Organisational culture

Our work on NHS culture, compassionate and collective leadership and change management

Transformational change in health and care: reports from the field

We interviewed 42 people who were involved in leading, supporting, delivering, receiving or witnessing transformational change. Our report shares their experiences and reflections.

Leadership development courses: Programmes to support you at all stages of your leadership journey

Our leadership development courses support leaders in health and care.

Caring to change: how compassionate leadership can stimulate innovation in health care

This paper looks at compassion as a core cultural value of the NHS and how compassionate leadership results in a working environment that encourages people to find new and improved ways of doing things.

Organisational development: helping your organisation be fit for purpose, fit for the future

Unlike other consulting approaches, OD at The King’s Fund starts from the premise that the experts in addressing these issues are the people who face them every day.

Staff engagement: Six building blocks for harnessing the creativity and enthusiasm of NHS staff

This paper encourages NHS boards and other leaders to focus on staff engagement and suggests six building blocks for ensuring a highly engaged workforce.

Implementing the NHS five year forward view: Aligning policies with the plan

Our report calls for fundamental changes to how health services are commissioned, paid for and regulated to deliver the vision of the NHS five year forward view.

To hear and be heard: will whistleblowing achieve culture change?

Sir Robert Francis has published a new report on the need to support staff who speak out about poor-quality care. But how can we create cultures in which it becomes possible to hear and be heard without resorting to whistleblowing?

Three challenges and a big uncertainty for the NHS in 2015

The NHS faces three major challenges in 2015: preparing for the spending review, achieving much closer integration of health and social care, and ensuring that the NHS has the leadership in place to deliver the highest possible standards of care within available resources.

Has Dalton found a way forward for struggling organisations?

Encouraging leaders to take on new responsibilities will be challenging at a time when financial pain is driving many organisations to focus inwards rather than outwards, says Chris Naylor.

Heather Tierney-Moore: creating a narrative for cultural change

Heather Tierney-Moore speaking at the transforming patient and staff experience conference on 5 November 2014.

Exploring CQC’s well-led domain: How can boards ensure a positive organisational culture?

The CQC’s inspections focus on five key lines of enquiry as part of its ‘well-led’ domain. This paper sets out what boards can do in these five areas and draws on examples of good practice in leadership and culture in health care.

Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence

What impact can feeling silenced and disempowered have on staff and the way they treat their patients?

Creating change from within

Dr Tracey Batten, Chief Executive of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, reflects on the challenges of working in two very different health care systems and tells us how she thinks we can reform the NHS from within.

System leadership: Lessons and learning from AQuA's Integrated Care Discovery Communities

This paper seeks to identify the skills, knowledge and behaviours required of new system leaders and to learn from AQuA's Integrated Care Discovery Communities, which are attempting to combine strong organisational leadership with collaborative system-level leadership approaches.

NHS leadership: to err is human, to stay still is unforgivable

In terms of collectively redesigning services to improve patient care, is the most caring form of leadership to allow staff the space to explore and err, as long as certain safeguards are in place?

The ups and downs on the road to health service improvement

Parallels between the successful transformation of the Veterans Health Administration in the United States and the changes needed in the NHS in England have been made for a number of years. But recent troubles at the VA offer some important lessons for the NHS in the future.

Leadership – values, mind-set and behaviours: Leadership lecture series

Enable more NHS organisations to become mutuals and devolve decision-making, says independent review

An independent review for the government has concluded that more NHS organisations should be encouraged to become public service mutuals.

A staff-led NHS? Improving patient care by engaging staff and devolving decision-making

In his new blog, Chris Ham discusses the recommendations of his review of staff engagement in the NHS. The review found compelling evidence that NHS organisations with high levels of staff engagement – where staff are strongly committed to their work and involved in decision-making – deliver better quality care.

Chris Ham: staff engagement and empowerment in the NHS

Chris Ham presents the findings of his review of staff engagement and empowerment in NHS organisations for the government.

Future leaders need to lead people not organisations

Relationships and people, not skills and authority derived from powers of office, are what’s important, says Mandip Kaur as she reflects on the responses we received during our Twitter debates on some of the challenges facing emerging clinical leaders.

Future organisational models for the NHS: Perspectives for the Dalton review

Ahead of the Dalton review, which is examining ways to encourage the best providers to support those that are struggling, our paper with the Foundation Trust Network explores some of the organisational models that providers could use to meet their current strategic and financial challenges.

Dalton review: Good leadership will determine the best models for change

There are a range of models being explored by the Dalton review to improve NHS provider models in future. Health care management is complex and mulifaceted, so needs to successfully meet varying local health needs, argue Chris Ham and Chris Hopson.

We need to see a new era of leadership for the NHS

Are the days of the heroic pace-setting leadership of the NHS really behind us? Sarah Massie reflects on discussions at this year's NHS Confederation conference.

Staff engagement and wellbeing reading list

A selected list of references held by The King's Fund library.

Workforce and skills: Our work on staffing and training across the NHS, health and care