Thank You Event 2022: Leader of the Year - Joint Winner
Every year we celebrate our amazing staff and their achievements at our pop-up Thank You ceremony. Board members will pop into video meetings to surprise colleagues and present them with a hamper for being shining examples of our magnificent staff behaviours.
Tessa Knowles, Community Dietitian, is the joint winner of our Leader of the Year award.
Leader of the Year - Joint Winner
Tessa Knowles, Community Dietitian, has stepped up to a leadership role overseeing the Adult Dietetic Home Enteral Feeding Team (HEF) for the last two years. She has worked with the diabetes team to set up a pathway for referrals to address the needs of diabetic tube fed patients, produced a pathway of care for neurological patients, and has supported the complex Enteral Feeding Tender process. Her ability to communicate effectively and make proactive decisions has created successful results for the team and patients. Her inclusive leadership style has meant the team and wider multidisciplinary teams are endlessly supported both clinically and personally and continue to progress.
Tessa was nominated by Community Dietitians, Caroline Nally, Kwayera Simpson and Katie Smith, Dietetic Assistants, Sharon McClusky and Charlotte Robinson, and Clinical Dietitian, Christine Bailey-Scott.
In their nomination they said: “Tessa possesses a drive and determination that we all want to emulate and are all proud of. Tessa’s capacity to help others developed their abilities has been recognised beyond our team. Her willingness to support colleagues extends to other leads, as she has even offered to provide mentorship to another lead. She has set up weekly meetings and been involved with the guidance and development of new and locum staff to ensure they have the necessary clinical skills to deal with more complex patients, and are safe and effective, encouraging a sharing of knowledge between us all.
“Tessa is a role model and takes responsibility for the progression of any team projects, encouraging team involvement by providing productive feedback and urging open dialogue and peer reviews. This allows us to feel valued and demonstrate our appreciation for each other. We have become much closer and appreciate and value each other even more, at a time when we most needed it.”
Thea Stein, Chief Executive, and Steph Lawrence, Executive Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professionals, surprised Tessa in her meeting via Microsoft Teams to deliver the good news and present the award. Thea praised her amazing leadership saying: “It was such a pleasure to read this nomination. It’s a fantastically strong team that always performs well in so many ways, we always think exceptionally high of this team and everything it has done over the years. This award is really well deserved.”
Tessa responded: “Thank you to the team and thank you for the opportunity to take on this role. I feel like I’ve learnt a lot and had a steep learning curve throughout the process and developed my leading skills. I wouldn’t be where I am without the team so thank you very much.”
