Congratulations to our Senior Leaders Talent Management Programme graduates

Senior leaders from across Exemplar Health Care celebrated their graduation from our Senior Leaders Talent Management Programme.

The Senior Leaders Talent Management Programme, designed and delivered by our in-house Learning and Development Team, is for middle to senior Managers who are aspiring to move up the career ladder to a more senior role.

Following the 12 month programme, we’d like to congratulate our 2022 graduates:

• Kim Payne, Home Manager at Wykewood

• Lindsay Abraham, Home Manager at Woolston House

• Mark Henry, Head of Behavioural Support

• Mark Rushton, Regional Director of Operations

• Paul Hughes, Regional Director of Operations

• Sam Sim, Commissioning Manager

The graduation started with an introduction from Paul Sullivan, Leadership and Organisational Development Manager, reflecting on the importance of ongoing learning and development for managers.

Learners then delivered short presentations to their peers, sharing their learning from the programmes.

The celebration ended with a presentation of certificates from Commissioning Director, Selina Wall, and Clinical Director, Helen Baxendale, who were also Mentors for learners on the programme.

Talking about their motivations for doing the programme, colleagues talked about their desire to reach their full potential as a leader and manager.

Mark Rushton, Regional Director of Operations in the West Midlands, shared the powerful statement: “I am still learning,” which resonated with everyone in the group.

In their presentations, all of the learners talked about the benefits of digging deeper into the topics of coaching, conflict management and emotional intelligence.

Commissioning Manager, Sam, shared: "Being more aware of emotional intelligence means I will have greater self-awareness which will enable me to make better decisions."

Regional Director, Paul, added to this saying: "I’ve always been very task driven and just like to get on with the job. I’ve gained so much from this programme. I’ve learned more about the importance of coaching and supporting the people I work with, rather than always focusing on outcomes."

This sentiment was shared by fellow Regional Director, Mark: "Working in operations, I’m a natural doer and problem solver. Now, I’ve learned the skills to coach and support my team to get involved in identifying solutions and finding the answers."

Following the programme, Mark has introduced a ‘good to great’ session in his team meetings, which is already driving improvement across his region.

For others, the programme also gave them the chance to reflect on the strategies of their teams, as well as the wider company.

In his presentation, Head of Behavioural Support, Mark Henry, shared: "One of the biggest things I took from the programme is that strategy doesn’t always need to be about making big changes. Instead, it’s about making the biggest impact. Now, I’m more assertive when prioritise workload and have stopped doing tasks that won’t make an impact."

The programme, designed for senior leaders in all roles across the organisation, includes coaching, masterclasses, mentoring, on-the-job development and specific skills development.

Reflecting on her experience, Lindsay Abraham, says: “We’ve engaged in multiple modules all of which have been designed to encourage reflective learning and development both personally and professionally.

“We’ve had an amazing journey, supporting one another through many challenges, working on action learning sets together, and engaging in book clubs which were enlightening, interesting and productive in so many ways."