Steve Onyett
Steve Onyett is a senior development consultant with the South West Development Centre.
HSJ KnowledgeEngaging hearts and minds in the face of criticism: the new leadership challenges
The new challenges facing leadership in the NHS are being accompanied by increased confusion and criticism. Steve Onyett examines two key themes in social movement that could liberate leaders from the fear of failure.
CommentTeam survival in troubled times
In the NHS’s rush to do more with less there is an inevitable temptation to merge teams, or broaden the remit of existing teams. If clarity of aims - the core requirement for effective team working - is sacrificed, inefficiencies result.
HSJ KnowledgeNHS leadership in troubled times
Steve Onyett describes five principles for leadership in troubled times, but warns that initiatives are meaningless if they don’t bring about improvement
HSJ KnowledgeHow to increase NHS leadership capacity
Steve Onyett and colleagues explain how to use solution focused coaching to increase leadership capacity
CommentSteve Onyett on leading the NHS for alignment
An earlier column explored the first two of the Department of Health’s change principles for the NHS: co-production and “subsidiarity”. Both seek to get people working together to effect change by enabling them to fully exercise their power and authority.
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Steve Onyett on healthcare reform
To describe the underpinning principles of the new Department of Health approach to change, health secretary Alan Johnson and NHS chief executive David Nicholson use the terms co-production, subsidiarity, clinical ownership and leadership, and system alignment.
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Steve Onyett on NHS interdependence
It is not unusual to find teams and their managers entangled in a cruel bind. Senior management conveys the absolute requirement to increase caseload sizes to meet an activity target.
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Steve Onyett on loosening central control
The sociologist Lipsky coined the term 'street level bureaucracy' to highlight the fact that you can't force people to work effectively on something they disagree with.
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Steve Onyett on medical leadership
The Darzi review has shed new light on the challenge of letting go of central control. The idea that staff can be clinicians, partners and leaders is an engaging way of conveying that leadership needs to be widely dispersed.
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Steve Onyett on NHS complexity
One of the biggest challenges in conveying the profound implications of complexity theory is its name. What could be less appealing to busy staff?
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Steve Onyett on transformational leadership
Picture the scene. Two clinical teams have received disappointing performance assessments. In each team, a senior manager brings the team members and their line manager together for an action planning workshop.
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Steve Onyett on Paxman's pants
While "pants" is a term of derision in the vernacular of youth, Jeremy Paxman's exchange last month with Marks & Spencer chief executive Sir Stuart Rose has done the men of our nation a service by highlighting the importance of being supported in all the right places.