Following Real World Group Chief Executive, Professor Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe’s rousing keynote address at the Ministry of Health conference last week, there was substantial interest in the follow on workshops run by Managing Director Juliette Alban-Metcalfe, and Jacqui Wong (from strategic partners Sequoia Group).

Real World Group and Sequoia’s offering had already been placed in the main ballroom (where the keynote addresses were held) but no one could have anticipated their popularity. On day one, the workshop focusing on building engaging teams and cultures was attended by 350 participants. On day two, the workshop focusing on how to strengthen individual engaging leadership among clinicians and non-clinicians surpassed these numbers and was attended by an estimated audience of 500. How many people were left to attend the five other concurrent sessions is unknown!

It is truly encouraging to see how well the engaging leadership model was embraced by the crowd from Singapore. Speaking to Juliette Alban-Metcalfe outside the conference venue, two nurses who attended the workshops on both days were asked whether they intended to take the lessons learned back to their teams to show them the nature of true leadership. Responding in the most engaging way possible, they said, “Yes, in time, but first we must start with ourselves”.