Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Relationship Building
Strong and effective relationships provide the basis for ensuring that
the best quality of service is delivered. When things don’t go as well
as one would like, the chances are that some form of breakdown in
relationships is at least a partial contributor to this less than optimal
outcome.
For example when I was a Finance Director in the NHS I had to take
my turn on the Directors on call rota every 5 weeks. I often saw
situations where hostility between the A&E department and a ward
was getting in the way of the smooth transfer of patients.
You might well be familiar with situations where there were tensions
between different parts of the health system regarding patient
discharges or over resource allocation.
Team Working
That’s not to say that there will never be points of disagreement. They
may at times decide to agree to disagree after a dialogue has taken
place. The major difference is that people will have had the
opportunity to air their points of view which is more likely to result in
agreement or consensus.
Education
Finance staff have a huge role to play in educating budget holders, non
executive and executive directors and the public at large on the
financial issues.
Problem Solving
Decision Making
As Finance professionals you know that in the NHS there are always
going to be greater demand than resources available. Engaging in
good dialogue can facilitate the best decisions being taken from the
options available.
Planning
With austerity being the big issue for the foreseeable future agreeing
priorities around use of resources and influencing are going to be key
elements of planning.
Making Change
Change and the desire for change and modernisation is high on the
agenda. As many as 70% of changes fail to deliver the expected
outcomes. Communication is at the heart of securing the buy-in and
providing the support that is so vital to achieving change.
Securing Engagement
Risk
Reflection Question
Productivity Drops
The demands to work efficiently and effectively in all parts of the NHS
have never been greater, especially when we are faced with a period
of reduced growth in funding and reductions in real terms.
When all parties don’t know what is expected of them or one part of
the system does not deliver their part of the process, productivity
drops.
Mistakes
Many instances where mistakes are made can at least in part be linked
to poor communication. Sometimes these are small scale but can
potentially be catastrophic.
Delays
We all know that in the NHS it is in the best interests of the patient
and the organisation to minimise the time people spend in hospital. At
the same time in many hospitals delays in discharge of patients arise.
In some cases these delays are due to the fact that one part of the
service does not communicate effectively with the other prior to a
patient admission. As a result discharge planning does not start early
enough, especially when patients need care packages at home.
Waste
Safety
We all understand just how important patient safety is. At the same
time safety issues when investigated can at times be tracked back to a
communication breakdown.
Trust
Satisfaction
Performance
The NHS and the Finance function ultimately exists to deliver results.
Knowing what is expected and keeping people informed is key to
effective performance.
Reflection Question
Wrong Focus
Action Point
Consider some the key people you communicate with. To what extent
do you know or understand their communication preferences? If you
are unclear, check with them rather than assuming you know.
Jargon
Wrong Medium
Information Overload
Action Point
Do you or your team get the balance right when it comes to providing
information? Check this with the recipients of information.
Big Mouth Small Eyes and Small Ears
Action Point
Next time you are in a meeting pay attention to the proportion of time
people are speaking compared to listening.
Complexity
Lack of Preparation
Reflection Question
Think about how you prepare for communicating difficult issues, how
would you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means you do
little or no preparation and 10 means you always fully prepare.
Jumping to Conclusions
Confidence
Point To Note
You can do your best to get the message across in the best possible
way and sometimes you will get it wrong
Planning
Whenever you are entering into any communication make sure that
you:
Are clear about the objectives or outcomes you want from that
communication
Step into the shoes of the other party or parties who will be the
recipients of the communication and consider their needs
Present or deliver the communication in a way that focuses
100% on their needs
Keep It Simple
As we mentioned earlier some are big picture and some love detail. To
address this have an upfront summary and appendices as detail.
Don’t fall into the trap of assuming you know. Use questions to clarify
and deepen your understanding.
Don’t get caught up in putting people into box based on their job role
or job title.
After all contrary to public belief not all accountants love the numbers
and are introverted.
This is particularly important when you are dealing with a difficult issue
like a conversation around quality, operational and financial targets.
In this type of conversation it is often to use patients (or service
users) as the common ground as ultimately that is who the NHS is for
at the end of the day.