The value of bullet-proof hair and hairspray

Many of us did hilarious and cringe-worthy things with our hair in the 80s.

And I'm no exception.

Yes, this is me, with the bullet-proof hair in this photo. When I fished it out to use in my introduction to the vision and values workshop this week, my daughter joked that it demonstrated I valued hairspray above everything!

I used this photo to kick off the workshop as a way of sharing what has shaped some of my personal values.

Some of you will know, I dropped out of university after finding out I was pregnant which was a total shock as my husband was recovering from cancer and had been told he couldn't have children.  So, when I look at this family picture, it reflects the strong values of hopefulness and optimism I hold; that life can bring you wonderful things even when you least expect them.

It also reflects my value of determination (or as my husband occasionally refers to it - stubbornness!), because I did manage to return to university as a mature student and completed my degree. It was tough, but if you work hard enough for something you want, it is possible, even if it takes a bit longer than you thought.  And given that I am still married to my hubby, I could throw in loyalty as another value close to my heart.

There's also resourcefulness, as it’s clear from the photo I cut my children's fringes to save money (which they have never forgiven me for). And finally, surely sharing this photo of our amazingly bad hair cuts demonstrates openness and bravery!

You'll each have your own values shaped by your experiences and lives. But we spend a lot of time in work, so it's important we have values for our organisation; and that those values resonate with all of us. Our values should inspire and guide us.  Values determine our behaviour, which determines our culture, which determines our outcomes. It's why they are so important to get right.

So, that was what this first workshop focused on, as we wanted to test the work we've done to develop new values, as well as look at the behaviours that we'd like to see in order to bring these to life.

We're giving some thought as to what to do with our existing CARES values. Its recognised that these work well as guiding principles for clinical teams. But we want our new values to be more distinctive and really able to guide all of our interactions; not only with the people we serve, but with each other and with our other partners.

We'll be sharing our new values of course, once we have assimilated everything from the workshop this week and another that is taking place next week. We're also doing some testing of the values with service users and carers, as it’s critical they have an opportunity to shape them as well.

There was great energy, ideas and input in the first workshop this week. We had people attending whose experience, in terms of NHS service, ranged from 40 years to four months, which was great as a richness of different views is so valuable.

It's mental health awareness week and so it was appropriate that we also spent some time at the workshop talking about our future strategy, as we shift our focus more to mental health and learning disabilities in the future.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to come and for sharing your views. I look forward to another engaging session next week.

For those of you who haven’t been able to come, don’t worry; we will find a way of sharing the work, and I will give an update on the development of our strategy in a future blog.

Best wishes,
Claire