Thank You Event 2024: Leader of the Year - Highly Commended
Every year we celebrate our amazing staff and their achievements at our Thank You ceremony. Board members will surprise colleagues at their bases and present them with a hamper, balloons and a certificate for being shining examples of our magnificent staff behaviours.
Leader of the Year - Highly Commended
Dan Barnett, Head of Strategy, Change and Development
Dan’s kind and inclusive leadership style, his dedication and all the support and guidance he gives the Business, Change and Development Service (BCDS) team make him a great leader.
Dan leads on several Trust-wide, often challenging projects and this year has been no exception with one of the most challenging and emotive projects to-date, LCH’s Quality and Value programme.
He has risen to the challenge set by our financial position and stood in front of the board, BCDS, leadership teams and staff and articulated clearly what needs to be done and the task ahead. He leads with a positive but realistic approach and has high levels of emotional intelligence and an ability to see things from other peoples’ perspectives which is how he gains commitment and buy in. He is calm under pressure, even when posed with difficult questions and if he doesn’t know the answer, he takes responsibility for finding out.
Emma Tiernan, Senior Business Manager nominated Dan and said, “I have known Dan since we both started at LCH together back in 2012. I came home from the assessment centre and told my husband I had met Dan and how fab he was, I think my statement was: “Oh I hope we both get a job, he definitely deserves to get one of them, he was so good” and we did both get a business manager job!
The trait I love most about Dan is the kindness and care he shows and how he will fight for what is right, he will speak out if he sees something that doesn’t fit our values, and I can always go to him if I am worried or concerned about something. His kindness and connection with people shone through when we lost our dear colleague Katie and is what helped me and the team process Katie’s death, celebrate her life and look to the future. The planning and thought he puts into our team meetings and away days is amazing; He established the BCDS team awards last year which were a huge morale booster, feedback was so positive that the team asked for them to become an annual event.
The BCDS team have been under a lot of pressure recently with the service redesigns and he is always there for us to offload. He listens and helps us find a solution and this is my way of saying thank you to him for this unwavering support. He is constantly striving to develop others to grow and flourish at work and despite being busy puts himself forward as a mentor as required. He is a role model to me and many others and he should be very proud of himself.”
Selina Douglas, Chief Executive Officer presented Dan the award and praised him, "Dan you are seen as a real beacon, you are doing some amazing work for us and the way you've done it in a really compassionate way, you've put people along on the journey, acknowledging how they feel, plus juggling with the business development and strategy work. A big thank you from us all!"
Dan said, "Really appreciate it, I could not do it without such a fantastic team and fantastic colleagues."
