Team

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