Black Leadership Awareness Day - A conversation with Yemisi Gibbons | Trust news

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Black Leadership Awareness Day - A conversation with Yemisi Gibbons

Today is Black Leaders Awareness Day. Yemisi Gibbons, our Trust Chair shares her thoughts on the importance of a diverse and inclusive senior leadership team and how we’re planning to promote equality within the Trust.


Why is diversity important on a senior leadership level?

Diversity at leadership level needs to reflect and represent diversity within the workforce. So from the floor to the board, there needs to be a synergy. Generally, diversity brings an added richness to an organisation because it allows for different perspectives to be heard, understood and incorporated when decision making is undertaken.

I think it should be mandated as there are organisational benefits including staff wellbeing and workforce management, improving efficiency and productivity and there is a beneficial financial argument for diversity in terms of staff wellbeing.  

 

What more needs to be done to promote equality at CHS?

At CHS we are at the start of our cultural transformation programme which will focus on embedding the Trust values, compassionate leadership and tolerance, respect and acceptance of each other.

I'm absolutely passionate about this cultural transformation programme and believe there are so many benefits to having and promoting equality within the workforce. I strongly believe that Croydon has to be an organisation where everybody has a voice and they feel heard.

I am hopeful, that cultural change is the foundation for tackling all the other challenges that we have whether that be operational, workforce or financial challenges, challenges to improve our patient experience, quality of service and our commitment to help reduce health inequality in our community. If we can get that right, in getting the right culture, then I think we can also achieve all other things.

It's very important to me that we are committed to delivering the programme in an authentic and systematic way to ensure sustainability and make Croydon a great place to work.

 

Is there a black leader that you admire?

There is not one black leader that I admire, there are loads of black leaders that I admire in different fields, because they are all inspirational in their own individual right. I have taken on their courage and their leadership and their humility to develop my type of leadership.

So whether you look in the area of science, academics or sports and people who have excelled there, to looking in the area of healthcare within the NHS, there are many black leaders I admire across these industries. There are people like Doreen Lawrence, who I admire that out of adversity, she has fought for a cause, conducted herself with grace and humility and has become an inspirational leader.

Black leaders who are unsung heroes and people don't know their names, but they work in the background and they advance their cause. Whatever that’s helping to raise awareness, fighting for justice or helping to improve the lives of others there are too many names to mention, but I gain inspiration from each and every one of them in a different way.

 

What advice would you give to black staff that want to apply for senior roles within the NHS?

I would say first of all, it's about networking. It's about developing soft skills and talking to people, not only within your teams but outside. Information is incredibly valuable, you need to know what's going on in the organisation and what opportunities are available. This means thinking outside the box and pushing yourself outside of your boundaries. It's about being assertive and asking to take on more responsibility and tasks.

Once you've done that, you might even apply for an interim role or step up in one capacity or another. Crucially, you then need to document your skills and your knowledge that you have acquired. I find that's where many people go wrong. We step up into roles, but we're not able to evidence the skills and competencies acquired.

I call this the master CV rule. You need a master CV where you literally put all your achievements, all your success, all the new skills that you've acquired. So therefore that when you then need to recall it, it’s all available to you. Don’t wait until you’re applying for a substantive role before you start trying to recall what additional attributes and competencies you have. If you’re not updating your CV every six months, you're missing a trick.

Skills and experiences are transferable, just because you're doing them in one role doesn't mean you can't transfer them to another role. When thinking of networking element I mentioned earlier, you should start talking to people about their career progression, what pearls of wisdom they can offer, then you start to accumulate nuggets of information that might help you see your career from a different perspective or give your ideas you previously were not aware of.

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