Oxleas Leadership Hub

Leadership Way (Competencies & Expectations)

What is Oxleas Leadership Way?

Our Leadership Way describes what good leadership looks like at Oxleas. It is our shared behavioural and cultural anchor for leadership — setting clear expectations for how we lead ourselves, our teams, and our system, every day.

Our Leadership Way aligns with the NHS England Management and Leadership Framework, a national framework that brings together leadership standards, competencies, and a code of practice for all NHS leaders. The framework applies to everyone with leadership or management responsibility, from those new to leadership through to executive roles, and provides a consistent national view of what good leadership looks like across the NHS.

At Oxleas, we have translated this national framework into language and behaviours that reflect our values, our culture, and our strategic priorities. Our Leadership Way connects the national expectations with what it means to lead well at Oxleas, ensuring leadership feels relevant, practical, and rooted in the Oxleas difference.

What does it mean in practice?

In practice, Our Leadership Way defines how leadership shows up day to day across Oxleas. It is structured around three core leadership domains, which apply to everyone with leadership or management responsibility:
- We lead with self awareness and compassion
  Leaders understand their impact, act with integrity, and role model compassionate, inclusive behaviours aligned to our values.
- We lead by building effective, inclusive teams and managing resources well
  Leaders create psychologically safe, high performing teams, support staff to thrive, and manage people, quality and resources responsibly to deliver safe, effective and timely care.
- We lead through partnership, connecting across boundaries to improve outcomes
  Leaders work collaboratively across services, organisations and systems, partnering with staff, service users, carers and communities to improve health and care outcomes.
Across these domains sit clear competency expectations for leaders at different stages of their careers, from those new to leadership through to senior and executive roles.
Our Leadership Way is supported by a structured leadership and team development offer, ensuring leaders are not only clear about expectations, but are actively supported to develop, reflect and grow in line with them

Why does it matter for staff and leaders?

Our Leadership Way matters because leadership behaviours have a direct impact on staff experience, team effectiveness, service quality and patient care.

For staff, it provides clarity about what they should expect from leaders, consistent, fair, compassionate and inclusive leadership that creates safe, supportive environments where people can do their best work.

For leaders, it offers a shared framework and language that brings together values, behaviour, delivery and accountability. It supports leaders to balance compassion with performance, to build inclusive teams, and to lead confidently in complex and pressured environments.

By aligning leadership behaviours with Oxleas’ values, strategy and national NHS standards, Our Leadership Way helps to:
- Strengthen leadership consistency across the organisation
- Build a positive, inclusive culture where people feel valued and heard
- Improve team working, staff engagement and wellbeing
- Support the delivery of Great Care, Timely Care and a Best Place to Work
Ultimately, Our Leadership Way is about how we lead, how we work together and how we make a meaningful difference for our staff, our service users and the communities we serve.