On the 15th December 2023 we held the 3rd Leadership Conference through the National Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Social Work.
We met online on a cold and crisp Friday morning and were joined by practitioners, leaders and academics from across the UK. A total of 95 delegates had signed up to share and learn together to bridge the gap between academia and practice on the themes of:
Our Keynote speaker was Dr Colin Mac Pherson, who took us on a historical journey in his talk ‘Times of Change’ – Leadership discussion for Health and Social Care
- ‘The culture of change vs changing cultures’ by challenging our understanding what it means to belong or fit into an organisation or profession.
- How can we be activists and catalysts for change as leaders in practice and education and take our staff ‘with us’, whilst not being afraid to take risks on the way.
- How we embrace the growing change towards ‘greener practice’ and our awareness of environmental impact of events that are beyond our control- from climate change to global pandemics.
- An exploration of what we need to be calm in the ‘eye of the storm of change’, what gives us resilience and strength to keep going on our personal and professional journeys.
Our speakers came from a wide range of backgrounds to not just look at theoretical approaches to leadership but to weave the lived experience, the challenges and joys of practice into the discussion
Prof Mel Hughes started us of and talked to us about ‘Leadership and the art of collaboration’.
Tilia Lenz, Dr Lyle Skains and Dr Rejoice Chipuriro discussed their research findings on ‘Reclaiming resilience, voices from the frontline’ and shared the experiences of managers in health and social care.
‘Cultural change and integration of international health care staff’ was the topic that Ithiel Zotorvie presented as the Practice Educator for international nurses. Her talk resonanted greatly with the audience and facilitated deep reflection.
Dr Orlanda Harvey and Sarah Green presentation on ‘Leading Change – Bringing our people with us’ was a hands-on approach that offered tools for participants to take away.
Dr Rachel Arnold and Dr Matt Simpson spoke about their experiences of Appreciative Inquiry. It is here that I need to acknowledge the very sad passing of our colleague Matt Simpson on the 10.01.24 and the huge gap he has left in the world of Approved Mental Health Practice (AMHP), academia and most importantly with his family and friends.
You can read further about Matt’s work here: https://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2024/01/23/appreciative-inquiry-special-interest-group/
The Panel discussion to review all the themes of the conference from different perspectives was let by Tilia Lenz.
Julia Armstrong, Dr Colin MacPherson , Ithiel Zotorvie, Prof David Croisdale-Appleby and Paul Walshe shared their views on leadership and the challenges of organisational, personal and global changes. They considered:
- What it means to belong or fit into an organisation or profession.
- How can we be activists and catalysts for change as leaders in practice and education and take our staff ‘with us’
- How we embrace the growing change towards ‘greener practice’ and our awareness of environmental impact of events that are beyond our control
- What gives us resilience and strength to keep going on our personal and professional journeys.
Watch the full playlist:
The conference concluded with the sharing of kindness and encouragement from the delegates and we would like to thank all of those who joined us for the day for their contributions and reflections.