Swansea University Student Leadership Academy

So, at the grand old age of 47, I decided to go to university to study for a degree in mental health nursing. Why so old I hear you cry?

Well… at the tender age of 18, I became pregnant with my first child; becoming a mum was the biggest and most important thing I had ever done, and I wanted to be the best. I remember holding my son for the first time and feeling an overwhelming sensation of love, quickly followed by fear. His whole future happiness depended on me being everything he needed me to be. I married and had another two beautiful children, daughters; I was delighted and wanted to be the very best version of myself for them too. While my children were small, my career had to take a back seat, but this did not take away from the burning ambition I always felt to become a registered mental health nurse.

I felt great pride working as a healthcare assistant with the NHS for twenty-two years, but even with all those years of experience, I had never felt like a leader. Whilst I loved my job and enjoyed working as a team, I recognised that I lacked the ability to be assertive, preferring to take a back seat and follow the natural leaders I worked alongside.

I did not doubt that I had all the attributes it takes to be a great nurse- someone who was not afraid of hard work, determined to be an advocate for my patients, caring and compassionate always; however, I felt that a leader I was not!

Soon after starting my degree, I was invited to apply to join the Student Leadership Academy (SLA); I plucked up the courage to apply and was delighted to be accepted onto the programme by the director of the SLA, Beryl Mansell. This was the beginning of an exciting and illuminating journey.

Why was I so afraid of being a leader?

I realise now that past experiences had obscured my perspective of what it takes to be a leader! I had worked with some intimidating leaders during my career where there was no room for compromise or negotiation. I never wanted to be that person, so I just presumed I was not cut out to lead.

The Student Leadership Academy was welcoming and encouraging and put a completely different spin on the type of leadership I had witnessed many times during my career. This was about encouraging leaders to demonstrate emotional intelligence, compassion and empathy, considering the views of other team members to create the best outcome for all involved. This made me think I could be a leader after all! Maybe I already was?

My learning experience at the SLA began with online conferences (due to covid 19 restrictions) where we were introduced to people who held various leadership roles within the NHS. I felt genuinely inspired by their stories of what had led them to want to become the type of leader that they had become. This was a turning point for me; I began to believe that I had all the qualities that a leader needed to be successful. The people I listened to were passionate about their work and demonstrated genuine care for their colleagues. I felt enlightened by this supportive encouragement towards colleagues to be open and honest without fear of retribution! 

I was then introduced to Mrs. Hazel Powell, a Nursing Officer in Mental Health and Learning Disabilities who became my personal coach for the rest of my time on the programme. I am so grateful to Hazel for all the understanding, support and kindness she showed me.  I was wracked with guilt for wanting to pursue a career in Nursing, as I knew it would impact my family for me to do so, particularly throughout the three years at university. By sharing her own personal experience with me, Hazel was able to give me some insight into some of the feelings I may encounter. This helped me understand that instead of thinking how selfish I am for wanting to better myself, I am demonstrating grit and determination that my young daughters can learn from, reminding them that with hard work, it is never too late to give up on your dreams.  Nothing is impossible if you want it enough!

I have now told my children to make a promise to themselves, that no matter how hard life gets, to never give up on their dreams.

And so here I am today telling you, my story; I begin the final year of my degree in just over a week, and I now feel like I am a leader. I feel empowered, but most of all proud of how far that once fearful  18-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her has come.

Judy Jones, Mental Health Nursing Student.

When I started my journey into becoming a nurse, leadership honestly never crossed my mind. The leap into a brand-new career in an industry that was completely alien to me felt like a challenge enough at the time. I remember my first day in lectures, listening intently to other students sharing the snippets of knowledge that they already had about health care, taking pages of overly detailed notes, and feeling that I would never catch up with the basics of care, let alone leading colleagues one day in the far-off future.

A few weeks into the course, we were introduced to the Swansea University Student Leadership Academy. Those first couple of weeks had totally overwhelmed me, and I knew I wanted to grasp at any opportunity to better my knowledge and improve my practice when placement started. I had never considered myself a leader, even when I had undertaken my previous degrees and had been in a steady job, and I thought the course could turn that around and improve my confidence. I sent off my application and waited, not sure what to expect.

When I was accepted onto the course, I was surprised but so pleased. I was looking forward to adding to my knowledge base and meeting other people who were going through the same transition as me. By this point, some months into our first year, I had yet to really meet the other members of my cohort as our learning was still online. Knowing that I would soon be meeting other people who I could relate to was an exciting prospect.

I was nervous on that first day. But my nerves quickly disappeared when we started the ice breaker activity and I got to know everyone. What followed was an insightful day exploring emotional intelligence and its application in nursing. Prior to this, I had no idea what emotional intelligence was and why it is so important in health care but, after making a digital poster with my peers, I came to realise it plays a huge role in practising self-regulation, being an empathetic practitioner and effectively reflecting and improving my practice. It was a big learning curve for me, but I know using it will make me a better nurse when I qualify.

The second day of the conference was equally important, teaching lessons in compassionate and authentic leadership, encouraging us to be ourselves when leading others. Learning about authentic leadership touched upon my own issues with self-confidence. I’ve never been an overly confident person and have always questioned my judgement and abilities. I have been extremely critical of myself in the past and the talks we had in the conference helped be to recognise that I should have faith in my competency. I now know that a true leader is someone who inspires others, builds their confidence, and shows empathy and compassion. By being compassionate to myself and building my own confidence, I have been able to take the first steps to becoming a leader myself.

The lesson that stuck with me the most, however, was overcoming imposter syndrome. My struggles with confidence come back into play here. When I do have successes in any part of my life, I struggle to celebrate these and often find fault in them or feel that there has been some kind of mistake. I realise success never comes without hard work and dedication, but I have such difficulty recognising I am worthy of my successes. However, the talk made me realise that imposter syndrome is a very common feeling for everyone, no matter their capabilities, and helped me to come up with my own tricks to overcome these feelings. Now I actively listen to positive feedback on placement and in my work and try not to discount it, and I try to accept that I have played a role in successes. It is an ongoing journey but one that will be worthwhile in the future.

We were so fortunate to have amazing speakers at the conference including Jason Killens, the Chief Executive Welsh Ambulance Service Trust. His talk entitled ‘My Leadership Journey’ was so insightful and gave me the understanding that leaders are born from all walks of life and that we all have individual journeys to go through to maximise our potential and be a leader. It surprised me to hear that he and others who have achieved amazing things in their field even experience imposter syndrome from time to time. It really did make me feel that I was not alone in lacking confidence.

As I’ve gone through my training and been out on clinical placement, I’ve started to recognise leadership qualities and realise that we can all be leaders. I’ve had the privilege of working with wonderfully talented individuals and within excellent multi-disciplinary teams who exhibit leadership skills including collaboration, patience, passion, self-awareness, problem-solving, empathy and trust, as well as a whole lot more. Being part of the leadership academy has helped me to identify those qualities and to bring them into my own practice.

But the main takeaway from this for me has been to have faith in myself, and to shunt that imposter syndrome to one side while I continue my journey to qualifying and getting that important registration. Starting all over again in a brand-new career was a big leap for me and joining the Leadership Academy felt like a scary jump into the unknown too. But I have learnt that with faith and confidence, I can do anything I put my mind to, and that I can take that forward into becoming a leader. We are all leaders in our own way and should use our qualities and skills to build each other up to achieve success together.

Looking back, I am beyond grateful that I sent off that application. It has been such a journey in challenging my self-esteem and confidence issues and overcoming that dreaded imposter syndrome to recognise that I can be a leader, and that I can contribute something worthwhile to the NHS.

Gemma Flynn 2nd year mental health nursing student.

Figure 1: Dragon’s Den Presentation

I still did not have a particular goal in my mind as to what or how I should achieve improving flaws or weaknesses, so I just started soaking in information during the two virtual SLA conferences, hoping for a spark of inspiration that would lead me toward something. One of my previous roles required the development of apprentices within the company, so I have always had an affinity with teaching others, even if I never regarded myself very good at it, however, two common themes throughout the conferences were that nurse leaders all need to bolster and facilitate clinical education, along with offering compassionate leadership to develop a different culture in practice which promotes compassion, caring and equitable decisions.

We were all then assigned a leadership coach to assist us through the process of navigating the obstacles of modern nursing from a seasoned veteran’s perspective with their insight and lessons of failure/success. I was lucky to have had a very helpful man who had held very senior positions within his nursing career in Wales, so he was able to provide a male perspective in a female dominated profession, along with the pitfalls he faced after being promoted to these positions. I expressed to him that I had always wanted to help people, but I never knew how to with my background, and we were able to piece together where my strengths and weaknesses laid which allowed us to develop some talking points over the three sessions we had together. These were an immense help with his input.

I felt that confidence and imposter syndrome were two things that he could assist me with, as I had done presentations and attended director meetings before, but it always took a lot of psyching myself up to get through them and even more overthinking when they were done because I never felt prepared, despite all the work I had done. He reminisced that for many years of his career, he had felt similar and that they were all things that improve with time and practice because each new role he took came with new difficulties and curve balls, so he encouraged me to try pushing myself to do handovers and then keep building from there and maybe even write and present during a multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting till I felt like I belonged more.

Figure 2: Spinning a Yarn

These simple little targets and affirmations from him helped a lot with my development in these areas, as imposter syndrome can be extremely detrimental to your personal progress if you keep living in the mindset that you are not enough or should never have been put in this position because if you always doubt yourself you will never live up to your fullest potential (Haney et al., 2018). 

Later in the year I was invited to attend a conference that the University of Plymouth were virtually hosting that would be discussing “collaboration for compassion in healthcare education”. A lot of the speakers during this event were leaders in their field of expertise and the one which stuck with me the most was about compassionate leadership, as this was presented by Professor Michael West, I had seen some talks online that he had given on the topic before. He explained it in a way that was easy to understand, and it was truly an experience to have him explain how leaders should be providing the internal structures where staff feel psychological safe, actively listen to their staff, and offer the support to develop their teams skills in the workplace (West, 2021).

Figure 3: https://twitter.com/Sonia_Sparkles/status/1586724475646754818

I feel I have a much better understanding of the difference between being a leader rather than a manager since attending the student leadership academy, and I feel infinitely more capable in my abilities while out in practice placements, as I have challenged myself outside of my comfort zone but I guess time will tell on imposter syndrome, however, I am confident that I will be able to manage that demon when it rears its ugly head.

References

Haney, T. S., Birkholz, L., & Rutledge, C. (2018). A Workshop for Addressing the Impact of the Imposter Syndrome on Clinical Nurse Specialists. Clin Nurse Spec, 32(4), 189-194. https://doi.org/10.1097/nur.0000000000000386

West, M. A. (2021). Compassionate leadership : sustaining wisdom, humanity and presence in health and social care. The Swirling Leaf Press. 

Mark Hardy Year 2 Mental Health Nursing Student

Gavin McKay – Student Paramedic (S20 BSc Paramedic Science)

The ambulance service radio suddenly alerts a high priority call. A 68-year-old male having chest pains and difficulty breathing, approximately 40 minutes away. 

So here I am, seconds after arriving on scene, a student paramedic stood amongst the patient’s family and friends. There are Community First Responders (CFR), surrounded by equipment packaging, and bystanders, so many bystanders. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is ongoing, a CFR performing chest compressions on the patient whose heart stopped (cardiac arrest) shortly following the original call. CFRs have already given a ‘shock’ using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), but this was quite some time ago and no shockable heart rhythms have been detected since. First impressions are not looking good, and now my placement mentor is looking at me, in fact he’s giving me the nod, oh crikey…it’s time to lead! 

Ok, so let’s take a step back,  it’s one thing being trained in how to manage a situation in a lecture room, and totally different to be leading it in the real world. But what is the difference between a leader and a manager, and how do you suddenly become a leader, when as a student you’ve typically been a follower…did I really become a leader, and what really is a leader? …enter the Student Leadership Academy (SLA). 

Directed by Mrs Beryl Mansel MSc ‘Swansea University’, the SLA was introduced to me during my first year of studies. A programme that was designed to cover many topics including Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Compassion, Empathy, and provision of individual coaching.

‘The programme is for individuals who aspire to lead and make a difference’

These buzzwords have a direct link to paramedicine and healthcare in general, and some of them, to a degree, I believed I already possessed. However, ‘leadership’, well leadership conjured images of people of prominence, from Nelson Mandela to Bill Gates and Churchill to Obama, to name a few. I am not aiming to be this type of leader, but a future as a paramedic meant I was very likely to have to lead at some point, and with the desire to make a difference. And so, I applied. My Swansea SLA journey had started.

The programme consisted of leadership conference days (virtual online during COVID-19), with talks by leaders in their fields, workgroups covering topics such as ‘Leading with Emotional Intelligence’, and the discussion of something that creeps into many of us older cohort members, ‘Imposter Syndrome’, a near and dear friend of mine! ‘My Leadership Journey’ by Jason Killens, Chief Executive Welsh Ambulance (NHS) Service Trust was of particular interest for obvious reasons! There were opportunities to grow social networks and contribute through Twitter @SWANSLA. A ‘Final Day’ conference (in person!) provided further talks from students who are well on their leadership journey via @150leaders, and various other leaders in their own fields. The day culminated with a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style activity, an opportunity to demonstrate your leadership skills and journey in front of the panel of guests, including Helen Thomas, Assistant Director of Leadership and Succession – Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW). A bit of fun with a serious twist and prizes!  

Throughout talks by Beryl and the speakers, many of my ideas and perceptions of what leadership is, started to change. I began to assimilate and recognise qualities in myself that continue to develop with time and experience. Confidence, competence, core values and self-belief continue to grow every day. My desire to care with compassion and empathy is not reserved for patients, but for all those that I encounter, the team, the families, the community, and my fellow students. 

‘Grit’ is also needed when faced with situations that require resilience and determination. A ‘get back up and go’ attitude when met with setbacks.

Step in my personal coach, Dr Leigh Keen (Health Board Clinical Lead – Swansea Bay University Health Board / Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust). 

Imposter syndrome can be very detrimental to ‘Grit’; however, it is common, and having Dr Keen was a great asset to my leadership journey. Through discussions surrounding strengths and weaknesses, we were able to identify that imposter syndrome was a key influencer of my self-belief. Being in my late 40’s and with a background far from healthcare, doubt is a ‘black cloud’ that can come and go, but recognition and the ability to rationalise these feelings can help to become a ‘grounded’ leader.  Through work on a development plan with appropriate actions and future goals, Imposter Syndrome could be renamed as ‘Life Experience’, and this can be very beneficial in leadership.

So, what is a leader and what is leadership?

A leader can mean many different things, to as many different people, and can come in several different styles. Throughout the SLA I have come to my own mile high view on what a leader is, and what makes good leadership. 

Think of a jigsaw, lots of tiny pieces scattered on a floor.
If I put the jigsaw together on my own it may take a long time, or I may not even be able to do it. Enlist help from another person and they may have the ability to recognise colours and patterns. Involve another person and they could recognise shapes and gaps. Bring in a team and that jigsaw could be completed with peak efficiency. Everyone stands back and smiles at the completed jigsaw. So, a team, communicating with enthusiasm and engagement is required to get the job done…but….where is the leader in all of this? Well, to me a true leader is the person who designed the jigsaw, the person who had the vision, held the big picture in their mind, saw everything laid out in front of them, while providing direction to invoke a passion, commitment, and desire from those around to embrace and partake in the evolution and completion of the jigsaw. In this team, the followers however, should have the freedom to challenge, question and suggest alternative possibilities, transforming to and from leadership as necessary, negating the need for power, and working as one. 

Sometimes in healthcare we talk about the helicopter view, not being tunnel visioned, or task focussed, seeing the whole picture, and this is required in times of good leadership. 

‘Lead, it’s time to lead’

Returning to the cardiac arrest incident, this is what was needed. There was already a proficient team assembled who quickly assumed their roles and tasks. Then, step back, visualize the big picture, make sure nothing’s missed, lead with motivation, provide support and direction, engage with compassion and empathy. 

I led, and I provided leadership, but so did the team, feeding back, offering suggestions, manipulating their pieces of the jigsaw puzzle in a bid to fill in the gaps, but the desired outcome never came, time had run out. 

‘Compassionate leadership requires courage, resilience, and belief – it requires a commitment by each person as a leader (and all staff should be considered leaders in health and social care) to be the best that they can be’ West (2021)

Following a debrief, and throughout the minutes, hours, and days following the incident, I reflected and self-evaluated my leadership. What could I have done better, what will I do next time and what knowledge could I have benefited from? 

‘Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.’- John F. Kennedy

Whatever the style of leadership, one thing that I’ve learnt which should remain at the forefront of any leadership journey is ‘why’. For me, the why are the service users, the patients, the families, the friends, and my colleagues.

Thanks to Beryl Mansel and Dr Leigh Keen as well as contributions from the guest speakers, the SLA programme has been very beneficial.

If you’re a student paramedic and have an interest in leadership, then I recommend  the book ‘Clinical leadership for paramedics’ (Blaber & Harris, 2014)

References

Blaber, A., & Harris, G. (2014). Clinical leadership for paramedics. 

West, M. A. (2021). Compassionate leadership : sustaining wisdom, humanity and presence in health and social care. The Swirling Leaf Press. 

By Claire Langwith – Student Nurse (Mental Health).

The short answer is ‘I am’. But this short answer took me a little while to realise, and this realisation was helped by the Student Leadership Academy (SLA) and its coaching scheme. 

I joined the SLA to learn more about, well, everything. I didn’t have a specific goal in mind, I just wanted to soak up as much new information I could, especially anything that could help me be a better teacher. Throughout my adult life I have gravitated to teaching, training, and helping people. But I never considered myself a ‘leader’. Many others did, but I dismissed it. It is human nature to dismiss praise and be our own worst critics. I was just good at helping people. Sure, I was caring, compassionate, adaptive to those around me and fair in decision making for the best outcome… but I wasn’t a leader. 

I’m sure many of you readers are thinking ‘well it’s obvious you are’ but I’m equally sure there are many of you who think just like me. That a leader has some magical quality that you must learn, or somehow be given, or let into a club like with a secret handshake. And I mean, what is a leader, really? 

After the first two conference days of the SLA, each of us was matched with a coach. Someone to nurture us, help us on our leadership journey and teach us what we needed to know to best excel. 

Two sessions in, my coach said it was clear to her that I was a leader, and a good one, but I just could not see it myself. I had understood everything shown so far throughout the conference, intellectually I could match the qualities I believed made a good leader to those I displayed, but my brain couldn’t make that final connection. 

Then my coach told me about a previous student and what they had done. They had messaged all their friends, family and colleagues and asked for them to tell her 3 things that they did well. She suggested I try this, and we challenged each other to do it by the next session and to see if there were any key themes that came out of the answers. 

This sounded interesting to me, to ask those around me, who knew me best, what I did well. Not in a leadership capacity specifically, but as a person. I think a lot of my inability to make this final connection between my own leadership qualities and belief in them was due to low self-esteem. This task seemed like a way to pick out some small things I did well that I could then focus on and improve.

I built up the courage to send this message, not wanting people to feel obligated to do it, or to enhance the truth; so, there were quite a few drafts of the message; but eventually I sent it and waited nervously for the replies. What if there wasn’t much? What if people didn’t reply? 

I didn’t have long to wait. Almost everybody replied within the hours, and those that didn’t, told me that they wanted time to reflect before writing as this was obviously important to me. The themes were there. Almost every person reflected that I was compassionate, that I had great communication skills, and that I was empathetic. Several even said that I was a leader. Seeing these kind, honest words, from friends and professionals was like a light switch in my mind. All those things the SLA had taught us, my skills that they had enhanced and developed, fell into place. 

I was a leader. And I was a leader because people believed I was. People saw these good qualities in me – communication, empathy, compassion, keeping calm, looking out for people, and told me to them, this made me a leader. Being a leader isn’t a hard and fast definition of just a list of qualities. It isn’t a set job role. In fact, there are several different types of leadership within literature. It isn’t something that is a tick box. It is individualised to the scenario, to the team, to the person displaying these qualities. It is flexible and personalised; and therefore, achievable by anyone. 

So, I was able to answer the question ‘Yes’. I am a leader. I want to be a leader. Sometimes I may need to work on some skills, but these are like any physical skill, it takes work. During my time with the SLA I was lucky enough to be invited to the ‘Collaboration for Compassion in Healthcare Education Conference’. This was fascinating, enlightening to experience. One topic covered by Dr Barret Michalec was I-TEAM. This is ‘The Interprofessional Training in Empathy, Affect and Mindfulness’. This development looked at the qualities that make a good leader and how, like training your body in a gym, it takes practice and dedication to improve yourself. You don’t start benching 150kg, you practice, start smaller and do it in bitesize chunks. Similarly, you are not usually the best at always being empathetic. You have to think about what you are doing, learn from mistakes and grow these skills. Some days you have bad days, and that’s okay. Dr Michalec discussed with us how these leadership skills take work and need to be trained and used to become natural.

So, the answer to the question ‘I am a Leader’ for you, the reader, is also ‘I am’. Even if you do not realise it right now, you have the qualities and the potential to be a leader. What this helped me realise is that you don’t need to be the head of the company or the ward manager, to be considered a leader. If people follow you, believe in your compassion, dedication to them and the goal, and you take on the mantle, then you are a leader.

My journey with the student leadership academy has shown me, and hopefully now you, that each person has the ability to be a leader, that these skills can be enhanced, cultivated and crafted to make everyone who has the passion to be a leader an individualised leader. I urge you to do the same as me, to message your friends and ask for 3 things you do well; you may well just be surprised by the results. 

17th May 2022

My leadership journey began when Beryl Mansel, the director of the Student Leadership Academy, promoted applications to join the Student Leadership Academy and leadership programme.

I reviewed the set criteria, and they echoed the skills I needed in my career, where the two emerging themes were communication and emotional intelligence. I had a lot of support and encouragement from my partner to pursue the course. Since I was already doing my dissertation on emotional intelligence, I felt this would provide me with a great foundation to learn from, enhance what I already knew, and grow from there. I had heard great things about the leadership academy on improving a person’s self-esteem, feeling for purpose and exploring different values. 

The first day of training was wonderful. We were all welcomed into a learning environment where everyone was on the same page with the purpose to learn about leadership. The day was focused on learning about emotional intelligence and me….. 

‘Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom’. Lao Tzu

I found this idea fascinating. How IQ was different to EQ and how we could apply it in practice. I reflected on my own set of skills to compare what I felt I needed to improve on. For example, I was able to reflect on the Emotional Intelligence abilities model by Goleman (1995), where I could review how I could perceive my emotions, regulate my emotions, understand other people’s emotions and how I could influence them. 

The second day of training focused on authentic leadership to build on our self-confidence and grit (resilience). I was able to reflect on the behaviour iceberg from the presentation. For example, the speaker said how

20% of a person’s success is based on what is normally considered general intelligence, i.e., learning, understanding, and reason (IQ). The other 80% is based on the ability to understand ourselves and interact with other people, for example, emotional intelligence (EI). If you look around, no doubt, great leaders are not the ones with the highest IQ but those with higher emotional intelligence.

I found these statistics to be mind-blowing. I reflected on the three personal qualities leaders should have: Resilience, Emotional Intelligence, Grit how we can have a combination of self-motivation and perseverance to bounce back from difficulty. The field of social work is riddled with challenges and obstacles. I knew if I needed to see myself as a leader, I would need to be consistently reflecting on my skills, qualities and abilities to support vulnerable people through difficulties. I used the Emotional Intelligence assessment by Schutte et al. (2009), where I could self-reflect on my score to see my strengths and weaknesses. It was great to the tool. 

In a nutshell, I felt that the student leadership academy provided me with a truly wonderful and a worthwhile experience. I built on my self-esteem and reflected on my skill set to improve my communication and leadership abilities. 

I would recommend the programme for any students hesitant about applying because we have all been there, in the place of ifs and buts. In the end, the most important question they should ask themselves is why not and who is going to stop me? 

Kristian Clement MSc Student Social Work 

#studentleadershipacademy

#swanseauniversity

#whynot

#whoisgoingtostopme

References

Schutte, N.S., Malouff, J.M., & Bhullar, N. (2009).  The Assessing Emotions Scale.  C. Stough, D. Saklofske & J. Parker (Eds.),  The Assessment of Emotional Intelligence.  New York: Springer Publishing, 119-135 

It seems so long ago that I sat next to the other student leaders on our first day of the Student leadership Academy leadership programme. Since that day in 2020 early March, all our lives have changed significantly, with each of us learning to navigate life in a global pandemic. COVID-19 has brought on challenges students have not yet faced before, but among all this, I believe it has created many great leaders.

My leadership journey has altered and changed dramatically over this last year, and I would love to share my reflective narrative with others. 

When the Student Leadership Academy (SLA) concept was first explained to me during a lecture, I knew I wanted to apply. Hearing the previous academy students experiences and their success in academy encouraged me to send in an application. Upon choosing my mental health nursing degree, I wanted to enter a rewarding and successful career I could progress and excel.  Being a leader in my nursing field is a goal I hope to complete, and I knew the student leadership Academy could support this.

When I started the SLA, I believed that leadership had a concrete, enduring style that required one specific skill set. This black and white thinking reinforced doubt in me; I was unsure if I could embody the leader. I came across seminars by Drew Dudley (2010), who emphasised that true leadership existing on a smaller scale. He depicts how the simple act of one reassuring another can display true leadership. This was beneficial for me as I began to see leadership as a broader concept and something I could achieve. I realised I had already started to display leadership qualities and was ready to learn more in the SLA. 

On day one of our leadership programme, we were introduced to a great variety of leaders who led in their own unique and personalised manner. Beryl Mansel, the programme director, radiated acceptance and understanding. Beryl explained to us her own unique, authentic leadership journey. This was an excellent opportunity to hear how she overcame various obstacles to reach her own goals in leadership. Beryl’s story truly reflected on how as people, we aim to bridge the gap between who we are and who we want to be. When goals are achieved, and obstacles are overcome, ultimately, we become who we strive to be (Vilhauer ,2019). 

I identified an essential quality from SLA that resonated with me.  I have always loved working towards my goals, staying busy, and completing tasks fiercely despite their difficulty. When overcoming problems in life, I did not know it was grit I was embodying. SLA depicted grit as the combination of perseverance and passion (Lee and Duckworth, 2018). My love of helping others with their mental health, combined with great determination, is what I hope to utilise to reach success. 

The task that stood out strongly during day 2 was a group personality assessment. This activity was done in the group by standing on different sides of the room with opposite personality traits. Whilst some identified themselves as an extrovert, some introverted. Some were more thinking and others were feeling. The most wonderful part of this task was to see the true range of unique people we had in the room. I did not worry that I was extroverted, feeling, judging, or sensing because this task aimed to understand who you were, not what to change. The rigid mould of leadership I had previously visualised began to break, and a new image formed. This image of leadership I left with on day 2 was individuality, compassion, and determination. 

I was aware I was an emotive person; empathy was a skill that had helped me in applying to my nursing degree and performing well in my 1^st year. We were taught about emotional intelligence, a concept that encompassed empathy, motivation, self-awareness, and self-regulation (Goleman, 1995). This theme closely led to my coaching. I had begun to feel more confident in myself as a leader, yet I struggled to identify when I physically led others. My coach set me a task to make a list of times I had led on a small or large scale. I had begun identifying more minor ways I had led, managing projects at school, leading group performances and more. My coaching sessions gave me the confidence to start working as a Healthcare support worker on the NHS bank. I was initially nervous about doing this with the amount of change, and difficulty COVID19 had created. By making this decision, I had opportunities to learn vastly on a ward I would have been fearful of working on.

When returning to the final day in July 2021, people had many stories to share after an unusual few months of change. By this time, we utilised our Twitter accounts to create meaningful posts on our leadership journey. A professional social media account to share knowledge with other leaders boosted my morale in a time of difficulty and hardship. COVID-19 had impacted how we could interact, with all communication taking place online. A combined effort from all the inspirational speakers, academy leaders and students made the online meet up a success. 

The SLA has taught me a vast amount this last year. I learnt to appreciate what leadership is,   leadership behaviours, ability and traits and the unique spectrum of leaders that exist. 

The SLA did not aim to produce ‘the leader’. Better it crafted each of us into our preferred and individualised leadership style.

Mili Robinson Mental Health Nursing Student

References

Drew Dudley (2010). Everyday Leadership. https://www.ted.com/speakers/drew_dudley

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. Why it can Matter More Than IQ. New York: Bantam Books.

“The person you’re supposed to be is you. Get better at being you and be the best you that you can be” Wisdom in Leadership, Craig Hamilton.

There are two important premises to what I’d like to share:

1. I talk to myself… a lot. Sometimes it’s out loud, but mostly it’s in my head.
2. I love people… a lot.

Having completed my first degree five years ago and having worked in various jobs, sectors, and countries in the years following, my heart finally led me to start my midwifery training. It was an exciting feeling to have found a vocation that seemed to ‘click’ with my skills and character and where I could envision investing ‘me’ for most of my working life. I took my first step into a role where I could enthusiastically empower, compassionately care for, and wholeheartedly advocate for women and their families. When the opportunity to be part of the Student Leadership Academy (SLA) arose then, I thought to myself (or should I say, said to myself) –

“Naomi, this would be a big challenge, but maybe it’ll be worth it.”

I should be clear – I’m not a ‘career person. I’m not here to make as much money as possible or get to the most senior position or have the office with the comfiest desk chair (although comfy chairs are always good). I just love people! I love seeing people thrive in life and their work when they discover a new skill or build their confidence because someone was willing to take the time to teach or facilitate them, encourage or support them, or just give them a chance! I think back to one of my managers before I started my midwifery training – she was a quietly courageous and strong woman with the most incredible ability to see people’s strengths and help them to discover this for themselves. And she created a team where people were thriving because everyone was reaching and even exceeding their potential. That’s why I wanted to take part in the SLA – not because I felt I had much to offer, quite the opposite in fact, but because I have a firm conviction that each person is inherently unique and has something wonderful to offer the world. And I’d love to facilitate others discovering that about themselves.

On arriving at the first day of the SLA conference, I looked around to see a room full of people, everyone looking so colourful and confident, and I thought, 

“Naomi, what are you doing? This was a very silly idea. You’re not good enough for this.” 

In hindsight, behind the smiles and chats and colour, I think everyone in the room was probably feeling the same nerves. As I listened to the leadership journeys from various people within the NHS and/or healthcare roles, I noticed that at some point, they all mentioned themes relating to understanding themselves, figuring out their strengths and weaknesses, becoming more self-aware etc. This made me uncomfortable – I love celebrating other people’s strengths, but I don’t really have any of my own.

“Oh, bother! Naomi, you’ve been found out!”

As part of the SLA, I had the most wonderful opportunity to be coached by the Director of the Royal College of Midwives, Helen Rogers. Helen very insightfully ‘hit the nerve’ within a short time of us talking, and I had to confess that I had very few strengths but a list of weaknesses that would take months to recite. As Helen and I talked through this, I came to the realisation that my logic was utterly flawed: I thought everyone was unique and had something wonderful to offer the world except me.

“Naomi?! Are you that illogical?”

Slowly, through the SLA and coaching sessions, I have begun to realise (and must be reminded frequently) that I don’t have to be perfect. I can’t be! And that’s not the aim! As I’ve networked with leaders within midwifery, none have claimed perfection, but all have been able to sit comfortably with themselves, so to speak, recognising and building upon their strengths in order to lead well in their particular role. In his book, Wisdom in Leadership, Craig Hamilton highlights that for many of us, we are “fixated on trying to eliminate our weaknesses”. Hamilton, however, flips this on its head – “You have the most potential for growth in your areas of strength”. Leadership, then, is about knowing your strengths – developing them, building on them – for the benefit of others. It’s also about acknowledging your weaknesses so that you can celebrate others’ strengths. This, Hamilton concludes, cultivates interdependence. It’s not about having a leader plus everyone else. It’s about building a cohesive, interdependent network of people who use their strengths to ‘fill the gaps where others are weak. In this way, everyone’s strengths are celebrated and built upon.

As my participation in the SLA draws to a close, I look back and see it as my first baby steps in leadership. Not steps ‘upwards’ towards a high-flying, senior position with a comfy desk chair (but as I said, I wouldn’t mind the comfortable chair). But in wanting to empower and facilitate others’ strengths, I’ve begun the challenging adventure of understanding myself better. It’s very early days, and the ‘Naomi’ in my head still gets frustrated quite often and is good at reminding me of that long list of weaknesses, but I’m learning…

“Naomi, celebrate your strengths, don’t get hung up on your weakness”.

Naomi Dixon, Student Midwife.

Reference

Hamilton, C. (2015). Wisdom in leadership: The how and why of leading the people you serve. Sydney: Matthias Med.

Having never been in a leadership position, I never considered myself a leader or understood leadership. The Swansea University Student Leadership Academy taught me to look at leadership in a different light and helped me identify leadership qualities I never knew I had.

During the first two days of speakers and activities, there was a table full of little boxes, each with the name of the attendees. 

We were encouraged to anonymously write compliments on little post-it notes and drop them in the feedback – box of the person they were intended for. At the end of the two days, the box was yours to take home and see what sort of impression you’d made on others. I was pleasantly surprised with my feedback, and a few stood out. 

Someone said I was creative. That’s a new one. I’m terrible at art! A few said I was inspiring a good listener and put people at ease, a lovely thing to hear when all I’d tried to do was be myself and get along with everyone. My favourite one, though, just said c@%kwomble. I knew who sent this and that they meant it in the nicest possible way! Joking aside, it was a great way to see how you come across and hit home that our perceptions are not always the same as how we are perceived. 

This helped me identify some good leadership qualities, but what to do with them and lead was something I was struggling with. I needed to discover my leadership style.

I think my stumbling block was the idea that leadership only came from people in a position of authority. Being a student, how was I supposed to be a leader in a world full of “grown-ups” with years more experience and knowledge? Along with the days at the academy and meetings with my coach, the concept of leadership with a “little l” helped me see past this. Leadership is not all about making the big decisions and telling people what to do, leadership is about enabling people to be the best they can be, and anyone can be a leader in this sense. 

While out on placement with the Welsh Ambulance Service, I’ve noticed that there are unofficial leaders all over the place. They have not been given an extra role but are held in such high esteem by colleagues that whenever someone needs advice or guidance, these people are the ones they turn to. This got me thinking, what do these people have in common?

Along with being very good at their jobs, the thing that stood out was that they always seem to have time for everyone, time to talk and more importantly, time to listen. This showed me a real-life example of compassionate leadership, a recurring theme discussed at the academy, and highlighted leadership’s role with a “little l”. These leaders may not directly influence how the organisation is run, but through their high standards of work and compassion for others, their influence is felt by those around them and inspires people to be better. I’d like to be this kind of leader.

So, I’d identified some of my leadership qualities and had an idea of how I’d like to use them, but what about when things don’t go to plan?

Well, again, the academy had the answer…Grit, Resilience and Reflection. The leaders who took the time to speak to us had all, at some point, come through some form of failure or adversity. The grit and resilience to get to where they are today was truly inspirational and made me think about how we approach difficult times and situations. It’s ok to feel uncomfortable, it makes you think on your feet and often brings out the best in you, and if things don’t turn out the way you expected, by reflecting on your actions and decisions, you can learn from them, so you’re better placed to succeed next time. 

 There’s a big emphasis on reflection in the ambulance service, and this has been something which my coach has helped me with. Reflecting on situations I’ve encountered in practice has helped me identify areas to improve on and where my strengths lie. I’ve tried to take this with me into practice by reflecting with my mentors and colleagues, emphasising where we have done well in the hope of reinforcing good practice while discussing things we would do differently if faced with a similar situation. I will use this for the rest of my life to develop my clinical and leadership skills.

I hope this little blog has given an insight into how the academy has helped me understand leadership. There’s so much more to learn about what makes a good leader (I haven’t even mentioned emotional intelligence) and the different leadership styles. The best way to discover yours is to get involved!

I’d like to finish by thanking all the students who started their journey at the same time as me. The diversity of our tribe goes to show that leaders are not made from a specific mould. They are made of all sorts with different strengths and weaknesses that complement each other. This is our strength!

Thank you, Beryl, for being the one who has enabled us to discover and develop our leadership skills.  

Luke Williams, Paramedic Science Student

My leadership journey started when Beryl Mansel, Director of the Student Leadership Academy and Ed Harry, Advanced Paramedic Practitioner, came to the Paramedic Suite and briefly talked on the importance of leadership and promoted applications to join the academy. Initially, I did not think this would be something for me as I can be pretty reserved and not very forthcoming, and so the word ‘leadership’ was a big no. Later on, I went home and spoke to my partner about this. It was only then that I realised that this leadership course might be a good thing for me, especially considering the programme I was studying (Paramedic science). I needed to push myself a bit more and move out of my comfort zone regardless if I liked it or not. I applied for the leadership course a few days later, after being honest in my application form, stating that:

“I have not come from a healthcare background, so this is all very new to me, but I am loving it and am happy that I have chosen this career. I would like to learn how to be more confident in the things I do and be more confident in myself and the decisions I make.’’

I knew deep down that this leadership academy would be beneficial to me in improving my self-confidence. The idea of meeting new people on other healthcare courses was exciting and not something that would have happened if I had not have made this journey. A couple of weeks later, I had the notification to say I had been accepted into the programme, and I couldn’t have been more pleased. Yes, I was a bit apprehensive but also excited too.

It was now Monday, March 9th, and the first of three days set out by Beryl (two in March and one in July). I was welcomed with smiles, and I felt like I could approach anyone who was in there. Our names had been added to specific tables, and we had to meet new people, which I thought was a great idea. 

Emotional Intelligence was something we spoke about on the first day. I had heard about this but did not understand it, but it turns out, it is pretty essential and plays a big part in our everyday lives. Below is a poster made by myself and my peers, showing what Emotional Intelligence is. Knowing what I know now from this session, I can say that it will help me not just in my chosen career as a Paramedic but in my everyday life. It has enabled me to communicate more effectively and better understand my own emotions and deal with them in certain situations.

The afternoon consisted of inspiring speakers and exciting subjects. One subject that had the students mainly engaged was ‘Knowing Others is Intelligence, Knowing Yourself is True Wisdom – Using MBTI to Understand Difference.’ My MBTI preference was ISFJ – The Nurturer, which, when reading its meaning, shows lots of similarities to myself and what I want to do in my life, e.g. serving others.

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

On my second day, some of the topics covered were Authentic Leadership by building your self-confidence and Grit & Resilience, which I never really thought of before I did this programme. To be a leader, it isn’t just to tell someone what to do or to boss someone around. It means much more. A leader is someone who is inspiring to others, who shows compassion towards others and is someone who builds confidence in others. I found the Authentic Leadership talk very useful to myself and the job I will soon be undertaking. I need to be the one others see as confident in their decision-making abilities and convince others to do something. Once qualified as a paramedic, it will be my responsibility to have future paramedic students work with me, and it will be up to me to teach them everything I know. I want to be seen as a leader and be confident in the information and skills I transfer to them.

Throughout the two days, we were urged to write little notes about our peers in the room and pop them in their feedback box placed at the back of the room. These notes generally consisted of inspiring quotes and positive feedback. I was so surprised to read my notes and appreciate the people who took the time to do that. It was a great end to two days and made me feel great and boosted my confidence even more. It was nice to see that the guys were listening to you when you spoke, as one of my notes read, 

“You will pass your ambulance driving, I know you can do it”, 

and thankfully I did.

Now that the two days had finished, we were informed by Beryl who our Leadership coach was going to be. I was delighted to be matched with a Senior Paramedic. Usually, we would meet our coaches face-to-face and understand what we wanted out of this journey. Unfortunately, the world was hit with the Pandemic, and it affected every one of us. This meant that our meetings would now be online over ‘zoom’, a word we can never forget!! Although this was not ideal, it was as best we could get, so we made it work. My meeting with my coach was excellent, and although a bit awkward at first, we soon chatted freely. I discussed why I was doing this programme, what I wanted to get out of it and indicated issues that I thought needed to be worked upon. In return, he gave me great ideas and things to overcome some of the concerns I had going into my future career and complete the paramedic programme. My coach was a great listener and gave me ideas and ways to help me, being ‘Applied positive Psychology’. I focused on this extensively. I was advised to focus on the successful things that had happened during the day instead of consuming too much time on what did not happen.

Our final day was July 6^th 2020, and this was done via, yes, you guessed it, ZOOM. Although it wasn’t the same, it was still great to see the other students and have a great day online. Again, the speakers made available to us were excellent, especially Jason Killens, Chief Executive of WAST, who, for me, was so exciting to hear from as I am going into the same area of work. His journey was fantastic to listen to, and I am even more excited to start my career as a Newly Qualified Paramedic.

My Leadership Journey has been incredible, and I am so pleased that I encouraged myself to apply for it. Everyone made such a colossal effort and gave their time to make it work. I would advise anyone thinking of applying for the Student Leadership Programme in future to do so! 

Kristina Thomas, Paramedic Science Student.