“I have worked alongside Ken in a leadership development capacity for many years where he has supported Board members across the public and voluntary sectors in Wales. Ken has significant knowledge, skills and experience which he shares with absolute humility and compassion helping those he engages with to give of their best. Ken truly models the way, and the public service in Wales are all the better for having had this experience.”
“I have had the privilege of being coached by Ken for 5 years. Ken combines his considerable senior leadership experience and remarkable skills to provide invaluable insights. Supportive and good humoured in delivery, I have no doubt that my time with Ken has aided me in my appointment as CEO.”
“As a chairman working with Ken has been very helpful supporting a more strategic focus on the organisation and its delivery of care for local populations. Participating with the CEO in the Two at the top programme has allowed us to to clarify our different roles in a very challenging environment.”
“Ken combines a wealth of 'real world' leadership experience with a deep understanding of the health sector and outstanding coaching and facilitation skills to offer something which in my experience is unique in consultancy terms. He is not one of those people who"'borrows your watch and tells you the time" . He very subtly and very skilfully enables you to find pragmatic solutions to your own issues and challenges - whether they be personal, team based or corporate - and provides you with the confidence and motivation to address them in a realistic and pragmatic way which delivers tangible results. On top of all that, he's a genuinely nice and highly principled man who is very easy to do business with.”
“Ken is an outstanding coach who brings a wealth of experience and complements this with insight and intellect. Having worked with Ken for over 10 years I can say that quite simply, my coaching relationship with Ken has been career defining and I would not be where I am today without his guidance and support. Beyond these skills, Ken's single greatest strength lies in his values and his commitment to compassionate leadership. Ken represents all that is great about NHS leaders and his ability to develop that in others is an exceptional talent.”
“I have been working with Ken for about three and a half years, during which time I have moved into a board level post and then to Chief Executive. The experience and wisdom I have been able to draw upon from Ken in both dealing with challenges and developing my own personal leadership style has been invaluable. I have particularly appreciated his ability to broaden my perspectives beyond my own views at the time, and the conversations we've had together have helped shape me into a leader with a much greater concept of seeing problems through different lenses.”
“One of my colleagues once described Ken as an 'NHS leadership guru' and having experienced his wisdom and professional guidance at first hand, I would say that is a fair and fully justified description.”
“I have worked with Ken both 1-1 and together with my Chair and would recommend him without hesitation. Ken brings a wealth of expertise and experience, combined with a calm and considered wisdom. I am the CEO of one of the largest organisations in the NHS, working in a highly complex environment with multiple stakeholders. Ken's advice and help have been invaluable, as has his humour and positive approach to the challenges of health care.”
“Over the past four years, Ken Jarrold has become the Board's 'go to' person when we have needed external support to develop our most senior leaders or to facilitate mission critical corporate governance improvement initiatives. As an underperforming NHS Trust embarking on a significant transformational change and performance improvement programme, his contribution in enabling us to bring out the best in our people and teams has been considerable and highly impactive. I have also worked closely with him at a national level where he has been helping to develop collaborative leadership skills across agencies at Board level.”
I'm reading a book…
My book is a slender volume, only 89 pages. It's a friendly looking book. A cover in baby-blue and yellow, the colour of a custard tart. Two hands join to form a heart shape... clever.
In fact that's a good word to sum up this book. It's clever. Engaging and deceptively simple.
It starts with the story of a hole in an office carpet. That sets the tone and style of the book.
The anecdote of the carpet unfolds into a human story and the writer tells us what he learned from the experience.
By implication, there is a lesson and questions for all of us.
There are 40 questions in the book, ranging from 'having a realistic view of human nature' to 'are you true to yourself'.... that's a tough one to answer truthfully.
The writer is NHS icon, Ken Jarrold a manager for nearly 40 years, twenty of them as a chief executive and three as Director of Human Resources. He knows a thing or two does Ken and in his book, he passes on his experiences, good and bad... for us to learn from.
He tells of a time when hospitals were run by superintendents and pre-op patients were shaved by a drunken barber!
Ken learned his listening and people skills when beer was warm and vicars still had bicycles.
However, here's the point;
...we may drink ice cold lager and vicars drive cars, but every message in this book, every idea, every full-stop and comma is as relevant today as it was when Argentina invaded the Falklands, Jimmy Connors won Wimbledon and the NHS was trying to figure out what to do about AIDS.
The book shops have shelves of management books. Amazon must have a million. There is no shortage of people impressing us how they changed this, did that and turned nothing into something. Self publicists telling us how stupid we are.
This book and Ken are not like that. He asks;
'What are your definitions of leadership and management and do your definitions help you to grow as a leader and manager?'
That is such a tough question. Fortunately, Ken is on hand to help us find the answer. Get that bit; 'help us find the answer'. Not tell us the answer.
This book is no management bugle. Ken reveals himself and the personal and professional pressures that boiled over in the stress of his own life. How he dealt with them and how we can avoid them.
He tells us;
'... listening can transform lives.'
How true that is.
Leadership and management is about getting the best out of people, helping them to fulfil their potential. You can't do that unless you can walk in other people's shoes.
That's the clever title of the book; Other People's Shoes.”
— Roy Lilley’s review of Other people’s Shoes in nhsManagers 3rd October 2018
My book is a slender volume, only 89 pages. It's a friendly looking book. A cover in baby-blue and yellow, the colour of a custard tart. Two hands join to form a heart shape... clever.
In fact that's a good word to sum up this book. It's clever. Engaging and deceptively simple.
It starts with the story of a hole in an office carpet. That sets the tone and style of the book.
The anecdote of the carpet unfolds into a human story and the writer tells us what he learned from the experience.
By implication, there is a lesson and questions for all of us.
There are 40 questions in the book, ranging from 'having a realistic view of human nature' to 'are you true to yourself'.... that's a tough one to answer truthfully.
The writer is NHS icon, Ken Jarrold a manager for nearly 40 years, twenty of them as a chief executive and three as Director of Human Resources. He knows a thing or two does Ken and in his book, he passes on his experiences, good and bad... for us to learn from.
He tells of a time when hospitals were run by superintendents and pre-op patients were shaved by a drunken barber!
Ken learned his listening and people skills when beer was warm and vicars still had bicycles.
However, here's the point;
...we may drink ice cold lager and vicars drive cars, but every message in this book, every idea, every full-stop and comma is as relevant today as it was when Argentina invaded the Falklands, Jimmy Connors won Wimbledon and the NHS was trying to figure out what to do about AIDS.
The book shops have shelves of management books. Amazon must have a million. There is no shortage of people impressing us how they changed this, did that and turned nothing into something. Self publicists telling us how stupid we are.
This book and Ken are not like that. He asks;
'What are your definitions of leadership and management and do your definitions help you to grow as a leader and manager?'
That is such a tough question. Fortunately, Ken is on hand to help us find the answer. Get that bit; 'help us find the answer'. Not tell us the answer.
This book is no management bugle. Ken reveals himself and the personal and professional pressures that boiled over in the stress of his own life. How he dealt with them and how we can avoid them.
He tells us;
'... listening can transform lives.'
How true that is.
Leadership and management is about getting the best out of people, helping them to fulfil their potential. You can't do that unless you can walk in other people's shoes.
That's the clever title of the book; Other People's Shoes.”
— Roy Lilley’s review of Other people’s Shoes in nhsManagers 3rd October 2018