Employee takeover: Terry Murphy’s making a difference

We pride ourselves on supporting healthcare organisations in improving the lives of those they care for, but how much do you know about the people behind the product?

Our National Business Development Manager, Terry Murphy has developed more than 30 years of well-rounded knowledge by helping healthcare professionals up and down the country to embed a culture of continuous improvement in their teams.

Earlier this year, Terry experienced a life-changing event. After suffering a heart attack, Terry was airlifted to a hospital where he experienced healthcare from the perspective of a patient. Whilst in hospital, Terry had time to reflect on his values, passions, and how he could give back more to the NHS community.

Join us for a quick Q&A to get to know Terry better.

Hi Terry! It sounds like you have had a challenging year. How have you been able to turn the potential negatives into positives?

Hi Rebecca! Thank you for having me along today, it has been an eventful year, to put it mildly, but it is great to be here! There were challenging times, however, in life, we have to decide if we want to focus on the positives or negatives; on the ‘uncontrollables’ or the ‘controllables’. As people, we are dispositioned to see the bad, to protect against threats, and to worry about what could negatively affect us. Coming out of the operating theatre, there was a realisation: I could not anticipate the events that led me there. After all, I consider myself to be a healthy adult who walks, eats well (mostly), and in theory, should be low risk. If this could happen to me, and I could not see it coming, the only option in life has to be to focus on the controllables and look for how to support others by helping people to discover their power.

Terry, this must have been a huge shift in perspective. How has this impacted your work?

Two and a half years ago I joined Radar Healthcare because of the values that the company embodied. Over the years, the focus on people has continued but my reason for working has changed.  Since the events earlier this year, I have been able to focus on how I can serve and the legacy of what I do by unlocking human potential. Naturally, giving something back to the NHS is very close to my heart.

Since working at Radar Healthcare and speaking with healthcare professionals day-to-day, my enthusiasm for the industry has only grown and I am always looking for opportunities to combine my coaching skills with the chance to help healthcare professionals in other ways – hence the reasoning behind recently accepting to become an NHS Leadership Coach.

One of the reasons for writing my book, Coaching for Beginners, was to make coaching accessible to all. It’s quite a technical book, but I hope it shines a light on where coaching came from, where it is today, and how you might use it to attain your goals. My book and past experiences will impact my coaching techniques and styles for this new role.

You now have a renewed focus on giving something back to the NHS. How significant was this in your recent appointment as a Leadership Coach for the NHS Leadership Academy – congratulations by the way!

The NHS Leadership Academy provides a positive impact on those who we at Radar Healthcare work with – a legacy of its own. Their purpose is to “develop outstanding leadership in health, to improve people’s health and their experience of the NHS” and speaks directly to my renewed focus on maximising leaders’ personal, professional, and leadership potential.

The NHS Leadership Academy has identified four key drivers that underpin the purpose of its coaching and mentoring in wider leadership development and national context:

• To develop systems and place-based leadership at all levels to support population health
• As a deliberate conduit to build leadership for inclusion
• To shape and develop inclusive and systems-focused talent management and succession planning for the health and care economy
• As enablers for the organisational development (OD) agenda for cultural transformation and redesign that places the pledge of the NHS constitution at the very heart of leadership practice for world-class patient and citizen care

Tell us more about the role itself, what will a typical coaching session look like – if there is such a thing?

Yeah, you’re right, there isn’t such thing as a typical coaching session! Each one will be different and tailored to the session and people attending. I always like to ensure that my coaching sessions are personalised, and this role will be no different.

My primary purpose is to inspire NHS leaders and maximise their personal, professional, and leadership potential. I think this is a great opportunity and, in my experience, coaching can have a hugely powerful and positive impact on a whole range of things like self-confidence, wellness, and performance. Organisations that adopt coaching as a general practice empower their workforce because they feel like they belong to something important.

And finally, how do you think this will influence your role at Radar Healthcare regarding partners and people?

I have always been curious and love questions, so a coaching role is a perfect fit for me.

I am currently working with our new team of recruits in London, conducting small coaching sessions, to help individuals unlock their potential, generate ideas, and help goals become a reality. I find that understanding dreams and aspirations are the first steps in seeking that which brings you joy.

Also, being part of something important and feeling valued within a role is what drives people and what we all ultimately aspire to.

In terms of partnerships, the knock-on value of working with a committed team only serves to cement relationships for the long term – and investing in people is what we do very well at Radar Healthcare.

Thank you very much for your time, Terry! It has been a pleasure talking to you and I have no doubt that with your drive and passion you will be successful in your new adventure.

Learn more about our amazing team by visiting our about us page.