Developing primary care leadership: A Greater Manchester success story

Discover how our leadership programme is supporting individual, team, and system-wide improvements across primary care in Greater Manchester.

Recognising the evolving demands of primary care leadership, the NHS Confederation, commissioned by Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board, designed a leadership development programme for general practice leaders.

The aim of the ‘Leading teams through change’ programme was to foster collaboration across boundaries, and build resilient, high-performing teams and to lead change effectively. The programme was designed to build change leadership capability across general practice clinicians and managers, supporting individual, team, and system-wide improvements across Greater Manchester's primary care landscape.

About the programme

The programme was crafted with clear objectives and high-impact learning experiences to deliver practical leadership growth — not just theoretical knowledge. The aim was to equip general practice clinicians, managers and additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) staff with the knowledge, self-awareness and practical leadership skills to successfully drive and sustain change within their practices and communities.

Key learning areas

Foundations of leadership and change: Understanding the purpose, roles and challenges of leadership in complex primary care environments.
Developing and communicating a shared vision: Building the ability to create compelling, shared visions that energise and align teams towards a common goal.
Adapting leadership styles: Learning how to flex and adapt leadership approaches based on team dynamics, context and change demands.
Conflict management and difficult conversations: Gaining practical strategies to approach conflict constructively and foster a culture of openness and collaboration.
Self-awareness through Hogan™ Personality Profiling:
Deepening understanding of personal leadership strengths, derailers and motivators, translating self-awareness into more effective leadership behaviours.
Building psychological safety and engagement: Creating environments where teams feel safe, valued and motivated to contribute fully.
Working with communities through co-production: Integrating patient voice and community assets into service design, ensuring truly patient-centred change initiatives.
Practical action planning for change leadership: Applying models such as the personal leadership quadrant, forcefield analysis and logic models to real workplace projects.

Participants benefited from a unique combination of face-to-face workshops, action-learning sets, psychometric coaching, and real-world leadership application, ensuring immediate relevance and impact.

"Very insightful, great for personal reflection, networking, and learning new tools to support everyday working. Great facilitators!" Practice Manager

We engaged a diverse and dynamic range of leaders from general practice. Including GPs, nurses, practice managers, primary care network managers, ARRS staff and clinical leaders across Greater Manchester.

Our approach

The programme was designed around four core pillars, ensuring participants developed capabilities that are lasting, practical and transformational:

Fig.1 Leading Teams Through Change programme leadership development core pillars

We ensured the programme had real-world relevance by embedding peer-led learning, insights, experiences and practical wisdom to the modules.

The programme achieved the learning outcomes. This was measured by an external evaluation which assessed knowledge increase and, most importantly, the behavioural change in the participants, as demonstrated in the table below.

Learning outcome	Achieved and demonstrated by
Develop and communicate a shared vision for change	Participants consistently articulate a clear, shared vision for change within their teams and organisations.
Adapt leadership style to enhance team dynamics	Leaders demonstrate the ability to flex their leadership style based on team needs and situations, fostering team cohesion and effective decision-making.
Navigate and resolve conflict effectively	Leaders could effectively identify, address, and mitigate conflicts within and across teams, fostering a collaborative culture.
Demonstrate growth in self-awareness and leadership behaviours	Leaders show improved self-awareness of their strengths, preferences and growth areas as identified through tools like the Hogan Profile.
Engage communities through co-production	Participants integrate the patient voice into service design and decision-making, ensuring patient-centred approaches in primary care.

Here’s what our participants had to say:

"The personality identification and leadership styles module was particularly useful and sparked some really intriguing insight and self-reflection." Office Manager

"I think others will experience a different style of leadership and management from me – a more rounded view of how to lead teams and develop strategy and vision." PCN Manager

“The programme has shifted my view of leadership from simply directing change to actively engaging and empowering teams.” Practice Manager

The programme was designed with active and evidence-based learning:
- Workshops and breakout discussions: Facilitated sessions where participants explored key leadership themes, shared experiences and collaborated on solutions to common challenges
- Action planning: Participants developed structured action plans to translate learning into practice, ensuring long-term impact.
- Psychometric profiling (Hogan™ Assessments): Deepening self-awareness around leadership strengths, risks and values.
- Application of theory: Practical exercises enabled participants to apply leadership models to their workplace challenges. Applying models like the PERMA wellbeing framework, forcefield analysis, and the personal leadership quadrant.
- Case studies and real-life examples: Participants examined real-world scenarios, enhancing their ability to navigate leadership complexities.
- Reflective tasks and questioning: Encouraged deeper insight into leadership behaviours, decision-making, and team dynamics.
- Peer support and networking: Facilitated connections between leaders to build a supportive community for ongoing learning and collaboration. Across the programme, ‘leaders teaching leaders’ was a core principle, ensuring relevance, relatability and maximum real-world impact.

The impact: What our participants said

The evaluation results were highly positive with participants consistently reporting positive shifts in workplace culture, team productivity, and cross-practice collaboration as a result of their development journey.

Key highlights from the evaluation include:

increased leadership self-awareness and confidence
stronger conflict management and communication
improved ability to lead collaboratively rather than hierarchically
greater resilience, empowerment and stress management
enhanced team engagement, psychological safety and innovation.

How your organisation can benefit

"A must for those new to leadership through change and a valuable update for those who have been involved for a longer time." PCN Manager

Our leadership programmes are co-created to ensure relevant and targeted outcomes that support leadership development, create behavioural change and lasting impact.

If your organisation wants to:

build confident, strategic leaders at practice, PCN or system level
develop teams that embrace change collaboratively
improve leadership resilience, wellbeing and culture
embed learning through action, not just theory.

Then we can help.

By commissioning the NHS Confederation Leadership Development Team, you’ll access:

expertise in bespoke, evidence-based leadership programme design
high-quality, interactive delivery tailored to your needs
proven methods for sustainable leadership and system improvement
the opportunity to strengthen your leadership pipeline, future-proofing primary care.