#283 Messiness in Management With Tara Humphrey & Audrey Songhurst

Audrey Songhurst is an established manager and leader, most recently working as the Head of Operations at Kent Innovation and Enterprise at the University of Kent. Audrey has served as owner, manager, and consultant with her consulting firm, Audrey Songhurst Consulting, and worked at Canterbury Christ Church University for eighteen years, with over a decade as director of the Research and Enterprise Development Centre. Audrey earned a Doctorate of Education and a Master of Arts from Canterbury Christ Church University and is also an alumna of the University of Kent.

Audrey joins me today to discuss leadership philosophies that can help you build high-performance teams as well as insight into her managerial approach. She highlights why you should view your team members as individual human beings, not just resources, and the importance of ensuring that every employee fits into the team dynamic as a whole. Audrey offers advice to line managers and business leaders who want to work with their organisations more effectively, and shares why professionalism, integrity, and genuinely caring about your team are such essential components of management.

"A manager is only as good as their team." - Audrey Songhurst

This week on The Business of Healthcare:

• Insight into Audrey's professional background and her journey to where she is today
• Audrey's team management strategy and how she balances formal and informal approaches and processes
• Audrey's belief in the value of education and people
• The importance of creating space between the manager and the managed
• What people tend to expect from their managers and why you should be open and accessible to your team
• What each team member needs to know in order to thrive in their role
• Why team members need to know the "why" behind their role
• The fundamental importance of caring about your team members
• Why ups and downs occur in a team dynamic and how to move towards more upswings
• The importance of understanding your specific team dynamic and genuinely listening to your team
• The importance of wording things effectively as a manager
• Why some team members may want to stay in their role and not move into a higher-level managerial position
• Advice for business leaders and managers who want to build high-performing teams
• The importance of honesty, professionalism, integrity, and empathy
• Shifting your mindset when it comes to letting people go
• Why having effective policies and procedures in place is crucial

Resources Mentioned

• Simon Sinek

Work with THC Primary Care

I'm Tara Humphrey and I'm the founder of THC Primary Care, a leading healthcare consultancy. I provide project and network management to Primary Care Networks and consulting support to clinical leads. To date, I've worked with 11 Training Hubs and supported over 120 Primary Care Networks and 3 GP Federations. I understand and appreciate the complexity of healthcare and what it takes to deliver projects across multiple practices.

I have over 20 years of project management and business development experience across the private and public sector and have an MBA in Leadership and Management in Healthcare. I'm also published in the London Journal of Primary Care and the author of over 250 blogs.

For more weekly insights and advice sign up to my newsletter.

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