Day 63: Chief Nursing Officer Summit – Part 2

Today was the second day of the annual Chief Nursing Office Summit (see   yesterday’s Blog about Day 1).

Again there’s too much from today to mention in this blog.  See my Twitter timeline and any other #CNOSummit tweets for a flavour of what today was about.  I will break my 100 word rule again today, but normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

I joined the @WeNurses Team for a workshop in the morning to help directors of nursing better understand social media.  We talked about our fears and how we can overcome some barriers to using it more productively.  More information on the workshop is available online.
Right at the end of the day we heard a brief talk from Professor Veronica Hope Hailey of the University of Bath about ‘trust’.  She described the key five features of high trust organisations found through her research.  We should aim to work with patients and staff to achieve this for our organisations in the NHS:

Create a Trust Fund – not a financial fund, but pre-crisis, manage trust as a precious commodity upon which you can draw in times of difficulty.

Leadership as Service – senior leaders should see their roles as serving employees as well as shareholders (for NHS read patients/public/carers) throughout change process

Kill Spin – only have honest communications.  If things are bad for staff or patients, tell them; with compassion, but tell them.

Re-engage the Middle and Local Levels During Change – the local manager is the key trust relationship with the front-line, so engage them in planning and designing change.

Reposition the Employment Relationship – manage employee expectations – treat change as evolution, be open, transparent and make information available to them.