Really Learning

Really Learning is the website of Valerie Iles.

Valerie has an in-depth understanding of management and leadership theory, a breadth of practical experience of the behaviours and dynamics of healthcare organisations and a wide ranging interest in other fields of study.

She uses all of these to offer development programmes that enable health care professionals and teams to flourish, re-finding their enthusiasm for their roles, enhancing their ability to interact effectively with others and encouraging them to help their organisations act with care and compassion for patients.

She observes that the current managerial culture, organisational frameworks and governance systems of the NHS drain it of energy and creativity at every level. She is therefore developing a coherent curriculum for an alternative approach to management, an approach which is the antithesis of competences, and which is drawn from a much wider range of subjects than the typical MBA. The aim is to enable individuals to BECOME leaders rather than merely acquire leadership competences.

From 2006 - January 2012 she was director of the leadership programme of the RCGP. She is an Honorary Fellow of the RCGP and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

For nine years she was the director of the Health Management Group at City University, designing and directing three masters degree programmes, including a novel M.Phil in Health Management which integrated taught and research elements, and the flagship Masters Degree in Health Management. She has also been vice chair of a large NHS Trust and of an inner city Health Action Zone.

Her publications include the books:

Why Reforming the NHS doesn't Work: the importance of understanding how good people offer bad care (2011). To download click here.

Really Managing Health Care, (1997 and 2006)

Developing Change Management Skills(2004); Managing Change in the NHS, a review of the evidence (2001). To order or download these please click here.

The portfolio of Really Learning includes interactive leadership programmes, learning sets, facilitated personal and team development programmes, reading and discussion groups, and publications. For a detailed list of services click here

Valerie works with a number of other independent consultants, depending on the size and nature of the project. She particularly enjoys opportunities to work with Julia Vaughan Smith of Anaptys, Verity Kemp of Health Planning, Steven Cranfield of Creative Collaborations and Gordon Best of Gordon Best Associates.