Guest blog by Chris Rhodes
I’m an accidental leader. My occupational health career began with sixteen enjoyable years as an OH adviser, with no line management responsibility, working across a variety of contracts. I was always the employee who was happy to travel, to pick up something new, challenging, or a little 'different'. I selfishly enjoyed being responsible only for my own practice and fully expected that this would continue right through to retirement.
The opportunity to progress came while working with a media client. It was not the line management aspect that appealed, but rather the chance to better understand the commercial aspects of a contract and to have influence on quality. Like many OH colleagues, I experienced the shock of an overnight transition into management. Predictable 9–5 working hours quickly morphed into urgent early morning and late evening calls and texts. My previously busy inbox of 10 emails a day could quickly be counted in the hundreds.
What I had not anticipated was the buzz that came with having visibility of parts of the organisation I had not really known existed while I was focused solely on my own clinical diary. I think most of us enjoy being useful, and I found it genuinely empowering to support teams such as business development and governance, areas that had previously felt quite distant from my role.
Leadership is a privilege, and I am drawn to the concept of servant leadership, which is reflected throughout the SOM Leadership Competency Framework. The framework provides a ‘stop and think’ tool, encouraging reflection not only on meeting the day to day needs of organisations, staff, and clients, but also on looking ahead, particularly in fostering the pipeline of future OH leaders. The SOM Leadership Academy specifically looks for skills in health professionals that will not only support them to develop but are also important building blocks to progress within our organisation and the wider field of OH.
Not all organisations are, of course, clinically led, and are free to adopt their own leadership styles and structures. However, the Framework’s emphasis on visible clinical and technical excellence strongly resonates with me. There is real value in being managed by someone who understands the day to day challenges of clinical practice, someone who can support not just employment and wellbeing needs, but also provide informed advice when situations are complex or require escalation.
This does not mean that a leader must be an expert in every service line their team delivers. Rather, the ability to ‘pitch in’ when needed is part of our organisational culture. All clinical leaders should remain clinically active, to help maintain credibility, empathy, and trust.
Finally, the framework recognises that leadership is not confined to job titles. When I reflect on those who have inspired me over the past thirty years in occupational health, it is often clinicians who have demonstrated exemplary practice, challenged conventional thinking, or suggested innovation. Leadership, in my experience, is as much about influence and example as it is about role or hierarchy.
Chris Rhodes is Chief Nursing Officer at Health Partners.