Module 1 – You as a PCN leader

Unit 1 – Are you a leader?

‘The overarching purpose of any approach to primary care leadership development is to improve the health and wellbeing of populations, including supporting a shift from reactive approaches to illness by individual practitioners, to the building of healthy communities led across systems of health and social care. The focus of such development must therefore shift from individualistic hierarchical leaders, working primarily within and for a single team, to collective leadership that creates compassionate and inclusive cultures, inspires commitment to create healthy communities, mobilises large-scale change across a geographical area, and engages local people and service users..’[1] (Swanwick and Varnam, 2019)

This is why reframing your understanding of the new types of leadership required and appreciation of yourself as a leader across Primary Care Networks is an essential first step. In this role, regardless of your subject area expertise, you will be asked to take the initiative, problem solve, build relationships with people that have contradicting views and values, overcome conflict, compromise, be judged and take responsibility for things that you don’t fully control, lead across boundaries and systems, adapt to new ways of working rapidly and so on and so forward.

All this can be overwhelming. Some seek to secure control and order of this, often by seeking promotion to have the authority to take and make these decisions. Others seek influence over authority. They see themselves as being collaborative. Others will see them as collaborative leaders.

In Unit 1 – Are you a leader? you will explore the type of leadership required across to enable PCN working, and how best to harness your leadership ot be successful in your role across PCNs.

Unit 2 – Why are we all different?

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator has been developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine Briggs, building from Carl Jung’s work on Psychological Types (1923).

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator helps you understand your personality preferences in four key areas:

• How you get your energy (Extraversion vs. Introversion)
• How you take in information and learn (Sensing vs. Intuition)
• How you make decisions (Thinking vs. Feeling)
• How you like to organize your time and environment (Judging vs. Perceiving)

MBTI shows us our preferences in those four areas, and it is important to understand that if we fall under one category (i.e. making decisions rationally – T) that does not mean we do not have the ability to use the other (making decisions based on our emotions – F). MBTI teaches us a natural preference, rather than being prescriptive and it develops our self-awareness around how we operate through our personality type.

By being aware of our similarities and differences coming from our own individual preferences, and by understanding the other dimensions, we can understand others better, why they make decisions in the way they do, their approach to interpreting information, how they organise themselves and how they get their energy. By understanding these differences, we can enhance the quality of our relationships by giving us a common language to discuss these differences.

This Unit will provide you with an understanding of MBTI and it will allow you to undertake your own self-assessment and reflect on your type, and how you relate to others.

Unit 3 – How to lead beyond your role?

Leadership can be challenging enough when you have management responsibility for the teams you lead. Imagine leading when you’re not in control, when the people you collaborate with may not even work in the same practice or share the same discipline.

This type of leadership, often called systems leadership requires a more nuanced approach to influencing and leadership. Here you will learn about complex adaptive systems theory, how simple rules agreed by all can create order in what might seem chaos, why understanding problems types can unlock the potential for team working and finally why leadi

ng beyond boundaries all boils down to facilitating collaborative working.

Unit 4 – How do you bring your leadership to bear?

Each of us has our own unique leadership style. Its authentic to you. It sets you apart from others. Understanding how you bring you leadership to bear, will help build confidence, trust, and improve your ability to make an impact. So, what kind of leader are we when we are ‘at our best’? How do we establish our credibility, build trusted relationships, and provide pace and forward motion in the work we do?

One important aspect of how your being your leadership to bear is through having courageous conversations, that enable others to also be ‘at their best’. ‘Good leadership is about asking good questions’ John Hagel III. This unit will help you explore the notion of powerful questions and hold coaching type conversations.