Demonstrating your leadership skills at interview
Leadership skills self-assessment
The ‘Demonstrating your leadership skills at interview’ workshop is fast-paced, highly
interactive and practical. It is designed to build essential skills in interviewing whilst working
on your individual needs. It includes sessions that build on your knowledge of your own
leadership strengths, and practical exercises to help you structure your evidence and
articulate your strengths succinctly and persuasively at interview.
We therefore invite you to complete a pre-workshop self-assessment to help you crystallise
your view of your strengths and development needs and to start identifying examples of good
leadership practice from past experience and roles.
The assessment is strictly for your own development. You will focus on your strengths and
evidence of good practice on the workshop but are not required to share your individual
scores. Your data will be kept confidential and not be used for any other purpose or be
passed to any other organisation.
The leadership skills assessment forms an essential part of the workshop and takes
approximately 30-40 minutes to complete. Please complete and return by email to
satnam.sangha@deardensearchselect.co.uk by 20th August 2015 and bring a printed
copy for your own use to the workshop.
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Demonstrating your leadership skills at interview
A.
Competency assessment
The competency assessment is based on the FMLM Leadership and Management Standards
and describes what it means to be an effective leader. For each of the behaviours listed,
indicate how important you believe the skill to be in the role of a consultant/medical leader.
Use the following scale:
1
Not at all
important
2
Not very important
3
Somewhat
important
4
Important
5
Very important
3
Somewhat
competent
4
Competent
5
Very competent
How competent you feel you are:
1
Not at all
competent
2
Not very
competent
Enter your responses in the colour-coded columns.
Self
Doctors must know and understand themselves, their impact on others and be constantly striving
to improve. They must be resilient and consistently demonstrate the energy, drive and motivation
to lead and work with others for consistently high and improving standards, and thereby improved
quality of care for patients in all its dimensions (experience, effectiveness, safety).
Self awareness and self development
1. Demonstrate a clear people and patient-centred approach: consider the impact of my
style, decisions and actions on all those affected. 2. Manage my emotions and adapt my leadership style to have the maximum positive
impact
on others. 3. Seek and act upon feedback from patients, colleagues and other professionals
regarding my effectiveness and possible areas for development. 4. Commit time to professional development and keep my skills and knowledge up to
date. 5. Establish and maintain strong professional and support networks. 6. Acknowledge my limitations and seek support from others in order to achieve the best
outcomes when needed.
Personal resilience, drive and energy
7. Take full accountability for actions and decisions within my area of responsibility. 8. Remain calm and objective in situations of pressure or conflict.
9. Sustain personal levels of energy and remain enthusiastic and optimistic in the face of
setbacks.
10. Have the courage to speak up and speak out when standards, quality or safety are
threatened: constructively challenge others when there is an opportunity for
improvement.
11. Work to a high standard and earn the respect of colleagues: manage own time
effectively and deliver to commitments and promises. Dearden Search and Selection
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Demonstrating your leadership skills at interview
Team player/Team leader
The effective medical leader has a sophisticated knowledge of establishing and leading teams
and how to get the best out of them. Equally they know when to lead and when to follow. They are
robust defenders of fairness and justice and strive constantly to create to an optimal environment
for colleagues to give of their best in the drive for improved clinical care.
Effective teamwork
12. Fully participate in multi-disciplinary teams in order to achieve the best possible
outcomes for all those who use and deliver services.
13. Ask others for their opinions and ideas, actively listen and take views on board in
order to deliver the best outcomes for all. 14. Attract and develop talent. Coach to develop individuals to reach their full potential.
15. Support a diverse workforce and understand the value diversity brings to patient care.
16. Demonstrate trust and respect for colleagues: seen as a role model for effective
team-working.
17. Empower and motivate others to deliver and innovate.
18. Delegate effectively, set clear objectives, provide feedback, and hold people to
account. Actively manage poor performance and behaviour. 19. Supportive, available and approachable: respond quickly and positively when asked
for help and celebrate success. Cross-team collaborations
20. Identify opportunities for collaboration and partnership, connecting people with
diverse perspectives and interests. 21. Seek out beyond my immediate team and professional area for new perspectives,
ideas and experiences and share best practice, incorporating this to enhance quality
and delivery of services. 22. Engage with the wider medical community in teaching and training to support my
work and that of colleagues. 23. Openly share my networks with colleagues and partners to improve information and
influencing: connect individuals, teams and organisations for mutual benefit.
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Demonstrating your leadership skills at interview
Corporate responsibility
The effective medical leader understands and contributes positively to the strategic direction and
operational delivery of the organisation in which they work. They espouse and practice the seven
Principles of Public Life and Good Medical Practice. They can successfully navigate the competing
demands between the needs of the individual and the needs of the population. Furthermore, they
can successfully balance their role in day-to-day delivery with a focus on anticipating future
challenges and future innovation.
Corporate team player
24. Ensure adherence to the principles of good corporate and clinical governance. 25. Understand the competing demands for resources and actively support fair and
appropriate allocation.
26. Make clear, transparent evidence-based decisions even when faced with situations
of ambiguity and uncertainty.
27. Consider, assess and manage potential risks when making decisions that impact
upon patients, colleagues and my organisation.
28. Participate in wider organisational initiatives that enable and promote excellence in
healthcare. 29. Recognise and successfully navigate professional and political tensions. Corporate culture and innovation
30. Relentlessly identify and support opportunities for improvement. 31. Motivate and inspire others to achieve high standards and improve services.
32. Engender and act as a role model for an organisational culture that values diversity,
learning, reflection and feedback, transparency, openness and candour. 33. Look ahead to help the organisation prepare for new challenges and innovation.
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Demonstrating your leadership skills at interview
A.1
Values assessment
This part of the assessment is based on the values of the NHS Constitution, which provide
common ground for co-operation to achieve shared aspirations, at all levels of the NHS.
For each of the behaviours listed, indicate how important you believe the skill to be in the role
of a consultant. Use the following scale:
1
Not at all
important
2
Not very important
3
Somewhat
important
4
Important
5
Very important
3
Somewhat
competent
4
Competent
5
Very competent
How competent you feel you are:
1
Not at all
competent
2
Not very
competent
Enter your responses in the colour-coded columns.
Working together for patients
Patients come first in everything we do.
34. Fully involve patients, staff, families, carers, communities, and professionals inside
and outside the NHS.
35. Put the needs of patients and communities before organisational boundaries.
36. Speak up when things go wrong.
Respect and dignity
We value every person – whether patient, their families or carers, or staff – as an individual.
37. Respect the aspirations and commitments of others, and seek to understand their
priorities, needs, abilities and limits: take what they have to say seriously.
38. Remain honest and open about our point of view and what we can and cannot do. Commitment to quality care
We earn the trust placed in us by insisting on quality and striving to get the basics of quality of
care – safety, effectiveness and patient experience – right every time.
39. Encourage and welcome feedback from patients, families, carers, staff and the
public.
40. Make effective use of feedback to improve the care we provide and build on our
successes.
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Demonstrating your leadership skills at interview
Compassion
We ensure that compassion is central to the care we provide and respond with humanity and
kindness to each person’s pain, distress, anxiety or need.
41. Search for the things we can do, however small, to give comfort and relieve
suffering.
42. Proactively find time for patients, their families and carers, as well as those I work
alongside: do not wait to be asked.
Improving lives
We strive to improve health and wellbeing and people’s experiences of the NHS.
43. Drive excellence and professionalism in everything we do – from everyday things
that make people’s lives better to clinical practice, service improvements and
innovation.
44. Recognise that we all have a part to play in making patients, our communities and
ourselves healthier: take ownership and help others to do the same.
Everyone counts
We maximise our resources for the benefit of the whole community, and make sure nobody is
excluded, discriminated against or left behind.
45. Take action to ensure the appropriate, efficient and effective use of resources –
accept that some people need more help, that difficult decisions have to be taken and
that when we waste resources we waste opportunities for others.
46. Recognise and value differences in people - make sure nobody is excluded,
discriminated against or left behind.
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Demonstrating your leadership skills at interview
Part B: Identify your strengths, development areas and evidence of
your accomplishments
Identify your strengths and areas for development
1. Go back over your questionnaire and highlight the skills you rated as “Important” or ‘Very
important” (4 or 5) and “Competent” and “Very competent” (3 and 4). These are your
potential strengths.
2. Now highlight the skills you rated as “Important” or “Very important” and “Not competent”
and “Not at all competent” (1 and 2). These are your potential development areas.
List your 3 most critical strengths and development areas below:
Strengths (specific competencies/behaviours that particularly contribute to your work
success)
1.
2.
3.
Improvement areas (specific competencies/behaviours where development would have the
most significant impact on improving your impact at work)
1.
2.
3.
List your accomplishments
This section gives you the opportunity to reflect on your strengths and demonstrate how you
meet the required standards by providing evidence from your previous experiences and roles.
For your 3 strengths, list your key accomplishments. You will have opportunity to further
refine your evidence during the workshop.
1.
2.
3.
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