Alumni newsletter - August 2024
This page contains all the latest news and updates from this summer’s alumni newsletter.
Continue below to hear about Professor Nikhil Vasdev and the future of AI, the success of our Clinical Champions at the Royal Surrey, leadership styles and sign up to our Alumni Event!
Join us for our 2025 Alumni Event!
Following an enjoyable first Alumni Event in March, the Improvement Programmes Team are bringing it back for 2025!
Mark your calendars for Friday 9 May and get ready to join us for an inspirational experience.
This time around, the theme, ‘Thriving Through Change’, promises to deliver even more inspiring and engaging sessions.
The Improvement Programmes Team will be hosting a day of interactive activities, leadership theories and insights from our Prostate Cancer UK colleagues, who’ll be sharing their experiences of leading improvement in a new political space.
Don't miss this opportunity to reconnect and learn with our alumni community!
We look forward to welcoming you and making the 2025 event even more inspiring.
Congratulations Professor Nikhil Vasdev!
We’d like to congratulate Professor Nikhil Vasdev for his recent certification as an NHS AI Champion! Clinical Champion alumni and Clinical Advisory Group member Prof Vasdev has been spearheading trailblazing work in implementing AI in urology and oncology with the aim of supporting MRI in diagnosis and in robotic prostatectomy nerve sparing surgery plannings.
While AI is still a very novel technology in healthcare, we strongly believe it has the potential to deliver significant benefits to the prostate cancer diagnostic pathway and we’re very excited to see how Nikhil’s work in this space develops.
Clinical Champions project shortlisted for Nursing Times Award!
We're proud to announce that Clinical Champion Maria Innes and the Royal Surrey CNS Team have been shortlisted for the ‘Sustainability in Nursing and Midwifery’ category. This nomination is a result of the hard work of Clinical Champion graduate, Wissam Abou-Chedid, who implemented a self-removal of catheters after RARP project as part of his time on the Clinical Champions Programme. His project supported and taught men how to remove a catheter at home, preventing the need to return to hospital at increased cost, time and distress for the patient.
Together, the team at the Royal Surrey has seen its hard work transform the experience for nearly 700 men, contributing to economic and environmental gains for the Trust.
We're unbelievably proud of both Champions and the whole team at the Royal Surrey who are driving transformational change in prostate cancer care.
The team will find out in October if they’ve won, and we’re wishing them lots of luck!
What type of leader should I be?
Throughout our programmes you'll have learnt a lot about leadership styles, from host to hero and servant to strategic. But which one should you be? The answer, according to author and psychologist Daniel Goleman, is to be more than one by switching up your style depending on the situation.
With this, Goleman identified six leadership styles that are based on different combinations of emotional intelligence. He also identified some examples of when it’s best to use these styles.
This style demands compliance, makes all the decisions and maintains close control.
When should I use this? When you need to make decisions quickly, if you’re in a crisis, to kick-start change or when dealing with conflict.
However, it can also lead to micro-management, fear, high staff turnover and low engagement.
This style mobilises people towards a vision. They set the long-term pathway, understand the big picture and strategic vision, and are adept at communicating it. This style requires powerful communication skills and helps bring people together.
When should I use this? At initial stages when proposing change.
As with the Commanding/Coercive Leadership style, this should not be overused as too much can lead to inattention to short-term operational activities.
This style focuses more on relationships and people. It works on a system of feedback, recognition and rewards.
When should I use this? When looking to heal rifts in a team or when motivating people during difficult circumstances.
Whilst this is a great style to build trust and emotional support with your team, when used as the only style of leadership it could lead to a fear of conflict and a lack of productivity due to the focus on friendships rather than leadership.
This style builds consensus through participation, empowering the team to play a full part in the decision-making process, and encouraging creativity and team commitment.
When should I use this? When needing buy-in or building consensus for a project. This can, however, be a slow style when quick decisions are needed.
The pacesetting leader expects excellence and self-direction and focuses on performance and results. They lead by example, expecting the team to overachieve together.
When should I use this? Useful in getting quick results from highly motivated and competent teams but can be exhausting when overused and may lead to burnout.
As the name would suggest, this style coaches their team members to develop themselves. It creates strong connections between the goals of the organisation and the individual.
When should I use this? When looking to help an employee improve their performance or develop long-term strengths. You may eventually nurture them to become coaching leaders themselves.
Find out more about our bursaries!
Apply for one of our education bursaries to develop your knowledge of prostate disease and prostate cancer. Our bursary scheme supports individuals looking to develop their own expertise and organisations wanting to provide training for their health professional staff.
