Picture of Leadership
Please provide us with a picture of yourself
Question: Tell us about your current role (please provide your job title) and what you enjoy most about it?
Answer: I’m currently the Interim CFO at GESH group (St. George’s and Epsom & St. Helier University Hospital and Health Group) in South West London. I enjoy influencing continuous improvement across the organisation and working to develop the finance team.
Question: Can you describe your career story?
Answer: I qualified as an Accountant at Ernst & Young (EY) working in the financial sector e.g. insurance. I wanted a change and a recruitment consultant suggested the NHS and Monitor (previously the NHS Foundation Trust regulator). I applied for a role there and it was a significant change moving from insurance to the NHS, which took a while to adapt to. Monitor was a great place to start a career in the NHS as you got a high level overview over a lot of organisations with a steep learning curve.
I then moved into financial improvement within the organisation. A lot of my career choices were driven by wanting flexible working, particularly part time working when my children were young. After my second child was born I came back part-time as a financial improvement team member, working on secondment to trusts to help them deliver recovery plans e.g. I worked as a Financial Improvement Director at Basildon.
I then worked at Lewisham & Greenwich as the Interim Deputy CFO for 2-3 years, working on efficiencies and cost improvements part time. This role made me realise I wanted to do a senior role at a Trust while prioritising my family life therefore I needed to be within my local patch (South West London). With that in mind, I took the opportunity within the London region team at NHS England to cover the South West London patch, which built my relationships across the patch so that when the GESH group was put together I applied for the site CFO role at Epsom. I didn’t feel ready but I seized the opportunity. The job was everything I thought it would be in terms of the challenge and pace of work (I have now moved to full time).
Question: Were there any role models who gave you a sense of what it is to be a leader or helped you on your journey?
Answer: There are always people who I aspired to be like and you learn from so many people. I am particularly keen on the people who remove barriers for female leaders and supported the flexible working agenda – Jason Dorsett was key in supporting this for me.
Question: What are the top 3 attributes you value most in a leader?
Answer: Being fair, consistent and having inspirational energy.
Question: What barriers have you faced in your career and how did you overcome them?
Answer: Lack of flexibility has been one of the main barriers. This was initially quite a challenge, and Jason supported myself and a colleague set up a job share arrangement – if I hadn’t been offered that, I would have left the NHS. I am so thankful to the people who supported that.
Question: How have you balanced the competing needs of a modern leadership role? How would you define a modern leadership role (e.g. what skills are required)?
Answer: You’ve got to be good at your job and the area of expertise that you’ve got to lead on. You have to motivate your team and ensure that you’ve got the right people around you. Knowing when to push harder issues and when to take off the pressure. Empathy towards team members is important.
Question 6. The theme for International Women’s Day this year is #GiveToGain – How are you giving to gain on gender equity?
Answer: I’d like to thing that my story of my career progression is a real example to others. I think those who know me can see that me and my husband really share responsibility (alongside his senior career outside the NHS).
Question 7. What advice would you give to finance staff in furthering their careers and becoming leaders?
Answer: Having a passion for the work you are doing, and doing the best at every task you are given. I have always taken roles I find interesting and it’s important to find a path that allows progression and support as you’ll then go the extra mile as that will be most satisfying in the long run.
Question 9: have you been interviewed/does your organisation interview explicitly use a value-based approach below executive level?
Answer: Interviews are becoming more values focused and this has changed over the last ten years, and as you get more senior, the interviews are more values based.
Question 10. What do you enjoy doing outside of the working week?
Answer: I like running (ran Surrey half marathon last year for Epsom & St. Helier charity), and I spend a lot of time watching my children play rugby, cricket, football; and my husband plays cricket as well.