Solent Board Development
Challenge
Solent was an NHS Trust which ran mental health and community services and community hospitals in Portsmouth and Southampton. It was a highly regarded institution, proud of its culture and was recognised by the Health Service Journal as one of the top 100 Trusts to work for. In late 2024 the Trust merged with Southern Health and some services from Isle of Wight and Sussex Partnership to form Hampshire Isle of White Healthcare. CoCreate was asked to support the Board and Executive Team on their development journey towards this merger.
Programme
CoCreate conducted 1:1 conversations with Board members and a selection of other leaders from across the organisation. The purpose of these calls was to identify the strengths and development gaps for the Board, the priority conversations they needed to have as a Board, and what they wanted to hold onto (and – importantly – let go of) as they moved forwards towards the merger.
We drew on the insight from this consultation to design and deliver several development interventions, aligning the initial discussions with the organisations core values to consider how the Board could best navigate this period of complex change in a way that was congruent.
Our philosophy in CoCreate is underpinned by the idea of having good discussions about difficult topics (as opposed to difficult conversations), and introducing concepts such as our Psychological Safety framework enabled Board members to lean into the candid discussions that were vital as they moved towards the merger.
Client experience
CoCreate has been extremely flexible and supportive in their approach to our Board Development work, including adapting sessions and content as our needs evolved as a result of the rapidly changing external context. The CoCreate team has always been extremely respectful in the delivery of sessions, creating a safe space for constructive challenge to ensure we collectively get the most out of our time together.
Rachel cheal – chief of staff, solent nhs trust
