Striving for consistent standards
In their most recent inspection in June 2020, from the Care Quality Commission, the Trust progressed from “Requires Improvement” to “Good” in the category of “Well-Led.”
West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust sought a partner to add credibility to their existing management and leadership courses, unifying their managers and leaders with consistent, core standards for learning and development.
According to Paul Mendes, Head of Learning and Development at the Trust, it was important to the Trust that their training would be aligned to a framework of best practice:
We wanted to set a high level for NHS leaders and managers. When staff progress to more senior roles, they can struggle to manage the greater responsibility without suitable leadership and management development. We were looking for a partner that could demonstrate the value of becoming a fully rounded manager or leader, as opposed to merely surviving.
It was really significant for us that we would be able to incorporate meaning which could be applied across the NHS, and having our programmes recognised and endorsed by CMI gave us that.
Why CMI?
Paul highlighted that WHTHT were drawn to the high levels of collaboration and attentiveness offered by CMI, as well as the opportunity to align their programmes against a globally recognised benchmark of excellence with CMI’s Professional Standard:
“CMI was really keen to support us in raising the bar of leadership across the Trust. Our courses are recognised and accredited at the appropriate levels through CMI’s intuitive mapping against industry standards”
In this partnership, we embed CMI’s professional standards to shape our training for internal and external NHS requirements.
The CMI syllabus provides a framework for leaders and managers to exemplify the Trust’s values of Care, Commitment, and Quality and make others feel able to do so. The fact that participants can obtain Foundation Chartered Manager (fCMgr) status in an added bonus. Through accreditation, they also have an additional pathway to Chartered Manager (CMgr) status. This enables the Trust to demonstrate pathways for management and leadership progression, encouraging staff to regard their management development equally to their medical, clinical or other specialist training.”
Driving targeted collaborative leadership
With CMI, WHTHT designed a programme for cohorts of highly skilled medical consultants to address a possible lack of prior management and leadership development. ‘Transform’ starts at the first-line leadership level, supporting consultants to build up their skills.
One medical consultant said:
“The Transform programme was very thought-provoking and challenging in a positive way. It made me think about what it means to be a leader with my own leadership journey so far, developing skills and understanding that will be invaluable in my next steps as I continue to progress”
Another consultant reflected positively on the programme:
“Useful and enjoyable with good guidance, through the modules and excellent teaching sessions with a mix of remote and in-classroom sessions”
Paul has also noted that ‘Transform’ has translated into more deliberate and effective team collaboration:
“Divisional leadership teams are now working more collegiately with each other, supported by WHTHT learning and development in conjunction with the CMI syllabus.
Our partnership with CMI has supported a noticeable transition toward striving for excellence as a trust, with colleagues across different departments aligned behind a common purpose to improve patient outcomes.
Career and talent management
The impact on career and succession planning has been significant, as partnership in CMI’s recognised training at the Trust are, on average, 50% more likely to receive a promotion compared to their colleagues.
Paul points to metrics that have been greatly improved as a result of the partnership:
“Our staff survey metric at the Trust has risen since our partnership with CMI. Anecdotal evidence shows that our managers who take part in our CMI recognised and accredited courses on average tend to have fewer work-related issues staff turnover”
Overall, WHTHT has witnessed impressive tangible success from their targeted training interventions with CMI:
We have been really impressed with the results of our Recognised training. CMI has been excellent to work with. It is such an easy partnership, and customer service is superb