An Introduction to Leading with Kindness and Compassion in Health and Social Care (FutureLearn)

It is designed to introduce you to some foundational ideas around leadership, kindness, and compassion. You’ll also explore why these qualities matter now more than ever, and how you can develop your personal practice of kind and compassionate leadership.
Understand why kindness and compassion matter

With so many overlapping pressures facing the health and social care system, and the inequities that many groups continue to experience, kindness and compassion can be qualities that are hard to practice and sustain.

Research has shown a compelling link between compassion in leadership and staff wellbeing, team performance, and better outcomes for patients and service users. The NHS People Plan even recognises compassion as a national priority.
Recognise what kind and compassionate leadership looks like

As well as deepening your understanding and knowledge of leadership in the health and care system, this course will also help you develop your own practice of kind and compassionate leadership.

You’ll hear from leaders and experts from across the health and care system and explore some practical ways that you can both develop a compassionate mindset and cultivate kindness and compassion in your relationships with others.
Learn from experts in health and social care from The King’s Fund

Established in 1897, The King’s Fund is an independent charitable organisation working to improve health and care in England.

They have a recognised and established history of leadership development within the UK’s health and social care sectors, and you’ll be learning from experts in these fields throughout.

Syllabus

Week 1

What does it mean to lead with kindness and compassion?

Week 2

Why lead with kindness and compassion?

Week 3

How do I lead with kindness and compassion?

Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

- a personal practice of kind and compassionate leadership

- with the evidence around why kindness and compassion is important for improving outcomes, staff wellbeing and performance and inclusive organisational cultures

- on your own leadership behaviours and the behaviours you see around you in the workplace

- simple and every day techniques to model self-compassion and kindness towards others

- the wider systemic issues that prevent kindness and compassion from being present in health and care

- the different ways in which we define the concepts of leadership, kindness and compassion

Who is the course for?

This course is primarily suited to:

- People working in health and social care, regardless of sector, role or seniority.

- Leaders in the NHS, local government, independent and voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.

- Learners who are thinking about working within the health and social care system

- Patients, service users and carers who use the health and social care system