Finding your inner leader

The SoR’s annual Student Leadership Placement Programme helps future radiographers understand the importance of team working and contributing to positive change. Here the six programme members from 2022 reveal what they learned.

Grace Vincent
BSc Diagnostic Radiography and Medical Imaging, University of Portsmouth

My university put me forward for the SoR leadership placement and asked me to write a short pitch explaining why I would benefit. What attracted me was the opportunity to learn more about leadership in the profession, expand and develop my own leadership skills and work with others from different universities and programmes. I am extremely grateful that I was chosen.

The placement was split into two parts, with the first consisting of meetings with inspiring individuals talking about their journeys and leadership in the profession, while the second was group work with guidance from Nichola Jamison, the SoR students and new professionals officer, and coaching from Gill Harrison, the SoR professional officer for ultrasound. 

The project had two branches: investigating new professionals’ engagement with the SoR and coming up with actionable ideas to improve it. We had five weeks to work on the project and then present our findings to an audience drawn from the SoR, our universities and our colleagues. We organised meetings with external speakers and researched the opinions of students, new professionals and higher education institutions.

As well as challenging me academically, this placement also challenged my own personal growth. When the leadership placement began, I was very nervous and worried about meeting new people – even online – and about asking questions. This evaporated once I had met everyone and realised that they all felt the same. We worked together as a team, valuing each other’s ideas without being afraid to put forward our own suggestions to improve them. We also communicated extremely well and supported each other completely.

Charlotte May
BSc Diagnostic Radiography and Medical Imaging, University of Portsmouth

The university recommended that my fellow Portsmouth student, Grace Vincent, and I apply for the leadership placement. As part of that, we had to submit an elevator pitch in February and then, in March, we heard that we had been successful and were sent an introductory pack to help us prepare before starting the placement in June.

On the first day of the placement, I felt a bit overwhelmed. There were many different reasons for this, both personal and professional. The students met each other on the first day and, after introducing ourselves, we discussed what we would be doing on the placement. I felt comfortable asking questions, which made the expectations and learning opportunities clear.

As a group, we had to work on a project over five weeks and to prepare a presentation at the end. We were scheduled to meet lots of amazing people to find out about their leadership journeys, including sitting in on meetings at the SoR and in the wider AHP community. Our group really bonded and we worked well together. Each week we would have sessions with the SoR’s Nichola and Gill to help guide us and we received excellent feedback for our presentation.

The leadership programme is also about your own personal growth journey. Before the placement, Gill asked us what we would like to work on and improve. I wanted to gain confidence in speaking in front of people and asking questions. My aim was to ask each individual we met at least one question. As I began to do this, my confidence started to grow, so that although I was really nervous before the final presentation, I was able to do it thanks to all the help I’d received from my group, Nichola and Gill. The placement taught me a lot about myself and also introduced me to our amazing community.

Ciara Latore
PG Dip Therapeutic Radiography, London South Bank University

Returning to education as a mature student, and knowing next to nothing at the beginning of my journey, has been testing. My confidence in my abilities has been on a rollercoaster and, in all honesty, I finished wondering if I would ever feel as assured as the qualified radiographers seemed to be.

When I started the leadership placement, I realised that I had a lot of misconceptions about leadership. Within the first week I learned that leadership is something everyone can demonstrate, regardless of seniority, and very quickly I realised that I had already unconsciously put leadership into action on several previous occasions. That was surprising!

The placement completely changed the way I saw my career developing. We had the opportunity to actively engage with the Health Education England workforce and were given the chance to voice our opinions about matters important to students. We were also encouraged to take note of the different leadership styles we observed in meetings. It was eye-opening to see leaders employ a variety of techniques, such as humour and persuasion, in motivating the team to achieve their goals.

The leadership placement developed my critical thinking and problem-solving skills. I found myself realising that an incredibly valuable aspect of leadership is putting forward solutions to improve services, rather than simply highlighting the pitfalls. 

As a group, we developed a report and presentation with recommendations for the SoR New Professionals’ Forum. I finished the leadership placement feeling ambitious and impatient to start my new career. I continue my leadership journey every day because I now know that you can be a leader at any time.

Benita Thomas
BSc Therapeutic Radiography, St George’s University of London

As I started the final year of my therapeutic radiography course, I was approached by a lecturer about a leadership placement with the SoR. I was happy to put myself forward as I thought it was a great opportunity to broaden my horizons and learn more about leadership as I begin my professional career.

Not knowing what it entailed, I started the placement with an open mind. I wanted to get to know my colleagues and improve my leadership skills. I had no expectations going into the programme but we hit the ground running with introductions to various high-level members at the SoR and, as intimidating as it sounds, it created the right atmosphere for the weeks that followed. These meetings gave me a sense of calm – everyone was open and honest about their leadership journeys, which reduced my anxiety and feelings of imposter syndrome.

We were introduced to everyone on the team and quickly started bonding, which set us on the right path to build a project we would be proud of. We met Gill and Nichola every week and they helped steer us in the right direction and gave us support and encouragement all the way.

Initially I found it hard to see how we would build our leadership skills - in one group, how could we all lead? Well, I was glad to be proven wrong and I now have a new perspective on leadership! The biggest takeaway was that anyone can be a leader. No matter what position they are in, a leader is someone who guides and listens to what their team needs and takes the decision to make a change.

Being on this programme has improved my confidence massively. Speaking to leaders and hearing about their journeys was very inspiring and it was encouraging to know that they too were once in  our position. Now, as I start my career as a therapeutic radiographer, I can apply the valuable skills I picked up during the placement, ensuring that I listen to improve my patients’ and colleagues’ experiences and being confident to speak up when change is needed.

Fraser MacLennan
BSc (Hons) Therapeutic Radiography,
London South Bank University

As I approached the end of the clinical placements in my third year, I found myself in the grey area of being not quite a student but not yet a qualified radiographer. I wanted to gain more confidence so that, as I moved into a qualified post, I could stop worrying about whether I am good enough or learning quickly enough and just enjoy taking responsibility for my own work and spending time with patients.

I heard about the SoR leadership placement via my university tutor and was initially hesitant. Was this something I was suitable for and why should I attend a virtual placement rather than one in a radiotherapy department? I was told this would be an opportunity to explore my existing leadership skills and learn about the various career paths that radiographers have achieved using their own leadership skills. This sounded like the bridge I had been looking for to take me out of university and into the working world of the NHS.

The placement was different from any other experience I have had because the focus was not on a patient or treatment but on my own skills and qualities as a radiographer and leader. Over the five weeks we had many opportunities to discuss and consider which leadership skills are important for a radiographer, regardless of career level, and how these skills can benefit both patients and staff.

I noticed a difference in my confidence levels when I returned to clinical placement. This has shown itself in different ways, such as having difficult conversations with patients without feeling I am out of my depth, or standing up for myself when a staff member refers to me as “just the student”. I have learnt that a large part of leadership is inspiring and leading change. I hope that as I move into full-time work, I can use the skills I have learned to continue to change practice to better serve patients and staff.

Tabitha Fleming
PG Dip Therapeutic Radiography,
London South Bank University

I applied to take part in the placement because I wanted to expand my skill set and try something new. It’s safe to say that going for an opportunity like this was completely out of my comfort zone! When I heard that I had been accepted, I had no idea what to expect but I was excited to get stuck in.

During the first week, our group met virtually with the placement facilitators, Gill and Nichola, and were presented with the project that we would be working on. This involved investigating how the SoR could increase its engagement with final-year students and radiographers in their first two years of qualification.

The following weeks involved a combination of self-directed project work; coaching and mentoring sessions with Gill and Nichola; shadowing high-profile external meetings; and one-to-one meetings with influential individuals.

Our team of students organised daily meetings to plan and update one another on our progress with the project, which gave us opportunities to develop our problem-solving and delegation skills. What surprised me the most was just how quickly our group bonded - we felt like a team almost instantly. It was such a great experience to meet and learn from radiography students from different universities – we all brought something unique to the table.Day by day, we built upon our ideas and very soon they began to merge into a collaborative report and list of recommendations that we could present on the final day. 

One of my favourite aspects was the one-to-one meetings with radiography and other AHP leaders. It was inspiring to hear about other people’s career and leadership journeys. Even though I had far less experience and knowledge than the people we spoke with, we were made to feel so valued by everyone and we all noticed our confidence increase tenfold over the five weeks.

Before starting, I was unsure how much I would gain from a non-clinical, virtual placement. However, I can now confidently say that it was one of the most enjoyable and beneficial aspects of my whole degree. I have leared and developed a huge range of skills and feel lucky to have worked alongside such motivated and creative students.