Perry Judd, TPCH Director of Allied Health
The People and Culture team recently had an opportunity to speak with Perry about his leadership and becoming the TPCH Director of Allied Health in Metro North Health.
In your context, as the TPCH Director of Allied Health, what is good leadership?
For me, good leadership first and foremost is about being authentic. An authentic leader is able to build trust and rapport with employees, colleagues and superiors so that we can work together effectively, deal openly and honestly with the issues and challenges, move forward collaboratively with solutions and create a shared vision for the future. Allied Health has an important and complex role to play in the hospital and healthcare system and relationships are key to our successful partnerships across, and integration with, clinical programs and professional groups. Therefore, it’s imperative for those relationships to be founded on an authentic leadership style and the genuine desire to deliver the values of putting people first and patient centred care.
Where did your leadership journey begin? Was leadership something that you actively pursued?
My leadership journey began after I had the opportunity to lead a small project for the Redcliffe Hospital Physio department where I worked as a senior clinician in 2007. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the process of developing a plan, engaging stakeholders, leading and implementing change and being able to see the positive benefits of delivering a successful end to end process improvement. I subsequently sought out more project secondments and eventually had the opportunity to backfill a community health Team Leader role for a year. Being able to lead a team allowed me to realise that I derived great professional satisfaction from providing a positive working culture and productive environment for my staff. I liked the idea that I could have much greater impact on the patient outcomes and experience by doing this, than by me seeing individual patients.
How do you enable others in your team to be leaders and display leadership without having a formal authority?
I would like to think that I provide a safe space for others to practice and demonstrate leadership. Every role in the organisation has leadership elements, and everyone from our Clinical Assistants and HP3 new graduates to our team leaders and discipline directors should be given opportunities to lead, and to grow that confidence through experience. I’m also explicit about having permission to fail, and learn from mistakes without judgement. The best ideas often come from situations where we tried something that didn’t work, and most positive change happens iteratively through incremental improvement. Encouraging open communication where everybody’s opinion and perspective is heard, also allows team members to safely come forward. Often this allows them to demonstrate their strengths and focus their areas of interest, which can be leveraged in providing leadership opportunities.
Can you share your views on how does leadership development benefit the individual, the team, and the organisation?
Leadership skills can definitely be learned. Whilst good leaders possess certain values, being able to articulate them into a vision, effectively negotiate and influence, understand emotional triggers and identify personality traits and communication styles in others are all important skills that can be supported through leadership development. An effective team will have an understanding of what makes them effective, by respecting each other’s roles and leveraging each other’s strengths. The organisation ultimately benefits through the collective wisdom and culture that leadership development can provide, and it also demonstrates that we value staff by providing opportunities for growth and development, and support for clinicians and staff to pursue leadership roles at all levels of the organisation. I think that a healthcare organisation that can genuinely grow its own talent will ultimately be a better place to work.