Leadership Coach
Addenbrookes Hospital

Jane R

00:00:03 My name is Jane R and I’m Leadership Coach at Cambridge University Hospitals, Addenbrookes Hospital. My role is around organisational development. Everyday language – organisational development is making things better, doing the best that we possibly can,. And that usually involves the people who are providing that care. We know what’s wrong with the service that we provide, and all we need is someone to ask us – what do you need to do to change it to make it better?

00:00:35 My career has followed a few steps, so it wasn’t a leap straight over to leadership – being a leadership coach. It was a gradual thing, each step took me to a different place, and then the next step followed naturally on from that.

00:00:51 Well I always wanted to be a nurse, and at school I knew I was going to be a nurse, so I think I probably got a big tick next to Jane’s name around careers advice, she wants to be a nurse. I think the caring side of nursing appealed to me, and I thought I would be a good nurse. And I could do that. And I went to Edinburgh University and I did a Nursing Studies degree, which was quite unusual at that time. Then I became involved in clinical audit, which is about looking at the care that we do provide, and comparing it to research and best practice to see how it compares. And then making changes if we need to.

00:01:28 And then moved into the service improvement team, around improving the care that they provide for patients. So although I’m not providing clinical care myself now, I still see the patient at the end of everything that I do.

00:01:46 The thing that motivated me into being a nurse was helping people and working with people. And that still remains here. I like to work independently, project management, I’m very organised. I have to be organised, I’ve got two small boys.

00:02:05 The job that I have fits in with my work/life balance with my family life. While I’m at work I’m completely committed to work, but I have got a life outside work. For me it’s been fantastic to be able to carry on working and have a family, and not feel too guilty about either part of my life.

00:02:27 There’ve been lots of high points. Getting into nursing school, qualifying as a nurse, qualifying as a midwife, delivering the first baby on my own as a – you know, as a qualified midwife. Having work published in journals and presenting at conferences to spread the word about what we’re doing here to help other people. Loads – lots and lots of high points.

00:02:51 The advantages of working in the NHS are that there are lots of different opportunities, and lots of different ways of finding out about the NHS. You can get temporary work in the bank and try out working in different departments to get a feel of what it’s really like to work in a hospital and the different types of jobs that are available.

00:03:14 If I’d been fixed here I would still be a midwife, which might be fine, but I think it probably wasn’t for me. I’m not saying that everyone wants to change their career halfway through, but keep your eyes open and progress is made, we would want progress to be made.

00:03:32 My career has taught me to try and be positive. It isn’t always easy to be positive and think we can do something, I could do something about that. But what my career has taught me is that we should try.

00:03:46 ENDS