Why leadership matters: radiographer turned life coach Vafa Taleban

Continuing professional development is a vital component of every radiographer’s journey, ensuring they deliver the best possible care for patients. But what about the skills that aren’t covered under the continuing professional development process – skills such as leadership, public speaking or even dealing with the stress of ever-growing workloads? 

A personal development enthusiast, Vafa invested heavily in her own growth and development throughout her 25 year career as a radiographer. She self funded for a coaching diploma qualification and was being invited to coach, speak and take part in panel discussions long before she chose to put all her time and energy in developing her purpose driven, life-style business. As much as she loved working alongside her team, she began to wonder if she could do more good by supporting imaging professionals as an independent coach and trainer, not just in growing their confidence and resilience, but in becoming stronger leaders, in understanding themselves and in tackling everyday challenges from a different perspective.

In 2019, Vafa took a leap of faith by moving out of radiography and starting her own business: Personal Revolution. “The strength of my work lies in having the lived experience of the challenges my imaging colleagues face daily, in creating content that addresses the gaps I noticed during my 25 years as an imaging professional and, most importantly, in the way I facilitate these skills building workshops,” she explains.

Synergy invited Vafa to discuss just how these skills can help radiographers, and what they can do to get started on their personal development journey.

People who care

When working with her colleagues in imaging, she says, there is an extra level of familiarity and emotional investment. “I understand their challenges, I understand the limitations and I understand that we are now delivering really complex services, all while teams are working from silos,” she continues. “Workloads are huge – what we want to do is help them build these real, connected communities to create capabilities to navigate the everyday challenges.”

While the majority of training for imaging service providers focuses on clinical skills, Vafa’s efforts focus on the importance of skill-building workshops to support them in becoming more resilient. “We can’t change the reality of the workplace, but we can help them build this resilience,” she explains. “We can help them navigate the constant, multiple conflicting realities they’re facing. We can help them become better leaders, rather than just administrative managers.”

Tackling the workload in front of them, while also making sure they take care of their team, is one such conflicting reality facing radiographers. With such pressing, direct needs to address, it can be difficult to take a step back, think differently and make sense of the rules and regulations that are required. In Vafa’s experience, the question that really needs to be asked is: ‘How else can we do the work we’re doing, other than with the habits we’ve already built?’

Thinking outside the confines of job titles, short term thinking and inherited cultures is by no means an easy journey, but by remaining solution-focused and collaborating within these skill-building workshops, challenges can be better articulated and solutions found. “Creating psychological safety in these rooms is really important,” says Vafa. “It’s a phrase that’s thrown around constantly, but we need to understand how safety is created. One of my favourite authors said: ‘Safety is not the absence of fear. It is the presence of connection.’

“That’s what we work on. We create deep human connections right from the start. When there is no connection, people disengage, they retreat, they go silent. That’s when problems build up. That’s when trust erodes. When employee wellbeing is ignored, neglected and forgotten about, the duty of care is not met.”

Creating connected cultures, Vafa adds, needs leadership commitment. Service providers and upper leadership must commit to investing in people’s capabilities. “People need to be connected to themselves, to each other, to their leaders, to a shared sense of purpose. If we can create this shared sense of purpose, where people get clarity of direction, they get focused and, with that, they find motivation for action. The problems haven’t changed; it’s just their perspective that changes.

“It’s about creating that awareness of self so that you can understand your own patterns and your preferences better, and then you’ll get curious about everyone else’s. And that’s how you can actually connect with people better.”

Finding that connection can be difficult for people from any line of work, but particularly for those working in healthcare. Fears around radiography being the ‘invisible profession’ mean that staff can struggle to see value in their work and in themselves. “That’s why I love working with people from the NHS,” Vafa continues. “They are truly amazing. They care. That is the golden thread I’ve noticed, right from the time when I was working inside the NHS to where I am now. I have the privilege of working with people who really care. My heart is with them. I just want to make life easy for them.”