Compassionate Leadership: Sustaining Wisdom, Humanity and Presence in Health and Social Care

by Michael A. West

Swirling Leaf Press (publisher) price on Amazon are fixed as UK £15, €20+country tax, Amazon.com $22US, Canada $26, Australia $31.80+sales tax, Amazon Japan Yen2400+tax

Those who work in health and social care give inspiring support for the health, happiness and well-being of all – communities, societies and nations. Yet their workplaces often harm their own health and well-being, affecting care quality, motivation, patient satisfaction and corroding cultures of compassion.

In these pages, an evidence-based approach to transforming the leadership and cultures of health and social care teams and organisations is described. Practical, powerful and compelling, it describes a strategy based on the core human value of compassion, showing that by sustaining that value in health and social care, we can cultivate wisdom, humanity, presence and high-quality in health and care services. Supplemented with practical resources, case examples and searching questions for discussion, it offers a simple, radical and powerfully effective strategy for change.

It is a call for leaders to nurture compassion within themselves and across health and social care institutions, to support healthier and happier institutions and communities. It challenges leaders at every level to have the courage and authenticity to embody compassion in their leadership now and for the long-term future.

Genres: Nonfiction

340 pages, Paperback

Published July 2, 2021

About the author

Michael A. West, Ph.D. (1977), CBE, is Professor of Organizational Psychology at Lancaster University Management School and Emeritus Professor of Organizational Psychology and Director of Research at Aston Business School, Aston University. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association (APA), the International Association of Applied Psychologists, the British Academy of Management and the Academy of Social Sciences.

Reviews

[Margaret Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I started I could not stop. This book outlines a leadership model backed by literature and evidence. This model accounts for the organisation, staff and importantly the patients and how being compassionate improves all of these.
The author covers self compassion, team compassion, compassionate leadership and why these yield dividends. My favourite leadership book to date.

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook review

I am currently working on my NVQ 3 in Health & Social Care. An NVQ is a qualification that is done alongside your work in the UK, so when I saw this title on Audible I decided it may be useful. In fact, it was more than useful, it was very insightful. The NVQ will take me to the next level and gives me the opportunity to lead a small team. Listening to this book gave so many useful tips, working practices, methods and also pointers for a better and more compassionate way of working.

The book is laid out well and each chapter follows into the next, it makes sense. Listening to how leaders worked during the Covid pandemic was a good way of seeing how good leadership makes a team more united, and therefore more compassionate to those around them. It is an obvious point but one that in times of stress can be overlooked.

The book deals with many aspects and not all are based on your fellow colleagues and service users, it also focuses on the need for everybody to take time for themselves. To see the bigger picture, to listen and not to overreact.

This book is one that I think anyone in Health & Social Care, those thinking of a leadership position or those who are in leadership should consider reading or listening to. It is not judgemental but does give differing perspectives that different people experience.

This is a great one to listen to, I also got a PDF to go with this audible book when I made my purchase. This is also very good and poses questions.

Great listen, insightful and one I would definitely recommend.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook for an assignment, the narrative flows nicely, isn't unnecessarily complicated and actually makes quite a compelling read (or listen!)

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inspiring read. The thesis is based on the necessary self-similarity of teams, structure, organisations, and their inter-relationships, built as they are upon the fundamental delivery of care at an individual level. In other words patients do better when treated compassionately, care workers perform better when managed compassionately, teams do better when convened compassionately and so on, so forth. Unlike wealth, compassion trickles-down and compassionate leaderships is more successful (in that the teams and purpose it serves are more successful).

The a priori case for the thesis is strong, but evidence is also presented. Some sections are a little insubstantial and a little overblown, and the evidence is presented without any critique. Some of the examples are a little pat, and invite some cynicism.

However, the case is still so compelling and the need for more compassion in healthcare leadership so brutally obvious, that these are not major detractors.

Recommended reading for anyone in or aspiring to a leadership role, especially but not exclusively in health and social care.