I've been going through the archive. Having a clear out! I wrote this in the mid-80's and decided to give it a makeover as I think being a RITE manager is as important today as it was then.
R - Real.
Is it real or genuine to manipulate the belief that it is OK to leave a nurse, on a ward, responsible for eight patients? No, get real.
Is it real or honest to say the only way to deal with a poorly run care home is to leave vulnerable, frail elderly people, in wheelchairs, wrapped in blankets, at the kerbside, in the middle of the night? No get real.
Is it real or sincere to pretend we can deliver next year's healthcare for last year's money without major upheaval? No get real
The NHS lives at the intersection of policy and politics and that is the home of a moral and ethical dilemma. The route you take defines you as a person. A reality check is a test of integrity. When integrity is on your side, you have nothing to fear.
Without reality we are managing blind. Without a reality check we have no compass.
I - International.
Over the years I've learned the NHS is not the only healthcare system that has problems. What we face; demand, funding and complexity is duplicated in just about every healthcare system I have looked at or visited.
Looking to see how other countries approach the same problems is easier than it has ever been. You can bring the world of healthcare into sharp focus, on your computer screen.
Australia does have good ideas about coping with the elderly, Denmark have interesting concepts about community care and has just abandoned inspection as a way of improving quality, Israel are innovative and California seem to have nurse patient ratios cracked. France is abandoning some co-payments.
... the world is full of solutions.
For this very reason we will expand the Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff to become the International Academy... we have to dump the idea the NHS is the best healthcare system in the world and there is nothing left to learn. There is, even if only to learn what not to do.
T - Tenderness
There is no management skill that is equal to tenderness. Tough managers, hard managers, strong managers are all very well. A manager who is tender, kind-hearted and warm creates a place where good people will do great things.
With tenderness invariably comes intuition and compassion, understanding and companionship, encouragement and example; a desire to travel with the people you work with, not a need to drive them and see who falls by the wayside.
Managers can regret what they did, be shamed by a decision and guilty of forcing the pace but there is no remorse in tenderness.
E - 'Enthusiasm'
The pressures of the daily grind force our effort and energy against the carborundum of rules, guidelines, targets and criticism. The grindstone that saps drive and enterprise.
I have never met a successful manager who was not an enthusiast for what they were doing. Enthusiasm is infectious and like a wind that blows through an organisation, filling its sails.
There is a real magic in enthusiasm, to be a fan of what you do and where you do it. A disciple, devotee and supporter for the work in hand and the difference it makes. It is enthusiasm that creates a surge of energy, making the difference between mediocracy and achievement.
You are who you hang out with. Look for the company of other enthusiasts; that's where the ideas live.
The more years I get under my belt the more I realise, growing old is easy, it's just the sum total of the years; getting grown-up is about how many ideas I can have, how innovative I can be, what new things I can try. What I see that I think needs to be said; speak up and stand up and mostly about how enthusiastic I am.
I know of no single formula for success but I do know: if we get real about what we do; spend time looking for and sharing solutions, where ever they are; bring tenderness to our work; and are ineffably enthusiastic, we will encourage people, syndicate their efforts and talents and inspire each other to do better and greater things.
... and after 30 years that still seems RITE to me.
