In this episode of The Leadership Lounge, host Katie addresses healthcare leaders who feel stuck and overwhelmed by the pressures of their roles. She emphasises that leadership is an attitude, not a title, and encourages listeners to try something different to break free from feeling stuck, whether it's a small change like altering their breakfast or a big life change. Katie highlights the importance of noticing wins each day. She recommends books such as "Switch" by Dan and Chip Heath, "Immunity to Change," and "Atomic Habits" to aid in personal and organisational change. She shares a personal anecdote about taking a walk during home renovations to regain energy and momentum. Katie also announces she will reduce the frequency of her email updates and take more frequent podcast breaks for balance. She closes with a message of encouragement, reminding listeners that by continuing to show up, they are doing better than they realise and should keep making small changes to foster progress and hope.

Links and Resources: Check out the leadership lounge webpage

katiequinney.com

In this episode of The Leadership Lounge, Katie explores the analogy of birds flying in V formation to draw lessons on leadership and teamwork in healthcare. She explains how the V formation reduces wind resistance, allowing birds to conserve energy and fly longer distances, symbolising how teamwork enhances efficiency and endurance. The formation also facilitates visibility and communication, enabling quick adjustments and mutual support, including helping struggling members. Leadership is shared as birds rotate the lead position to distribute workload, reflecting the importance of distributed leadership and leveraging individual strengths. Katie stresses the value of encouragement within teams and cautions against becoming isolated in echo chambers, urging alignment with shared goals and directions. She connects these insights to healthcare, emphasising collaboration, supporting colleagues through challenges, and balancing leadership roles to improve efficiency and well-being. The episode encourages leaders to reflect on their direction, foster collective strength, and embrace shared leadership to navigate the ongoing demands of healthcare delivery.

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Leadership isn’t about controlling everything; it’s about focusing on what matters. In this episode, I’m talking about how choosing your attitude and attending to the ‘boring magic’ can transform both your day and your team’s culture. With practical examples, it’s how pausing to check in, practising self-compassion, and noticing small wins help you step out of firefighting mode and into a more sustainable leadership state.

Links and Resources

5 qualities of high-impact healthcare leaders

I don’t want to keep fire-fighting; I want to stop them from starting.

Get to know your own circles of control

Unravelling the circles

Your meeting check-in

Summary

In this episode of The Leadership Lounge, I discuss navigating new job opportunities and career changes for healthcare leaders. I’ve got three steps that come up in all the conversations I have: first, reassessing your core values and strengths to clarify what matters most and what unique skills you bring; second, envisioning your future self and career goals to set a meaningful direction; and third, reflecting on your career history by creating a timeline to identify key leaps, what was left behind, gained, and how these shaped your current self. Understanding these elements helps in making confident, aligned career decisions. I’m starting to bring in insights from the book "10x is easier than 2x" about setting ambitious goals. While the book is still challenging my thinking in some respects, I’m pulling the wisdom that is super relevant here. This episode is all about encouraging self-reflection and offers practical prompts and resources to support you in your career transitions.

Links and Resources

Uncovering your personal values

Understanding and using your strengths

Daria Williamson: Strengths Deck

SWOT and SOAR in practice

Playing Big by Tara Mohr

10x is Easier than 2x

5 qualities of high-impact healthcare leaders

Summary

As healthcare leaders, you know the value of consistency, the daily showing up, the small steps, the 1% progress that adds up over time. But what if there are moments when those steady steps aren’t enough? This week I’m thinking about the tension between incremental growth and bold, transformative leaps. I’m listening to 10X is Easier than 2X and having my thinking challenged. Which is a good thing

I start with ideas on managing the all-too-familiar feeling of overwhelm, while also exploring how to challenge your own thinking, test long-held beliefs, and rethink your leadership identity. The key is learning to hold contradictions: coping and challenging, comfort and courage, progress and transformation.

This episode is your invitation to pause, reflect, and ask: Does your leadership right now need small steps, a big leap, or is it both?

Links and Resources

Help me, I’m overwhelmed

5 things to help you focus, make progress and avoid overwhelm

10x is Easier than 2x

The beginner’s guide to vertical development

From Good to Great

5 qualities of high-impact healthcare leaders

In the whirlwind of healthcare leadership, it can feel impossible to pause long enough to see the bigger picture. That’s where tools like SWOT and SOAR come in. In this episode of Katie’s Leadership Lounge, I’m looking at this classic framework, uncovering history, and showing how they can help leaders challenge assumptions, uncover blind spots, and move from firefighting to focused action.

Whether you’re stepping into a new role, leading a team through change, or simply craving clarity, SWOT and SOAR offer simple but powerful ways to reflect, plan, and set direction.

Links and Resources

Get your SWOT and SOAR free templates

What is a SWOT analysis video

Personal SWOT analysis

What is a SWOT analysis, and why do you need one

The origins of the SWOT analysis

5 qualities of high-impact healthcare leaders

Leading in healthcare isn’t a sprint with a clear endpoint, and there are moments when you can’t do everything and be everywhere, so you get to choose. These moments are about what really matters. Being clear on what that is for you is essential if you want to lead well. In this reflective episode, I’m sharing what pausing, noticing, and being truly present can do for your leadership. You create a triple impact: supporting your wellbeing, building stronger relationships, and improving your work. I’m sharing practical tips on how you can create moments to ground and refocus yourself, all of which you can use in less than 30 seconds. This episode is your reminder that presence is a leadership strength.

Links and Resources

5 qualities of high-impact healthcare leaders

Saving your mind

One thing at a time

Do you know what matters most?

What game are you playing as a healthcare leader?

Habits that shape you

Links and Resources

5 qualities of high-impact healthcare leaders

Personal Values Workbook

Understanding Your Strengths

Daria Williamson

Insight

Are you in need of an opposite world?

Build your network

Why you need your own square squad

Starting with one idea, I found myself going in circles. With so much bad stuff going on in the world, who am I to talk about anything? Not to mention my ideas for sustainable leadership in healthcare. So I started with that, and came full circle, from Bittersweet to the Stockdale Paradox and a whole lot more in between.

Links and Resources

Bittersweet

The Stockdale Paradox from Good to Great

What you should know about the Stockdale Paradox

The Emotional Culture Deck

Reflection for healthcare leaders

Kindness

Get the No Jedi email

5 qualities of high-impact healthcare leaders

Links and Resources

Gratitude when you don’t think there is time for anything more

The Healthy Mind Platter

Reflection over Rumination

5 qualities of high-impact healthcare leaders

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