Retention Charter action 4.3

Action 4.3: Support and develop managerial skills for all psychiatrists.

Action 4.3 is part of Domain 4 of the RCPsych's Retention Charter for employers - which relates to developing medical leadership.

What stage is your organisation at?

Use this maturity matrix to assess what stage your organisation is at, in terms of Action 4.3.

  • Educational activities relating to medical management and managerial skills are incorporated into existing leadership training and development programmes within the organisation, including local teaching.
  • The organisation ensures that doctors are equipped with the knowledge and skills to deal with issues relating to employment legislation, inappropriate workplace behaviours (including bullying, harassment, and discrimination), conflict resolution, and maintaining patient safety and professional standards.
  • Awareness of the organisation being part of the wider ecosystem of healthcare is included in leadership development training.
  • Doctors of all grades are taught about basic finances and economics of healthcare and involved in decision-making relating to the use and allocation of resources within their teams, departments, and wider organisation.

  • The development of managerial skills for doctors is enabled through action learning sets, case studies, project work, and other practical educational and training activities outside of generic teaching.
  • Doctors of all grades are involved in efforts to measure, review, and improve clinical performance, such as through the completion of audit and quality improvement projects.
  • Clear mechanisms exist to collate feedback and celebrate good practice relating to doctors’ experiences of managerial processes and their own managerial skills.

  • Senior medical leadership roles within the organisation include a focus on patient safety and quality in addition to representing and managing doctors.
  • Healthcare organisations partner with academic institutions to support the development of managerial skills amongst clinical staff.
  • Psychiatrists are supported to develop skills relating to assessing cost effectiveness, commissioning healthcare services and interventions, and understanding the economic implications of decision making.
  • Values based and ethical decision making is promoted as an integral part of leadership and management training/development.

Advice and recommendations

  • Provide doctors with relevant learning resources, information, and policies relating to good medical practice, employment legislation, appropriate/inappropriate workplace behaviours (e.g. bullying, harassment, and discrimination), meaningful equity, diversity and inclusion, conflict resolution, the patient safety incident response framework, and maintaining high professional standards (MHPS).
  • Provide specific training about supporting employees experiencing issues of bullying, harassment, discrimination, ill health, those requiring reasonable workplace adjustments, and those involved in incident investigations and/or investigations by professional regulators.
  • Develop the skills of doctors in providing direct and honest feedback to others, building radical candour and promoting appreciation of positive workplace behaviours.
  • Promote and advertise practical opportunities for doctors to test out and develop their managerial skills, under appropriate supervision where required, such as opportunities to lead clinical audits and quality improvement projects, participation in action learning sets, chairing meetings, and other project work.
  • Encourage clinical supervisors and mentors to support the development of managerial skills amongst their supervisees/mentees.
  • Foster trusting relationships between employees and managers, ensuring that people feel valued and listened to by promoting regular meetings and engagement in feedback processes.
  • Ensure access to regular 360-degree feedback for people in managerial roles to help identify their strengths and areas for further development. Supplement this feedback from colleagues with data relating to managerial performance, such as team productivity measures and budget control. 
  • Build networks with local institutions offering leadership and management training and skills development courses such as local Universities/business schools. 
  • Develop relationships with clinical leaders and managers from other professional disciplines and non-clinical colleagues.

Links and resources

  • The RCPsych Dean’s Grand Rounds help to bridge the gap between evidence-practice by promoting a quality improvement approach. These sessions start with a problem, question, or opportunity for change and proceed by discussing the relevant evidence-base and current practice, culminating in the considering how quality improvement principles can be applied to address the problem, question, or opportunity. This could be a useful format to be applied to local teaching programmes.
  • NHS England offers e-learning modules to develop knowledge relating to a broad range of medical leadership and management topics.
  • The King’s Fund have produced an online article which explains the process of commissioning in the National Health Service.
  • NHS Employers have developed a ‘People Performance Management Toolkit’ which provides practical advice and support on how to deal with management situations effectively.
  • The NHS Confederation Mental Health Medical Directors Forum allows medical directors to come together, share experiences, provide/receive peer support, and amplify their voices.
  • The RCPsych has a network for Directors of Medical Education. Please contact dme@rcpsych.ac.uk for further information.
  • GMC guidance to help set up local mentoring schemes.
  • The RCPsych offers a multi-source assessment tool for Consultant and SAS Psychiatrists called ‘ACP 360’. Further information about this system and costs are available on the website.
  • The NHS Leadership academy also offers a 360-degree-feedback-tool which is designed to give insight into other people’s perceptions of one’s leadership abilities and behaviour. 
  • The RCPsych has a webpage dedicated to coaching and mentoring.