Standing in your power
When you’re working with highly intelligent, experienced doctors and senior leaders every day it can be daunting - so it’s easy to feel imposter syndrome, especially if you’re not from that academic world.
Debbie McArthur, who left school at 16 with basic qualifications, wanted to increase her confidence and leadership abilities when she had a career change much later in life. Determined to challenge herself and expand her opportunities, she embarked on a new learning journey by completing a degree with the Open University. But she didn’t stop there, as she then decided to take on the Level 7 Senior Leadership Apprenticeship, knowing that it would help her achieve her goal of earning a Master’s.
Admitting the qualification was “originally for me”, it proved to be a game-changer in her career which paid dividends when she was promoted twice during her studies, becoming the Head of Apprenticeships and Leadership Development at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
“There were immediate opportunities to put what I was learning into practice,” she says.
It helped me to develop robust programmes for the Trust, and it also made me much more confident when working with more senior leaders within the organisation.
"I felt like I belonged there because I had that clearer, better understanding of leadership and the impact it has."
Building confidence
Rather than feeling intimidated by clinical experts, Debbie has been able to skilfully suggest opportunities for them to improve as they move across different parts of the Trust.
“The apprenticeship allowed me to value their expertise, but at the same time support their development as they moved into a more teaching and academic capacity,” she says.
Debbie has been on a journey of self-discovery which has helped her understand not just her learning and leadership styles, but validate her management techniques too.
“One of the CMI resources that stood out for me was the diagnostic tool I used at the very beginning of the apprenticeship. It highlighted areas I needed to improve and helped me with
those blind spots.
The apprenticeship also gave me affirmation that after many years of having the word ‘manager’ in my job title, I really did understand why I did things the way I did.
Walking the walk
As Head of Apprenticeships for her NHS Trust, Debbie leads by example after achieving a Distinction in her qualification, helped by CMI’s support throughout the programme which enabled her to prepare for her End-Point Assessment.
The CMI resources helped me understand the structure of what needed to go into my portfolio - which knowledge, skills and behaviours belonged with which pieces of evidence, and also reading example questions to prepare myself for the End-Point Assessment.
Debbie’s apprenticeship hasn’t just been about passing an assessment, it’s given her skills that will benefit the NHS and thousands of its employees.
“My organisation benefited because I’ve benefited,” explains Debbie.
“It’s enhanced my understanding, my skill set and my mindset. It’s allowed me to bring my own learning into programmes that we’re now delivering within the Trust, which is obviously benefiting our colleagues from a management and leadership perspective.
We’re a large Trust, we have people moving and progressing regularly, and offering management apprenticeships allows us to prepare people for leadership, enabling us to have consistency within our managerial approach,” she says.
Nurturing young talent
Debbie feels that having different apprenticeship levels available allows the Trust to embed CMI’s leadership and management values from an early stage, and also prepares more junior staff for managerial roles before they are promoted.
“There are lots of accidental managers out there, so highlighting leadership and management skills allows them to develop whilst in the role,” she explains. “It also helps prepare them for moving into a leadership position. We can ensure they are demonstrating the behaviours of leaders that we want them to be.”
For me, I’ve applied my learning when building a team and my CMI apprenticeship has allowed me to be very inclusive within the leadership of that team.