How to support your small but mighty team | Professional development ideas for 2020

As a business owner running a project management and business consultancy supporting Training Hubs, Primary Care Networks and GP Federations, I have big ambitions. I know the only way to achieve these ambitions is to build and develop my team, create an amazing place to work and deliver the best we can to our clients.

Without a solid team by my side, it would be just me running around like a headless chicken, stressed and constantly dropping the ball.

However, whether you are the Founder, CEO, Project Manager, Clinical Director or Administrator, we are all in a position to identify our strengths, celebrate achievements and look for areas to improve.

While I do not claim to have it all figured out, I thought I would share what we are doing behind the scenes to grow a small but mighty team of 6 (including me) as this may give you some ideas.

And just to clarify, we already have a great team, but 2020 is about taking us all to a higher level.

The Team

1. From January 2020, the team will have monthly protected learning time sessions to support their professional development just like our general practice clients. This half-day will be taken away from the office and yes, they will of course be paid for this time. In the other half of this day, we will come together and share what we have been learning, reading, reflecting on or building.

2. The team have been encouraged to write out their own professional development goals and I will do all I can to support these.

3. Each role has a competency framework which we work through in our regular 1-2-1’s.

4. We are building an easy to access repository of learning resources which have been collected over the years to support our professional development.

5. We have monthly team meetings and regular check in’s to ensure we remain on the same page and iron out any issues.

Leadership Support

• I have invested in a business coach and incubator programme to help me create, build and sustain a solid infrastructure. All the lessons I learn here get passed on to my clients.

• I am planning on going back to University in the new year to keep building on and enhancing my change management and network leadership skills. There is always something new to learn.

• Evening dog walks and gym sessions are accompanied by leadership and business audio books and podcasts.

• I write a blog and host a podcast which also supports the professional development of my team, and myself too.

I would also like to share that doing this is expensive, time-consuming and a risk because team members may leave, BUT, I can't really afford not too if we want to achieve our goals. Luckily for me, while running a team is really hard (that’s why I have a coach!), I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. 😊

Whether you are running a business, managing a department, leading a network or delivering a project, have you developed your professional plan for 2020?

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Tara Humphrey is the founder of THC Primary Care, a leading healthcare consultancy specialising in workforce transformation and the host of the Business of Healthcare Podcast.

Tara and her team also work with GP federations supporting the implementation of clinical services.

Tara has over 20 years of project management and business development experience across the private and public sector and has an MBA in Leadership and Management in Healthcare, is published in the London Journal of Primary Care and is the author of over 150 blogs.

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