As doctors our training focuses on clinical skills, yet sooner or later we all find ourselves in a position of being a team leader. In this episode, Declan tells me that leadership is a different set of skills, and one that can be learnt and developed. A mindset of listening, asking questions, and being open to try things is important, and modelling psychological safety through acknowledging uncertainties is key to creating an environment where others feel safe to belong and speak up. I love his idea that leadership is something that can move around the team depending on what is needed and what expertise team members have. Perhaps a key insight is noticing what's going on in the team, what it is that the team needs, and asking how things could be better.
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Dr. Declan Woods is a ‘top team’ Psychologist and Professor of Leadership Practice at King's College London (KCL) who specialises in working with boards and leadership teams in international blue-chip corporations and public sector bodies. He has significant experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors and with the NHS. He is the founding CEO of teamGenie, an international venture specialising in designing, coaching, and developing teams with the mission of transforming organisations through teams (see teamgenie.com). Declan used his expertise and research on teams to create the award-winning diagnostic tool, teamSalient, to help teams radically improve their impact (see teamsalient.com). Declan is the world’s first team Master Coach accredited with the Association for Coaching (AC), and a Chartered and HCPC-registered Psychologist. Declan created the global industry standard for team coaching (see associationforcoaching.com/page/TCADetails) and previously co-authored and launched coaching’s global code of ethics (globalcodeofethics.org) signed by the world's leading coaching and mentoring bodies and companies. He was made a lifetime Fellow of the Association for Coaching (AC) for this work raising standards of coaching in organisations globally.
Listen at https://matdaniel.net/podcast/; https://open.spotify.com/show/1j8uLaUU1g5bYTRVuwUX7j?si=672ec26a73164d7f; https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/doctors-at-work/id1701284564; or watch on www.youtube.com/@dr-coach/videos.
Production: Shot by Polachek
You can find out more about Mat's coaching to help doctors create successful and meaningful careers at www.MatDaniel.net.
