Transformation for the future through trust

Another day has gone by at the Help the Hospices conference giving me more to think about. Faith Mwangi-Powell gave us a personal insight into strategic alliances and all the pitfalls and positives along the way. A key theme was trust in each other at personal and organisational levels. In the end the partners will share the risks and rewards of joint ventures; this links to Tim Harford's words of yesterday about taking risks - the small bet. Tim reminded us it was ok to make mistakes so long as we made good mistakes from which learning can take place. Faith echoed this saying we can make mistakes but we must learn not to repeat mistakes; either way we will benefit as organisations as well individuals.
Cooperation was a theme from Tom Hughes-Hallett (Marie Curie) and Julia Palca (Macmillan) - I was not so convinced that Macmillan get the importance of seeing other's viewpoint; Tom was honest and open inviting us to question and involve others in order that we can go on doing good things for our patients.

Inbetween these sessions was an absorbing workshop on personal mastery in leadership by Sally Watson and Jeff Jackson. It focused on the notion that our past is the most important resource in terms of recognising our leadership style and practice. We were encouraged to look back and share in confidence then consider how important it is to let go, and listen to what we can discover by removing the blocks we may have. (This is my simplified version of their slimmed down version of what they use so may not be completely accurate). Once we have done that we can discover new solutions that we can act on.
I felt it left us in place where we would have to trust ourselves; they argued by trusting ourselves and being ourselves we will be aware of the impact we have on others and lead to transforming the situations we face as leaders. 
Then the senior nurse managers met over lunchtime to look at ways to support and network amongst our peers; it is essential for the future, and there were encouraging signs of willingness to participate.

So a day of transformation - in reality and with potential to transform the future.