Bringing people together through shared purpose and identity: lessons learnt from NHS Providers CEO Sir Julian Hartley.

INTRODUCTION: The healthcare sector is facing increased demand with reduced resources, yet despite these challenges, leaders such as NHS Providers CEO Sir Julian Hartley have created cultures where the workforce can realise shared values, through a focus on staff engagement. This article describes Julian's journey, through the eyes of a doctor-in-training working in an organisation he has led, to understand what we can learn from his approach to leadership. NARRATIVE: As a manager, Julian saw how many different people it takes to make the NHS work, and decided the role of an NHS leader was to bring people together, through a strong sense of shared purpose and identity. As CEO of Trusts in Blackpool and Leeds, he put this focus on staff engagement into practice to great success. Julian then introduced lean methods that flourished in the culture he had created, and when external factors such as COVID-19 began to erode that culture, returned to refresh that underpinning shared purpose. REFLECTION: Julian has developed a toolkit of behaviours and approaches, refined through experience and reflection, to help him elucidate and bring to life both the values and goals of the workforce. Because he shares these values, he has been able to lead with authenticity, creating engaged workforces, empowered to drive continuous improvement. We can reflect on Julian's approach as leaders ourselves: how can we align the values and visions of our staff, and ensure they are empowered to realise both?

Engaging staff 'The Leeds Way'.

Giving the keynote presentation on the first day of this year's Healthcare Estates conference, Julian Hartley, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, discussed some of his key experiences and learnings since he began his NHS career as a management trainee in north-east England. Subsequently describing a momentous first year in post as CEO at the Leeds Trust, he stressed the importance of 'engaging staff' in the quest to improve patient services, and highlighted the vital role that estates and facilities personnel play, both in maintaining a clean, safe, and high quality care environment, and supporting their Board and management colleagues in dealing with the media, regulators, and other external organisations, following 'crisis' events. He also explained the five key tenets which underpin 'The Leeds Way'--a recently implemented approach to optimizing patient care, managing staff, and indeed improving every aspect of the way that a large acute NHS Trust operates.