Chief Executive’s Message – Friday 4 March
March 4, 2022
Whether you are waiting to start your shift, taking a comfort break, or one of your patients hasn’t shown up for your clinic, please use two minutes to help shape our values
This week I’d like to talk about values. What do I mean by “values”? I’ve used a dictionary definition here so as to help us all understand what we mean by the term when we use it:
“Values are principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important in life” – in other words – the way we conduct ourselves with colleagues, with our service users. The standards of behaviour which we hold dear and against which we should hold ourselves to account.
This week we launched an important part of the work we are doing to develop a new, refreshed set of Trust values. Once developed, the Trust Values will replace our 9 Trust Promises, so they have a real importance to how we develop our way of working and acting as individuals, and as a Trust team as a whole. This campaign is aimed to engage all of us in a quick poll to help shape a list of values that we will all have an opportunity to vote on as we distil our thinking. Many of you have already taken part in workshops to share your views about the Trust and its values and there will be further focused sessions for staff to contribute to. This part of the values development process is where every single one of us has a say.
It will take two minutes to contribute…so whether you are waiting to start your shift, taking a comfort break, or one of your patients hasn’t shown up for your clinic, please use two minutes to answer three quick questions by following this link.
The values are the next important stage of delivering our Trust’s new strategy, that was approved by the Board at the start of February. The strategy will start to become more real and visible within the Trust and externally over the next few weeks. It is the bedrock on which our plans and priorities are built and will direct our activities over the next five years. The values are the “how”. Our values will define our organisation, help create a culture where we can all thrive, be comfortable speaking up, be genuinely inclusive and grow and foster great experiences for our patients and ourselves, as colleagues.
Please take just two minutes before 25 March so that our values can be truly shaped by us all.
I’d also like to follow up on the message we sent to staff last week, acknowledging the impact the concerning events in Ukraine may be having on many of us. A few colleagues have been in touch with me and others, wanting to know how practically we may be able to help, beyond the obvious hands of support we can offer to colleagues who are directly or indirectly impacted by the first major conflict on European soil we have seen since World War II. The emerging theme has been how we might offer practical assistance such as medical supplies or equipment and do so in a safe and coordinated way. What we cannot do is allow a knee jerk response which is potentially both well intended and doesn’t achieve anything. Therefore, I have started to have discussions with colleagues across the Black Country system about how we might take a system-wide approach to this. The tragedy we see in front of us will be enduring for some time, I fear. So we will take a bit of time to conduct our response correctly. I will provide clarity on this in the coming weeks.