I’ve spent the last few years leading projects that weren’t supposed to succeed.
A national-scale postgraduate learning platform built from scratch (PGVLE.co.uk), now scaled to over 60,000 NHS users with potential to support the whole NHS. A digital strategy born not in a boardroom, but in the mess of frontline clinical practice. Now I am working on surgical department to restructure it with clarity, alignment, and collegiality.
None of these things came from a steering group. They came from focus, from facilitation—and, crucially, from not being micromanaged.
If you know, you know.
When I’m Facilitated, I Deliver. And When I Facilitate Others, They Do Too.
I’ve led teams through transformation—both the kind that earns headlines and the kind that only those on the ground notice. What unites these successes isn’t bravado. It’s breathing space. Freedom to build. Freedom to iterate. Freedom to fail fast, and succeed quietly.
Take PGVLE. It was born from necessity and scaled through trust. When execs and national stakeholders allowed it to evolve—when they provided cover rather than commentary—it flew. That wasn’t luck. It was leadership through facilitation.
And this isn’t just my story. Throughout my journey—from fellowships in leadership to operational roles as a Clinical Director—one truth has become clear: when people are enabled rather than managed, they outperform expectations. Every time.
The Irony of Control: You Get Less of What You Want
In the NHS, we often fall into the trap of over-securing. More meetings. More sign-offs. More “alignment.” But when those controls become ends in themselves, innovation suffocates.
You can trace the fingerprints of this in many stalled initiatives. Including some we both know. Sometimes, things didn’t go wrong—they just weren’t allowed to go right.
This is not about being rebellious. It’s about being effective. And if my track record has proven anything, it’s that I don’t need oversight—I need oxygen. That’s not ego. It’s pattern recognition.
Fellowships Taught Me to Look Upstream
My time on formal leadership fellowships gave me the frameworks and networks. But the real lesson was this: sustainable change comes not from wielding power, but from sharing it. Facilitation is leverage. It’s the hidden muscle of every great team.
So when I lead—be it a new digital rollout, a consultant job planning reset, or the transformation of fracture care pathways—I don’t assume command. I build conditions. I look for blockers. I move clutter out of people’s way.
And yes, when I’m allowed the same—when execs facilitate rather than intervene—I do my best work. Every. Single. Time.
A Quiet Ask
So, this isn’t a pitch. There’s no ask for budget or permission here.
Just a quiet observation: sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do as a senior leader is to back off. Let the doers do. Let the track record speak. Let the work breathe.
We know the value of governance. But we also know its shadow when misapplied. I’ve built entire systems without it, and rebuilt broken ones because of it.
When the work is working—don’t slow it down.
Let it run.
Bravo 👏