Inspiring Leader nominations

This award is open to leaders at any level of the organisation, leading any team either on a permanent or temporary basis. Nominees will not necessarily be a manager of a traditional team.

Abi Metcalfe

Nominated by: Steve Varley

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

I would like to nominate my line manager Abi Metcalfe for the Inspiring Leader Award.

Since moving over from construction in July 2022 to work as part of the MWoW team for a 12 month contract Abi has always been kind, supportive and helpful.

While working with the MWoW team with Abi as my line manager she has always encouraged me to learn new skills and work on my development areas, by encouraging me to step outside of my comfort zone.

With the work which we do as part of MWoW we work closely with our colleagues within the council, it has always been her top priority to make sure that the work we do is to a high standard with little disruption to business as usual and these values have been passed onto the other team members.

During our work she has been able to reduce our carbon footprint by working with community groups and charities to help achieve the councils’ goals, along with this we have a tight budget for the project which she is able to manage well by creating savings which can be put back into the project to create an overall better delivery.

During the time I have been working with her she has been able to pull the team together by always being supportive and knowledgeable by holding regular team meetings helping us create a team environment by listening to and taking onboard other opinions and ideas.

I thoroughly enjoy working as part of the MWoW team and it makes it even better when you have a manager who is willing to help you improve and support you in your career.

As an inspiring leader Abi continues to lead our team through the exceptionally successful delivery of our program and other ongoing projects.

Anna Blair

Nominated by: Sally Scott, Jeff Newson, Olivia Arkell

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Anna has spent much of the past 6 years acting up as the Community Connectors Manager, or as a Senior Connector. She was working ‘on the ground’ as a Connector and stepped up without being asked, when the team’s Manager suddenly became ill, and the team needed guidance. Since then, her leadership skills have grown and flourished, and continue to. Anna has been instrumental in steering the team to become what they are today, which includes guiding the service through ‘job evaluation’ which will hopefully result in becoming an established service imminently. Anna truly understands the role and how it really works in practice, meaning she is approachable and understanding, going above and beyond to support you to solve any problems when they arise. Colleagues and I often use the phrase ‘what would Anna do’, to which the answer almost always involves putting the client first.

Anna is able to build up a great rapport with clients and colleagues alike, with a positive ‘can do’ approach, encouraging all to further their potential. On a personal level, Anna treated me with humility and a great deal of care when I went through a traumatic time in my life a few years ago. She was kind, patient and understanding, and I felt like I wasn’t just one of her workforce, but an individual she really cared about. Anna quietly and humbly gets on with the role (plus more than is in her job description!) and deserves recognition and praise for the great, inspiring leader she is. This statement was prepared by three of the Connectors team.

Bryde Beighton

Nominated by: Jayne Gaunt

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Bryde is our new manager, she has had an amazing influence on our team. She is able to communicate with her peers, she has had to manage complex needs, and everchanging roles in our scheduling team, which she manages with ease and fairness. She also treats all our team and other depts. with respect and dignity all times, whilst following county council guide lines. She is a shining star within her role as manger, she is an amazing talented person. She will follow and ensure county councils vision for the future

Cassie Metters

Nominated by: Emma Carter

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating my current Team Leader for the Inspiring Leader Award.

My team is currently going through a fixed term contract end at the moment, Cassie has kept us updated every step of the way making to process more bearable for myself and the others in our team. She encourages and inspires us by her own behaviour, which sets an example of how to behave and shows us how acting in a similar way can help us now and in the future. Cassie actively encourages the whole team to further their development at any chance we get as well as going through learning opportunities with us. She understands the need to communicate and support with personal matters when needed. Cassie listens to myself and the team at every chance she gets, to get our opinion and ideas on new ways of working.

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Charlotte Murfin

Nominated by: The South Normanton Team, Julia Jaskolowska and Olivia Lewis

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

After a degree of staff turnover, she has brought stability to our team which has fostered calmness, security and commitment as a team. This positively influences our work with families and achieving best outcomes for children. She is very calm during crisis situations. This creates and supports a team culture which allows social workers to reflect and develop whilst feeling supported and valued. She champions staff wellbeing as a priority within and outside formal supervision. She recognises and tries to alleviate the pressures of frontline working. Charlotte is proactive, has a good working knowledge of all of the teams cases and supports practically as well as emotionally. Charlotte advocates for staff and shares all compliments with senior management. Charlotte has introduced Celebration of Achievement awards within the team which boost morale. Charlotte has a strong grasp of threshold, fights for families right to a private life and for any support they require. Charlotte keeps in mind the importance of the least interventionist approach. Charlotte speaks with the families we work with if the social worker is otherwise engaged. Charlotte is a hands on practice supervisor, leads by example, trusts our judgement, challenges our decision making and encourages reflection. She encourages us to remain curious in our work. For example, Charlotte will proactively contact partner agencies and other people involved to assist the social worker. Charlotte's main priority is to understand and support the lived experiences of the children with work, who are some of the most vulnerable in society. The child remains central to the practice and utilises the performance data and systemic approaches to support the team. This ensures that the team can complete effective, timely work and adhere to the least interventionist approach.

Craig Barker

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I am a new starter to the council. Craig Baker has been a champion teacher to me and my new colleagues. He is incredibly patient, funny, easy to approach, very helpful, would be an incredible leader of the department given the right opportunity and very professional.

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I would like to nominate Craig Barker for his outstanding patience in training myself as a new employee (start date 21st November 2022). Craig Barker has been an inspiring individual who is willing to help and answer any questions I have and still continues to do so. He promotes correct policy within his area of expertise, which in the long term will help with future development.

Daniel Mason

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating them for being the leader who thinks of his team and the care a as a whole, who makes them self readily available for clients and staff. Sets an excellent example of which people want to follow. He is readily exercises the need for multiple agency working for complex decisions and is willing to listen to their individuals ideas and opinions.

David Arnold

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Place

Reason for Nomination:

Spending any time with David reveals that you are with a really inspirational leader.

David displays the very highest commitment to providing great services and outcomes for his service. He is serious and considered in everything that he does and is tireless in seeking out opportunities for improvement.

David inspires great loyalty in his staff and colleagues not least because of his generosity of spirit and the care with which he manages all of his professional relationships. He is always warm, encouraging, generous with praise and considered and careful with advice. He frequently takes time and makes effort to recognise the contributions of colleagues and is selfless in his support of colleagues.

David is expert in his field and wears his authority lightly encouraging colleagues and noting their contributions. A great leader.

Diane Desay

Nominated by: Vanessa Rogers

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

I would like to nominate Di for the inspiring leader award. Since joining Call Derbyshire in late 2018 she has lead us through a period of considerable change. We had a restructure in our team which was a challenging task to take on, she did so with fairness, efficiency and supported those affected every step of the way. A culture change was needed in order for Call Derbyshire to evolve, improve and succeed. It has been a huge challenge to change the way of working for a team of around 70 people, but it has been a success. Without Di's vision and guidance this would not have been possible. We now have a robust performance management process in place which at one time we would not have thought possible to have and it has been accepted and embraced by all the team. We have recently had people re-join Call Derbyshire after a considerable period of time working for other departments and they have commented on how noticeable the change is and what an enjoyable place to work it now is. As a line manager she is kind, supportive, encouraging and pushes you to develop and challenge in the right way. The council, her colleagues, her team and our customers are lucky to have her experience and knowledge to help us to provide the best possible service we can.

Dionne Heard

Nominated by: Rachel Emmerson

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I've been working for the council since Feb 2005. I have worked for Dionne for most of them years, she has done above and beyond for all the staff and treats everyone as one and listen and helps with any problems with personal life and work life, always there for her staff and clients. The challenges she deals with on a day to day working life she doesn't get awarded enough for what she does and a lot of staff would of left by now if not for should a great manager and friend.

Nominated by: Zoe Hale

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

An amazing supportive manager that cares for her team and her service users

Nominated by: Beverly Ford

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Inspiring leader award. I would like to nominate Dionne Heard 8T. I have worked as a community carer for sddc for over 5 years now. having worked in different care settings over the years I have had worked under different care managers. As soon as I started working for sddc with Dionne as my dso it soon appeared to me what a great team I was working for. Dionne has been the best manager I've ever worked under. She’s firm but very fair and approachable. Dionne will always go that extra mile for service user's and also her team. She's very friendly, efficient with everything and above all she's very sensitive in any worries or concerns you may have whether work related or personal and is always at the other end of the phone whether she's working or not to listen. I lost my brother suddenly 3yrs ago it was the worst pain I'd ever experienced and didn't want to return to work but Dionne provided me with the strength and guidance to return back to work and for this I will be eternally grateful.

Dionne Heard

Nominated by: Tracey Baker

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

2018 I started working for the community, this is where I met Dionne Heard dso, who I’m nominating. Five years of continuously being very supportive and is very fair and understanding, and if any problems Dionne is there to help. Goes above and beyond, her team that she supports runs like a dream and runs when she is off too. Her team works as a team, teamwork, she is good with communication, empathy passion, and experienced in what she does and treats each and every one of us the same. I don’t think she get the recognition she deserves in all the years she has been a dso, so I think it’s about time she did. I speak from all her team members. She needs a medal as her job is busy, stressful and challenging at times but she just gets on with it and work more and beyond. She’s an excellent boss, manager, friend, someone you can talk to and she listens, does not judge. She’s amazing and wanted you to know this. If it wasn’t for Dionne I think lots of staff would have moved on, but she inspires all and is good at what she does. Like I said, doesn’t get the recognition for it as I think she should. That’s why we are nominating her for everything she does for her team. She’s the best.

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Our manager Dionne Heard is nominated for this award because as a manager she works hard and is always there for her staff and she has done the same job as us and she is trusting member of our team

Ella Hogan

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Ella Hogan is an amazing senior Prac, she is very supportive to the team but also has amazing relationship with the wider teams including generic and children`s services Ella has worked really hard to build relationships to ensure that clients receive a positive experience and a multi disciplinary approach Ella also always goes above and beyond her AMHP role often taking on assessments from the central team to help them out

Ellen Fineran

Nominated by: Howard Muncaster

Department: Place

Reason for Nomination:

Ellen has been a breath of fresh air since joining the council two years ago - she has brought clarity, direction and momentum to a project that seemed previously to be inching forwards. Securing the future of Elvaston Castle once felt like a distant dream kept out of reach by unclear and unreachable objectives, an ever-changing brief and conflicting views on how to draw together diverse constraints and goals.

Ellen's arrival heralded a massive leap forward for the project that has brought us to the precipice of securing planning permission for the changes that will enable us to make the Castle self-sustaining. We're not there just yet, but we're in a much stronger position because of how she's pulled everything and everyone together. She leads from the front, asks intelligent questions of experts, seems to have endless knowledge and enthusiasm and a real ability to motivate people to pull out all the stops. The project will miss her as she moves into a new permanent role but she's leaving behind a magnificent legacy that is poised to deliver the Elvaston Masterplan.

Ellie Cox

Nominated by: Dave Armshaw

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

Ellie Cox began her Team Leader role at Call Derbyshire in May 2022 having previously been a call handler at Call Derbyshire since April 2019.

Ellie was tasked with stepping up into management within the same department amongst the same colleagues which she has fully embraced and completely excelled in this role with a fresh, hard-working, caring and supportive approach.

In her short time as a Team Leader, Ellie has built up excellent working relationships with other departments becoming a go too person for multiple departments.

Ellie demonstrates an excellent work ethic and a positive can-do attitude, setting excellent standards inspiring her colleagues.

Ellie is very pro-active having thrown herself in at the deep end with learning new skills and different areas of work in order to help her fellow Team Leaders at Call Derbyshire with any queries.

Ellie frequently supports the call handlers with taking calls when call volumes have become excessive.

Ellie will never shy away from a challenge, she is very good at using her own initiative, very ambitious and will always do her upmost to support her colleagues.

Ellie is a very positive jovial person which brushes off on her colleagues spreading positivity and helping motivate staff throughout the day. Ellie supports all new starters taking over the induction training which has had very positive feedback, adapting her style with different learning methods to suit individual’s needs.

Ellie works closely with her grade 7 senior customer care assistants who she manages to help support both new and existing customer care assistants with auditing and ongoing training / support as well as managing her teams own personal development. Ellie is a credit to the council, and it it’s for all the above reasons that I believe Ellie is a perfect fit for the inspiring leader award.

Emma Byrne

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Emma is the manager of the day centre but does also work across the residential units at Florence Shipley CCC Emma is always on hand to listen to problems from staff and will do her best to help solve them. Emma often works really hard to ensure the clients have the best experiences when visiting the day centre. Emma often makes things to use in daycentre. I know she does this in her own time and at her own expense. some examples of these were for the queens jubilee Emma sourced patterns and created beautiful hand crocheted figurines. At Christmas Emma spends hours making various decorations and will decorate the room so beautifully as she is aware that for some clients it is the only Christmas they will experience.

Emma also goes the extra mile to make us as a staff team feel valued for what we do. Emma will make small trinkets to show her appreciation and is never too busy to help boost the morale with the team.

Emma is all round a fantastic manager and although it is hard to find a specific reason for this nomination, it is obvious to us that she deserves some recognition for the job she does and the extra mile she constantly goes.

Emma Steeples

Nominated by: David Cohen

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

In the management of complaints, she is resolution focused and provides effective support to complaints investigators, services responding to complaints, and those making complaints. Emma is an inspirational leader to her team, and as her manager, I receive frequent compliments in relation to her leadership from the staff she manages, and colleagues across the department. She manages in an engaging style, with compassion and a focus on continuous improvement, both personally and for the council as a whole. She deals effectively with complex situations and stakeholders in conflict, and her calm approach helps de-escalate challenging situations and ensures a focus on resolution.

Emma proactively seeks feedback in relation to the services she manages and is astute in knowing when to seek advice or a second opinion from others. She has provided stability and innovation to the quality assurance team during children’s services’ improvement journey, and this has had a tangible impact on service improvement. She has an incredibly strong work ethic and is a role model to staff at different levels throughout the council. Her approach embodies the council’s values and her contribution to the department makes a significant difference to children and families in Derbyshire.

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating my manager because she always makes the time to be there for me and the team.

She is always there to listen (even when not in work) and does what she says she is going to do. She offers praise when someone has done something well and will stand by her team in areas of learning too. She is aspirational and thinks about her teams professional development.

Graham Woodhouse

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating him for the Inspiring Leader Award. He is an inspiration to all his staff, he is honest, fair and approachable.

If there is a problem, he will ask for input from his team and listen to any solutions put forward and then working with the relevant people implement the most appropriate one.

He will provide information in a timely manner ensuring that everyone in his team has up to date information and is working to all relevant policies and procedures.

He encourages personal development for all his staff, whether this is through formal or informal training and is always happy to provide support.

Throughout the pandemic he supported his whole team, understanding the difficulties that we all faced and supporting people to continue to provide the best service possible under very difficult circumstances. As the situation developed he would take on the comments and ideas from his team and implement the changes needed as quickly as possible. He has always supported his staff and continues to do so.

Helen Barrington

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

Helen has been with the authority for just over two years and has made a tremendously positive impact on Legal and Democratic Services during this time.

She has sought to ensure that as a department we are firmly connected to the Council plan and that this informs our actions and departmental aims. This has helped team members to feel more engaged and part of the council rather than an ancillary service and to see their work as fully supporting outcomes for Derbyshire residents. Helen is passionate about good governance arrangements and has driven improvements both in terms of procedures and also in terms of up skilling staff in this area to ensure we are able to assist colleagues in the council most effectively.

Helen is very positive about her profession as a solicitor within local government and has mentored students and encouraged team members to mentor local university students. She has opened up work experience placements through a nationally recognised scheme and is helping to promote the benefits of a career with local government and in particular with the council.

She has supported the development of staff members to enable them to qualify as lawyers and leaders within the department. She has recognised the very valuable contribution of the resident facing services within the division , in particular the Coroner's service and the Registration service and the Business Unit. Helen’s style of leadership is very inclusive and transparent which again has been very much welcomed by colleagues and emulated by team leaders.

Helene Denness

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

For being an amazing leader. Helene Denness is championing equality diversity and inclusion especially in the area of neurodiversity. She models the qualities she values in her staff.

Iain Little

Nominated by: Health Protection Team (Claire Jones and Russell Sinclair on behalf of)

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

The Health Protection Team would like to nominate Iain Little for the Inspiring Leader Award for his leadership in the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the work following it.

Iain successfully led the health protection response balancing an immense workload with being an inspiring leader to the team, many of whom were new to the council. Iain engaged with new members of staff, offered encouragement and set the direction of the team. He continues to oversee the spending of Covid funds that has a positive impact on our communities.

He listens to any problems or issues the team has and helps us find solutions and develop processes to continuously improve our services; sometimes by gently challenging us and building confidence in decisions made. Iain is always approachable and takes the time to check up on team members individually or as a whole and to help motivate them. This was particularly needed during the pandemic when everyone was under pressure, Iain ensured everyone felt appreciated whilst understanding some of the external pressures people had, home schooling for example. When the emergency response to the pandemic became ‘business as usual’ for the health protection team, Iain helped the team navigate this change providing inspiration and a supportive culture as the pace and nature of the work evolved.

Iain remains calm and confident in the most challenging of times and, as well as supporting Public Health Colleagues, has steadfastly engaged with external partners, politicians and members of the public positively addressing anxieties and enquiries about Covid19 risks, data and ever-changing guidance. This included working with health system leaders to ensure the vulnerable populations, both young and old, in the direct care and PVI care homes across the County were suitably protected, as Chair of the Outbreak Control Teams and related JUCD meetings.

Ian Wilson

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I nominate Ian Wilson for the Inspiring Leader award. He is part of the on site Centre Manager Team at Lea Green, He walks in with a smile every day, is always available for advice and support. He is a strong leader offering guidance on many issues, along with following county guidance. He leads by example is willing to help and assist anyone in any of their tasks. He is a very support both on a work and personal level.

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

As one of the centre managers here at Lea Green, this person is a true inspiration and really embodies the council’s values. They are a fantastic leader of our workforce and put everything into their position here. He always goes above and beyond for not only our customers here but our staff too. He proactively encourages the development and aspirations of others.

James Creaghan

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I would like to nominate James Creaghan for an Inspirational Leader award. As lead for Mental Health within Public Health he has worked tirelessly the last few years to bring together a diverse range of partners and community groups and provide for them the best preventative Mental Health care available. His vision and partnership work has saved many lives in Derbyshire and reduced the pressure on: Mental Health Services; council support services; and struggling families. He often goes above and beyond what would be expected in this role, setting up Mental Health First Aiders and a panel of professionals to support them.

He is honest and trustworthy and has made excellent use of scarce funding to make Derbyshire a leading county council in Mental Health workplace care at a time when this could not be more important. Throughout this he has inspired his team and he has lead them with efficiency and compassion.

Joanne Clarkson

Nominated by: Jemma Galbraith

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

Joanne Clarkson, manager at Cavendish Team for SSSEN.

Jo began her first role as area manager in September 2022 having come from a different SSSEN team. Since being in the position, she has had a very positive impact on every single member of the team. She joined a team which had faced difficult times through previous management styles and mental wellbeing had severely been suffering. Jo has inspired staff through her calm, consistent and fair approaches to dealing with new challenges our job role provides. She inspires us all by leading by example. Jo listens to all staff members and always reflects on decisions made within the team to ensure they provide the best possible outcomes for our caseloads as well as considering our wellbeing and workload. In the last term, well being has greatly improved. We are now trusted as professionals, listened to, and appreciated within our job role. Many comments have now been made such as ‘I now love my job and work harder’. This is down to the fact that Jo sees every member of staff as hard-working individuals who aim to support our children, schools and families in the best ways we can. Although Jo is learning a new job role, she always has time to provide support to her colleagues. She is sensitive to everyone’s needs and finds proactive ways to move situations forward. If she is unsure of an answer, she will spend time finding the answers at a higher level to report back – nothing is too much for her. Staff are no longer afraid to voice their opinions or concerns.

Jo has become a very well-respected and valued manager in a short period of time. She has provided so many positive changes with our team through attitudes or improved ways of working. I feel she truly deserves to be recognised for her hard work and effort! Jo is currently working for our team on a temporary contract due to the restructure of Derbyshire services.

Joanne Davidson

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I joined the School catering Training Team at the end of October 2022 as a apprentice. I would like to put my Line Manager and the two training officers forward for the Inspiring Leader award. I have felt very supported since joining and my line manager has helped not only in my apprenticeship set up but also making sure I have the help and support regarding my dyslexia and on the job training. The training officers have spent time explaining the job roles and mentoring me on visits to school kitchens. All three have spent time also in the office showing me the back office even though they are very busy. When I need help they are only a phone call way with advice, support and have been very encouraging right up to the present day.

Joanne White

Nominated by: Danielle Thomas

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

Jo has worked for the Leaving Care Service for 4 years now. During that time, she has taken on the responsibility of leading on the ‘Next Generation’ (formerly known as ‘Care Leaver Council’). The group is designed to gain feedback from our Care Leavers and ensure they are involved in developing our service and making it better. The group is now established and continues to grow and develop. Jo has played a pivotal part in this and shows committed to the ethos of the group.

This is just one part of Jo’s role as a Senior Practitioner, her main role is to manage a team of 6 ‘Leaving Care Workers’, including myself. Jo is an excellent manager and really goes over and above in her role. Jo balances the needs and support needs of our young people, at the same time as ensuring our own emotional well-being is taken care of. She regularly checks-in on us, without us feeling micro-managed and can often recognise when we aren’t quite right, sometimes before we’ve recognised this ourselves!

A big part of our work is ensuring that we share information with colleagues and partners, which is something Jo encourages, she is an advocate for multi-agency working and will support with this when needed. Our job can be very hard at times and no 2 days are the same – we have to be very reactive and be able to adapt to change quickly. Jo is always there at the end of a long day or week and makes time for reflection.

Jo is always open, honest and transparent and I feel this is why she is as respected as she is, as both a manager, colleague and by our young people.

Josie Hill

Nominated by: Laura Novakovic

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Josie Hill is a true inspiration. Always encouraging and motivating the team, the team has improved massively whilst being under Josie's management (2021 - ongoing) The Team feels Josie is approachable and always offers a helping hand to anyone that needs it. Josie is proactive in developing the team and always encourages people to develop their own work and bring ideas to the table. Josie’s work is exceptional, with regular meetings / updates we feel involves, an important part of the time. Our ideas and or concerns are listened to and actively worked on to be improved and we feel the benefit within our team and reaching the councils targets. Scheduling Team have come on leaps and bounds since Josie joined our team.

Josie is an exceptional leader, motivates the team, really listens and cares for the teams well-being and this has helped increase productivity. Following the councils plan and values, the team are thriving under Josie's leadership.

Nominated by: Nathan Gallagher

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Josie has driven the Homecare Scheduling Team to the most stable and confident position it's ever been in. With her patience, grace and unwavering determination, Josie has transformed the team and the employees in it so that they now have a voice and are passionate about improving the service and themselves as individuals. Josie represents everything I, and the team, want in not only a manager but a supportive friend. With her guidance the team have achieved drastically improved scheduling figures, call pick up rates and built resolute relationships with DSOs, social workers and carers in the community.

Josie has achieved all of this in such a short period of time as our Service Manager. She joined us in (~)September of 2021 and continues to be the driving force behind every improvement and ambition that the Homecare Scheduling Team have.

Nominated by: Bryde Beighton

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating Josie Hill for the Inspiring Leader award. Josie is a highly supportive leader. She listens and engages individuals to be find their own way of working that benefits the service and themselves. She is caring and supportive leader who puts everyone first. She is a great example of how to empower people. She's so inspiring.

Nominated by: Sarah Godbert

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I nominating my Service Manager for the inspiring leader award. Josie came to our team during Covid times she has changed to way we work for the better came in with a new and fresh approach to her job and is always encouraging us to develop and get us involved with new task, she is an inspiration to use all this has also cascaded to the scheduling team.

Nominated by: Jane Megson

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I nominate Josie Hill for Inspiring Leader award with the Scheduling team on adult care. She gives us vision enthusiasm and most of all encouragement to make us as a team and individuals, belief for a better future for us all in a very difficult time within Adult care. Josie is a listener and will see through the actions she has set herself to do for the team. Josie is a great Leader and works with empathy and is methodical in her work giving us as a Team the correct tools to move the service forward.

Our moto here at the scheduling team is TEAM = Together Everyone Achieves More.

Nominated by: Amy Heald

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating Josie Hill for the inspiring leader award, ever since Josie become service manager for the Scheduling Team we have seen continues improvements and developments within the team and how we operate. Josie introduced regular team meetings with the whole team to ensure everyone is included and gets a say, everyone has found these useful and feel more included and allows everyone to be heard. Josie is very aspirational about the future and has made significant improvements to the scheduling team and has helped align goals with scheduling team and DSOs to work more collaboratively to create better outcomes for clients. In turn this has helped our team thrive and most importantly helped the service thrive!

Nominated by: Louise Edwards

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Since joining NEDCC last year, I have particularly noticed how committed Josie is to her role and endeavours to provide the best possible service she can. She has excellent attributes for a good leader which include giving her teams encouragement and motivation and never failing to tell us all about what great job we are all doing. I feel this is an important factor in running a successful team. She always makes time to talk to all the team which again I feel is important and making sure no one is left out. For a service that did not exist a few years ago it is very satisfying to see what a difference the service has made to so many people throughout the entire county, allowing them to gain independence again. For the service to have become this successful as it has, I feel Josie definitely deserves the award.

Nominated by: Carole Donovan

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I would like to nominate Josie Hill Service manager for the Inspiring Leader Award: Josie has been the Service manager over ACATT and the Capacity Team since August 2021, Josie was a new Service manager first time in post from being a Senior Practitioner in the High Peak Adult care team.

Josie has been an absolutely inspirational manager / leader, she has exceptional drive and ambition, a brilliant vision for ACATT and how the service will develop over time, she promotes a professional and inclusive culture with the staff, she has devised a new working document on MOSAIC, ACTA, rewritten the ACATT guidance, works closely with external agencies with the police and health, she has been quiet exceptional as a new Service Manager and we are very lucky to have her as our SM, I would like to recommend her for this award.

Nominated by: Julie Jogela-Hall

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Josie Hill - Service Manager ACATT / Home Care Scheduling Capacity Team.

Josie joined ACATT in September 2021 as Service manager coming from her previous post as Senior Practitioner. In under 18 months Josie has become an inspirational leader with a practical, positive, motivational skills beyond any expectations. Josie has excellent visions and has been able to lead the team forward inspiring us to be the best we can be while at all times maintaining individual and team development and continual improvement. This is always in line with the council's plans which is a skill in itself ensuring the development needs of individual worker, the team, the service are all met.

Her positive and enthusiastic attitude are admirable and creates a positive approach to change. Josie is an inspiring leader and in my 25 years with the council I can genuinely say she inspires me every day. She continually promotes a happy and healthy working environment which support to maintain our team identity.

Josie as Service Manager to two teams is exceptionally busy however she remains approachable and responds to us in a timely manner should any issues arise. Josie's communication with us as individual team members and the team as a whole is excellent. She makes us feel valued and listened to. Josie always welcomes any feedback or suggestions where we can make improvements. Josie always acknowledges these contributions in the regular weekly team catch ups and monthly team meetings.

I feel that her leadership has made some excellent contribution to the development of the ACATT team and I know her enthusiasm for improvement there will be more to come which I am proud to be part of.

I am proud to work with Josie as one of the Senior Practitioners and look forward to what the future holds at ACATT.

Josie Jeffries

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

Josie is simply extraordinary. She has been a Senior Teacher within the Specialist Service for Special Educational Needs for several years, during which time, she has consistently sought to improve her own working practice and that of others in her team as well as the whole service. She absolutely loves her work in schools supporting children with SEND and inspires the children and staff to reach their potential in every way.

During the time in which she has worked in SSSEN, she has encouraged and motivated many of her colleagues. She always knows exactly the right thing to say to any particular person to get the best out of them, to support them or to help them. She is amazing at her job working with children, and is the best colleague you could ask for, providing not just practical help, but emotional support as well. Josie is always developing her specialist knowledge and strives to keep up to date with developments in SEND and education.

She has contributed to and led service wide projects, most recently being involved in the implementation of the Autism Education Trust (AET) county wide training which aims to ensure that all schools are committed to inclusive practise and are fully committed to developing their understanding and support of pupils with Autism. Josie is a role model of how person centred approaches can be used successfully with parents, carers and pupils as well as professionals to ensure that the whole child is considered at all times and is a champion for the children that she teaches.

Josie was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 and used this as an opportunity to raise substantial sums of money for cancer research and for the Derby and Burton Hospital Trust. Her understanding of people and how they may respond to a bell being rang at the end of treatment led her to campaign for and to gain a silent reflection pebble on which people could place their hand to mark the occasion in a different way. Her attitude during and after her treatment inspired many people in similar situations as well as her friends and colleagues within SSSEN. Always kind, thoughtful and determined to live life to the full, Josie has always encouraged others to do the same. Josie is beautiful inside and out and inspires us to be better people simply by being true to herself and her values every day.

Julie Stirland

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Place

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating my line manager, Julie, for the Inspiring Leader Award because I feel she has met a lot of the award criteria.

Julie works with colleagues (both other SML, her cluster and other council employees) to ensure any problems which arise are sorted no matter how complex they are. Julie is always fair and respectful of those who work with her as well as to service users and she is always willing to listen to what the AiCs have to say and takes on any suggestions / thoughts that we have.

Julie is helpful, supportive and always makes sure that those in her team reach their potential and aspirations (be this via training or working with them to find new roles / leads they can take on to help them develop and / or gain skills). Julie knows when to take a step back and allow staff to figure things out on their own but also when to step in and lend an extra hand. Overall I feel that Julie deserves to be recognised for all her hard work and support as she is always going out of her way to help others and I feel this is the perfect way to thank her.

Kath Aitken

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Place

Reason for Nomination:

It may not be a large team, but Kath is a force of nature. Mindful of the fact that we have to watch every penny, she is resourceful and fun. She engages with everyone - from the more challenging service users to the children with whom she has a special rapport. She guided the staff through difficult changes in 2019 and is always fair and supportive.

Kimberley O'Brien

Nominated by: Rachel Browett

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

Nomination for Temporary Acting Deputy Manager of a Children Home for 'inspiring leadership'. As the Independent Regulation 44 Visitor (Quality Assurance Manager) for the home. The home has struggled recently and there are several factors which impacted on the home.

Kim has demonstrated commitment, has been a positive role model and stepped up to lead the team under very difficult circumstances. She has set an example and inspired others to 'keep pushing through' the difficult times.

Kim has been sensitive to individuals needs in the team and listened to their needs and supported their decisions. Kim has been transparent, open and honest and accountable with me as the REG 44 visitor and she has taken on board the feedback and actions required to improve the home. Kim has been proactive in implementing the actions when capacity has allowed. Kim aspires for the best outcomes for the children as well as helping the team onto the right path to enable this.

The team have a lot of respect for Kim and this was voiced on the last REG 44 visit. It is clear Kim has sought the views of the team on how to improve the current situation they are facing as a team. Kim has also utilised partner agencies, her managers and others to tackle the presenting issues within the home. Kim is an inspiration to others , as she stepped up when the registered manager and deputy was absent from work and when the home was facing many challenges. Ofsted recently inspected the home and Kim managed her first ever inspection well.

Kim really did face a 'baptism of fire' and deserves recognition for this! Due to Kim's actions the home is now on the journey of recovery, which will impact and improve on the lives of the children living there.

Laura Novakovic

Nominated by: Jayne Gaunt

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Laura is a superstar, she works with colleagues, partners, she is an amazing talent, she works under pressure with a smile. Nothing is too much trouble. She is able to problem solve with honesty and is accountable for all her actions. Laura will engage with all her peers with fairness and empathy. She is a positive and progressive person who is admired throughout our team with her accurate working, attention to detail. She is a shining star. Within the council she is destined to go far.

Lena Ratcliffe

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

This award should go to the HOS Lena Ratcliffe, who is approachable, to all levels of her workers, is supportive, helpful when needed and is not afraid to go the extra mile to support the area, and her staff.

Lindsey Wanless

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Lindsey is the service manager for 3 area teams across Derbyshire as well as the mental health hospital teams. Lindsey is extremely approachable and ensures she is supportive as she can be to all of those teams. Lindsey takes time with each worker to get to know them and ensure that she is supportive of their progression and development.

I know that i can contact Lindsey if i need any advice and support and she is happy to help. Lindsey continues to work hard to develop positive working relationships with partner agencies and has good links with other teams. Lindsey has a good knowledge of local services, even whilst working as service manager. I feel this is maintained due to her willingness to remain involved in the team and front line social work. Lindsey is always willing to come out on difficult visits with clients and get stuck in to support both colleagues and clients we assist. I feel this is really positive for the team and helps with morale as she is such an active, approachable member of the team.

Lindsey will always advocate for the client and ensure that we are looking at the least restrictive option / community services which is best for the client and the council.

Lisa Langley-Fogg

Nominated by: Amanda Hall

Department: Place

Reason for Nomination:

I nominate Lisa Langley-Fogg for her inspiring motivating leadership in Local Studies / Library and her staff training and mentoring skills. Lisa is instrumental in planning and delivering my training in Local Studies / Library Workroom activities at DRO since my start in the job August 2022 to present. Lisa sets the example that I aspire to by demonstrating it every day at work:

in her relationships with me, colleagues, customers
her communication skills; her listening and understanding skills
her ability to respond in a calm, even-handed and measured way when making decisions or giving advice
her job technical skills / productivity

She motivates and inspires me by her example to be the best that I can be in my new job with DRO. Her ability to train in the technical aspects of my new job are exemplary - she shows patience, an ability to explain and demonstrate tasks in a way that I understand and is always quick to reassure and give me the confidence that I am learning and progressing in the job and meeting expectations.

Lisa has been instrumental in supporting me to integrate into the Local Studies / DRO staff team and has been very sensitive to integrating the different personalities, including mine, and how I can contribute to the team. Lisa has actively encouraged me to work with her in planning opportunities for continued improvement within my workspace within her budget, including liaising with other council staff / departments to use their expertise as needed, with the aim of improving the productivity and efficiency of the work process and improving the customer experience when using our library / local studies service. Because of her ongoing support I feel happy in my job, have exciting and achievable goals to aim for and I can see a long-term future for me in the role and working for DRO / council.

Lisa Newton

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

Lisa has embraced working with continuous improvement, she has proactively sought the views of her colleagues throughout each step of the process improvement project and involves her team through involvement at all stages. As a result, all her team are exposed to shared learning and development, they are able to feedback and challenge assumptions which are then translated into requirements (actively listen). She is ahead of her peers when it comes to process improvement project rigour and shows enthusiasm and openness to new ways of working and sets an excellent standard. In addition, she has challenged back on barriers other colleagues have displayed and illustrates the reason behind the why. The project she is working on is ongoing.

Lisa Taylor

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I joined the School catering Training Team at the end of October 2022 as a apprentice.

I would like to put my Line Manger and the two training officers forward for the Inspiring Leader award.

I have felt very supported since joining and my line manager has helped not only in my apprenticeship set up but also making sure I have the help and support regarding my dyslexia and on the job training. The training officers have spent time explaining the job roles and mentoring me on visits to school kitchens. All three have spent time also in the office showing me the back office even though they are very busy. When I need help they are only a phone call way with advice, support and have been very encouraging right up to the present day.

Liz Morris

Nominated by: Penny Parker

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

When the idea of schools and partners were asked to deliver their own Early Help in 2019, Liz sat with her new team plus the development team and looked at the needs of AV, what was needed to ensure people were informed to do this job without fear of failing children, families and communities. As this process has evolved she has collaborated and met with our partners and wider community to create cohesion to support those most vulnerable. She has driven forward the work of the Local Childrens partnership, Thriving Communities in Langley Mill and created a team of professionals who respect and support her in this vision. Our partners find her approachable and knowledgeable whilst being realistic in her advice.

Lois Race

Nominated by: Greg Downs

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Lois is very humble and will likely be embarrassed by this nomination. On behalf of the Financial Inclusion Team, we are proud to nominate Lois for the Inspiring Leader Award.

Lois joined the council via the Welfare Rights Service (WRS). She led the WRS with a clear vision, passion, and political and strategic awareness for over a decade. She provided stability whilst simultaneously growing the high achieving WRS reputation as a leading local authority in the field of Social Security.

Understanding the council’s values of resident and outcome focused work, she managed resources effectively to create the Derbyshire Discretionary Fund (DDF), which has grown into a flagship part of the council. Due to Lois’ strategic foundation and intelligent decision making, it has been able to react quickly and effectively with areas of work such as the Household Support Fund.

Lois is now the PH Lead for Financial Inclusion, leading both the WRS and DDF, and the Affordable Credit Team. She has created a collaborative approach leading the Financial Inclusion Groups, enabling our communities and organisation to thrive, particularly during a Cost of Living crisis.

For those of use that are directly line managed by Lois, we all have our own individual story to tell. However, there is a common theme of a leader who wants to see us grow and develop into the best version of ourselves. It is of a leader who listens, values our opinions, and allows us to walk our own paths with the knowledge that we are equipped with the tools she has provided. Despite the varying support and reasons, Lois’ encouragement always feels personal, tailored, and treated with sensitivity.

We do not like our jobs, we love our jobs because of this. They say, “be the manager (leader) you always wanted” – we want to be Lois.

Lynne Hyland

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I want to nominate Lynne Hyland for her innovative leadership. Lynne sets an awesome example to her teams, she inspires her workers to be the best mental health social workers that they can be. Lynne is the consummate professional, she sets the bench mark for practice by leading from the front, whilst demonstrating the council’s values. Lynne is very skilled in developing her workers, proactively encouraging them to development via arrange of techniques, for example, peer supervision and similar. Lynne fosters a safe place for her teams to aspire.

Simply put Lynne is a brilliant mental health social worker and an excellent leader.

Lynnette Tinney

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I joined the School catering Training Team at the end of October 2022 as a apprentice.

I would like to put my Line Manger and the two training officers forward for the Inspiring Leader award. I have felt very supported since joining and my line manager has helped not only in my apprenticeship set up but also making sure I have the help and support regarding my dyslexia and on the job training. The training officers have spent time explaining the job roles and mentoring me on visits to school kitchens. All three have spent time also in the office showing me the back office even though they are very busy. When I need help they are only a phone call way with advice, support and have been very encouraging right up to the present day.

Mandy Bakel

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

Mandy was successful in obtaining the job as CS Business Services Manager for Accommodation in January 2022 and very quickly adapted to:

working at a more strategic level
deliver changes across the team
supported stakeholders across the department with organisational changes (for example, modern ways of working, rationalisation projects, one public estate)
quickly adapted her approach when dealing with different stakeholders across the department, organisation and externally
developed a broad knowledge of a complex, detailed area of work, to ensure she could continually offer a high-level service
producing several business cases and reports for senior managers
representing the department at key meetings and feeding back or collating key information for CS as required
very quickly gained the respect of managers, head of service, director and other internal stakeholders across the department
quickly improved reporting for the departmental risk register and supported risk owners to understand the council's new approach
developed a strong team and maintained support / high standards throughout a period when one team member passed away, including supporting the family with processes for notification to the council
continually supported two apprentices in the team ensuring they have sufficient opportunity to meet their targets and progress.
encouraged others in development and progression either within their roles or to other roles
supported wellbeing of her team - offers suggestions to challenges and encourages others to have that can do attitude
always has a smile on her face. Mandy went on maternity leave in November, slightly sooner than expected and maintained a high professional standard to hers and her teams approach to work up until this point

Margaret Nolan

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for nomination:

Margaret Nolan has worked for the council for 35yrs and dedicated her whole working life to the Sensory needs of children and young people. Predominately working with deaf and the hearing impaired to make their access to learning achievable and their inclusion as seamless as possible. Margaret has supported, trained and empathised with families, colleagues with in her own and wider teams. Managed a team and has gone above and beyond through all these years to strive to make inclusion positive.

Margaret has seen many changes over the years and has been instrumental in some of those changes. She is forward thinking, compassionate and driven to reach the best outcomes for all. She lead a traded service for Post16 and in that time had a successful and highly regarded service that has reduced only due to the change in demand but the work she began continues in a different capacity to this day.

Margaret is careful to consider any spending and will challenge where needed to ensure all service users are offered value for money in equal measures. Margaret is an asset to the team and will be a huge loss as she retires this Easter. Not only has she been there for the team as a manager, a font of knowledge and experience but also as a confidante whom made her team feel important and cared about.

Margaret has sat on boards such as CHSWG and NDCS diplomatically sharing thoughts and ideas and helping to reach common understanding between multi-professional teams. Margaret despite retiring has continued to share the vision for the future and been enthusiastic to share her thoughts of what a good service looks like going forward - though her career is drawing to a close her enthusiasm and passion for the service has not ended.

She most certainly wants the ethos to continue and the service to thrive in our changing world. The contribution to service has been consistency, a steady and experienced lead professional who has inspired, mentored and encouraged the team to continue being the best they can be. She should be nominated for the legacy of holding things together in times of change but encouraging the team to look for the good in those changes.

Marie Billyeald

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I would like to nominate Marie Billyeald. Marie was asked to transform the Health and Wellbeing Team to better deliver against the Council Plan priority to develop a preventative wellbeing coaching model offering health and wellbeing advice to prevent the need for adult care services.

Marie has stepped up to the mark and throughout 2022 has inspired her team to not only deliver an existing service, continuing to support vulnerable individuals to attain better life outcomes, but also collaboratively undertake the transformational work required.

Marie has ensured the voices of service-users and team members have strongly influenced the new service model, as well as adult care colleagues.

Marie has led a series of whole-team development sessions to ensure excellent dialogue between all team members and herself, while also supporting the team to continue to deliver a service, including maintaining individual’s wellbeing. Marie has also supported the team to further enhance their strengths-based approach to help team members be more productive and build better relationships with colleagues and service-users.

Marie ensured the service-user voice was considered in the service transformation through commissioning a series of Customer Journey Mapping Interviews.

Marie is a passionate advocate for the new Coaching model, successfully securing additional longer-term funding to ensure a full complement of staff are in post.

Marie has also been willing to enlist additional support where required, eg additional expertise in developing an implementation plan to ensure the transformation is delivered on time, and has identified good practice from elsewhere to incorporate in the new service model.

As a result of Marie’s inspiring leadership, I am confident that the council has an enthusiastic, energised and motivated Health and Wellbeing team ready to commence delivery of a new, innovative service to meet the needs of vulnerable individuals across Derbyshire.

Michelle Parker

Nominated by: Sarah Chubb

Department: Place

Reason for Nomination:

Michelle Parker became Head of Libraries and Heritage at a challenging time, facing the need to restructure the library service and refresh the library strategy amongst other major challenges.

As someone new to senior management, Michelle has had to find her feet quickly and get to grips with council processes which are often not documented or easy to navigate. Throughout these challenges, Michelle has been an inspiration to me and other members of the Libraries and Heritage Management Team through her ability to learn on the job, deal with crises and yet maintain her positivity.

The library service restructure was born of the need to make savings but became an opportunity to reshape the service to make it more customer focussed, collaborative and efficient. Working with her on shortlisting and interviewing staff affected by the restructure, I have seen first-hand how she approached the process with compassion and fairness at the heart.

Her empathy for the staff concerned was evident, but she did not let it prevent her from making difficult decisions. Michelle adopts a collaborative leadership style, and is always open, honest, and welcoming of new ideas and perspectives.

She is taking forward the new library structure with a series of workshops to involve the whole team in shaping the service, agreeing how they will work together and develop. It has been evident from the reactions of library staff that the new structure and approach is welcomed as a positive way forward for the service and an opportunity to start afresh.

Her vision is clearly focussed on making the service the best it can be and delivering on the Council Plan for the people of Derbyshire, and her example has inspired me to move past a sense of post-Covid burnout to embrace the future as she has done.

Michelle Smith

Nominated by: Rebecca Collinson

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I'm nominating Michelle for the Inspiring Leader award because she has been a strong force for change and improvement in the Fostering Service. Since the start of 2022 she has been taking the lead in a project to adapt their Internal Search and Placement Duty system. She has helped the service take greater ownership of their practice and performance and is using new technology to improve service delivery and bring the service together.

I am so proud of how well Michelle has led this change. She has shown true leadership skills by not only changing the way she works herself, leading by example, but also listening to her colleagues - taking their concerns and suggestions seriously, and ensuring that senior managers listened to their views. She has actively supported her colleagues throughout the change, above and beyond her own team, and is relentlessly attentive to the wider staff's morale and feedback.

Michelle's hard work has been crucial to her service through a challenging period of change, which would not have succeeded without her leading from the front, being available and contactable by all, and giving support and consideration to her colleagues.

Throughout this year Michelle has developed her change management skills and worked collaboratively and tirelessly with my own team to bring about process improvements. She is now leading the way in continuous improvement of her service; helping them adapt to a changing environment and pressures by constantly exploring opportunities to improve, both great and small.

Above all Michelle is committed to getting the absolute best out of her service for our Children in Care in Derbyshire. I would like to say thank you to her for engaging so brilliantly with my team and me, for being such a passionate, dedicated and inspiring leader and an asset to Children's Services.

Nagihan Kot Maycock

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating Nagihan for the inspiring leader award, as she is a fantastic manager she always listens to her staff and to the public and deals with issues in a supportive, fair, efficient way. Nagihan is not afraid to question why funds are being used for services to ensure that the councils funds are put to the best use. Nagihan is encouraging towards her staff supporting them to learn new skills and new ways to be more efficient with their work. As a result of Nagihan's management skills she has a happy team that are always willing to help each other and her in any way they can.

Nominated by: Sarah Truman

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Since I started with the council, Nagihan has been a fantastic team leader. Nothing is ever too much trouble for her and she ensures we feel comfortable with our workloads and what is being asked of us.

Nagihan has brought our team closer by organising team building sessions which has strengthened working relationships and meant we can tackle larger problems together more effectively. Nagihan also makes sure we aren't being overworked or are supported with our workload where possible. She ensures work is evenly distributed within the team in a fair manner. This has been my ongoing experience from my start date (14 July 2022) to present day. Nagihan encourages us all to excel in what we do and to accept any opportunities that come our way, should we have the desire to improve our working skills.

Paul Whitehead

Nominated by: Fiona Spyra

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating Paul Whitehead for Inspiring Leader Award for his skill set, mild and kind nature, always ready to approach problems in a proactive manner, listens and considers many options. Paul leads a team of mechanical engineers who attend site for equipment servicing and repairs and much more. Paul is a gentle, caring, and considerate person, there is something of a calming nature to him. Adult Care like many other services contact him and his team when we are in crisis due to breakdown or faults on key pieces of equipment that the care sector cannot function without. Paul is a shining light of what others should aspire to, fair, open, honest, hardworking, and diligent. Paul embodies the council’s values by working with his partners and communities to offer best value and a proactive and reliable service. He has certainly brought focus to projects and tasks and is mindful of differing motivations and drivers of each project. He is a wonderful person and great team leader and is always keen to hear from others and looks for continual improvement within his area of expertise and works with partners to bring in other perspective and opinions. Paul listens and engages and is open to feedback and suggestions and can explain complex topics regarding electrical installation or fixes to ensure his audience understand. He is an amazing asset and I do hope Paul’s work is recognised and rewarded with progression to lead and inspire a larger team and audience. I have worked with Paul on many topics, but one specifically was to ensure good quality laundry equipment from 7 care home closures were recorded, tracked secured in a safe and serviceable environment to allow thousands of pounds of assets to be maintained and redistributed as and when required throughout adult care.

Rebecca Chapman

Nominated by: Gemma Cooper

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I have been in my team for 1 year and 5 months, my practice supervisor has done been a positive role model for not only mine but my teams development and understanding of the core skills or social work practice and Derbyshire values. Nothing is too much to ask of my practice supervisor and no matter when we need advice and support around families we work with, she is there to help us unpick and reflect. She gets us all working together as a team so that everyone can be their full potential in Derbyshire. She is very open and honest with us and will come and support us on visits and meetings when we need them to help our development.

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

Amazing practice supervisor and supportive of the team she works with and not afraid to go the extra mile for family and her team

Rebecca Jones

Nominated by: Leanne Jordan

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

Rebecca is an inspirational leader who is always listening to the team and leading by example. She is dedicated and really cares about the service and difference we can make to children and their families. Rebecca is making positive changes but is cautious to make sure these changes are in the interest of children, families, settings and the work force. She is both proactive in making these changes and sensitive to the wider impacts.

Rosemary MacLennan-Crump

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

Rosie sets an example of positive leadership and inspires others to fulfil their potential. Rosie proactively encourages the development of colleagues and always take into consideration their aspirations. She is consistent in her focus on continual improvement within her local area, encouraging others to have an aspirational vision for the future and offering creative solutions to benefit the local community. Ongoing

Sharon Urben

Nominated by: Louise Gough

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

Sharon Urben has recently received her 25 years of service for the council, which demonstrates her commitment and dedication within her role in the council's Positive Play Support Programme. Over the 27 years Sharon is continually developing and managing the Positive Play Support Programme. As a team we are nominating Sharon for the Inspiration Leader Award.

Sharon provides our team with a proactive and aspirational leader. She helps and supports our individual personal development by ensuring we work collaboratively as a team. She does this by not only being a good listener, but she also has a wealth of knowledge and guidance. She has both in-depth personal and professional experiences that she shares with us. Sharon is an approachable, caring, and empathetic manager, who has an abundance of vision, all these qualities help us to continually strengthen our team through her leadership.

During Covid-19 Sharon acknowledged that families were in crisis, she used her instinctive initiative to develop a package for families to support them socially and emotionally at that time. Throughout the pandemic the families faced a lot of life challenges, the packages were to support the whole family in giving them precious time to build memories. The impact of the pandemic Sharon recognised the gap within schools / services to support families after this crisis. Sharon actively listened to the team, schools, and services to promote the family support package to make a positive impact on the families, schools, and community.

The programme has grown from strength to strength because of Sharon’s hard work, passion, commitment, and dedication to helping children and families to play, grow and feel safe. The Positive Play Programme continues to thrive, the family time has now been embraced in several schools.

Sinead Stanley

Nominated by: Esther Payne on Behalf of the whole team

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Although this nomination is being submitted by one person the entire team is in full support. Sinead sets an example to us all in what it means to be a social worker and how to put the needs of the client at the centre of everything we do. Sinead has single handily managed not only her own team but another team within the area as well. Sinead is always available to support anyone who needs her giving practical, helpful and skilled advice. Sinead regularly takes on extra projects to further the councils goals and values along with providing the best outcomes for those who use our services.

Sinead has extremely high standards of the quality of work that we complete and works with us to continue to improve our practice. Sinead also carries this principle through into the work she does herself. Sinead has actively encouraged and supported the team and in the last year supported several members of the team through their progression and to further their professional development by completing their practice educator training. Sinead has supported several students within the team one of whom is now employed within the team. Sinead takes a personalised approach to everyone in the team, taking into account their personal circumstances, learning styles and motivations. Sinead actively seeks out feedback on possible changes to the way we do things and always makes decisions as a team. Sinead regularly put the needs of the service before her own and shows incredible personal resilience on a daily basis. Sinead genuinely cares about her staff and makes sure to express her gratitude on a regular basis making sure everyone feels valued, she is the embodiment of what a leader should be and the council have no idea how lucky they are to have her.

Steve Brown

Nominated by: Janet Scholes

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

I would like to nominate Steve Brown. When I first joined the organisation, Corporate Property had recently undergone a restructure at SMT level, and Steve was relatively new to the post of Head of Property Maintenance. I think it's fair to say that Steve has been on the biggest journey of all of the Heads of Service and that he has transformed from someone lacking in confidence at times, to an inspirational and very skilled member of the senior management team, who is well liked and respected by other team members.

Steve started in his current post, having risen up 'from the tools' and had a thorough understanding of the maintenance element of property management. He has embraced opportunities to learn and develop, passing his CIPFA Diploma in Asset Management, developing new ways of thinking about our property maintenance through lifecycle costing, moving to planned maintenance programmes from reactive and the introduction of the asset challenge process to ensure that money isn't spent unnecessarily on assets we don't plan to retain.

Steve has worked hard to take his wider team on the same learning journey - overcoming some scepticism from a very traditional workforce. He is currently overseeing the transformation of the maintenance and construction function, work which is difficult and requires excellent change management. Steve has proven his ability to see the much bigger picture. At all times throughout this process, Steve has remained positive, measured, calm, encouraging and highly supportive. He carries great respect and is a hugely positive role model.

Tony Kearsey

Nominated by: Hazel Coates

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating Tony because he has been an inspirational leader and a role model to me. He has been a mentor and provided valuable support and guidance to me during the last year, when we had reduced resource within the team and there was a lot of pressure on everyone.

He kept everybody's spirits up when times were tough and encouraged the team to stay motivated. He encourages all of us to improve our area of work in line with the council's vision and is always looking for ways to spread the word of risk management within the council. He has been actively working on a new reporting system with colleagues, for the use of risk registers, which will provide easier methods of reporting on risk, and how to reduce risk. He is accurate with his work, clear and precise, which makes it easy to learn from him. He is very knowledgeable and if he is able to help, he will do.

He has inspired me in particular to learn more about risk management, and to think positively about the future and my chosen career path. He is always encouraging the development of risk management within the council, and I personally have found his positivity very motivating.

He builds up good working relationships with all council employees to promote risk management, with a view to embedding this further. He is always keen to listen, and to provide proactive advice with regards to our work area, but also to me on an individual basis to help me progress with my career.

He takes on board the opinions of others, and will listen to different viewpoints, and then work together to achieve the desired outcome.

Tracey Fidler

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Tracey Fidler has managed the Out of Hours (OOHs) service for 10 years. In that time, it has developed from a small team of 3, to a multi-functional delivered service with strong interrelationships with all stakeholders, that aims to make difficult situations safe for the people of Derbyshire.

Her dedication and investment to ensuring a thriving community, shines through in her actions, furthermore her commitment and professionalism to inspire employees is significant. This continues to evolve year on year, as does her countywide excellent reputation. For this the team wishes to nominate her for the ‘Inspiring Leader Award’.

Tracey’s role involves co-lead service delivery with all emergency services, partner agencies and stakeholders, ensuring fundamental public service reforms and sustainability but more importantly securing public confidence and trust. Her trustworthy leadership of nearly 100 professional staff, instils confidence and competence in their work, hence her retention of staff is exceptional. The majority having worked OOH’s alongside their day jobs, for many years.

Countywide and National critical incidents, demands a strong resilient approach from all those involved and for this she has led without waiver. She is respectful of all views and opinions; however, she is confident in expressing the obligations of the department, and that pooled expertise in an integrated manner improves the outcomes for our most vulnerable clients.

Tracey expects and ensures equity, transparency, and accountability always and leads by example. She ensures the Derbyshire pound is invested and spent wisely, evidencing this in her innovative approach to events and situations, as OOHs have historically had little resources to hand; and for this, she has great respect and admiration for her ability to manage and be responsive in extremely difficult and complex situations.

Tracey demonstrates effectively how the vision for Derbyshire matters and that partnership working, in correlation with each other, is effective in crisis management. Furthermore, emphasising the importance that our clients demand a good experience from the OOHs service and encouraging everyone, especially her team, to be the best they can.

Tracey Hyslop

Nominated by: Kate Hopkinson

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

In collaboration with other colleagues, Tracey Hyslop and Vanessa Ward have worked hard on a project to recruit a cohort of 16 Social Worker Apprentices across Adults and Childrens Services for a 2023 start, whilst supporting an existing cohort of 16 apprentices with a 2020 start.

Tracey and Vanessa have been instrumental in driving the Project forward. The project has involved detailed planning, persistence, resilience and excellent communication skills. They have ensured a high number of stakeholders are communicated with at each stage and ensured they are engaged with throughout the 3 year programme. This at times has involved sensitive feedback which they have listened to, taken on board and considered how improvements can be made for future cohorts. They always strive to deliver the best end result for each individual who shows interest in the programme, through to those who are successful in commencing the apprenticeship.

Their commitment continues throughout the apprenticeship programme all the way through to supporting with end point assessment and securing a role within the council. They have kept the end learner in mind at every stage and worked over and above to ensure the experience for each apprentice is positive. They demonstrate continuous improvement by capturing lessons learnt during the project to make improvements for future apprentices.

As a result of their work, 32 apprentices have been positively impacted in their careers. They recently shared how amazing it has been to be given the opportunity to complete an apprenticeship with the council. The end result is a council future pipeline and inspirational examples for other apprentices for their own career pathway.

Personally, I have been with the council one year and in that short time they have demonstrated to the Talent Team that they inspire others, embody the councils values and proactively encourage others development.

Vanessa Ward

Nominated by: Kate Hopkinson

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

Vicky Green

Nominated by: Pauline Dance

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I nominate Vicky Green for the Inspiring Leader award. She is part of the on site Centre Manager Team at Lea Green, She is a strong leader working hard and keeping a smile on her face at all times. She is more than happy to roll her sleeve up and assist anyone. She has an open ear policy and offers advice on various issues. She is a supportive leader to all staff.

Wendy Kirkman

Nominated by: Ottiley Baker

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I nominate Wendy for the Inspiring Leader award on behalf of the Amber Valley South Personalisation and Prevention team.

Wendy is supportive to all, whether they are beginning their journey with the council or are established in their role.

One worker writes:

"‘she encourages us all to support each other, reminding us of what it feels like to be new"

While another details how Wendy has:

"supported me throughout my professional development from the role of my mentor to my senior practitioner and now as service manage."

Wendy worked her way up to her current position (starting her career in the council as a care manager), enabling her to truly understand the challenges we face at ground level.

Wendy proves to be a champion of the council’s values and has inspired us all to take ownership of our responsibilities on an individual, team and organisation level. Wendy is a beacon of light in bleak circumstances, boosting morale and ensuring team wellbeing is a priority by actively listening, responding proactively and improving the team’s resilience through daily virtual team meetings.

One worker states:

"Wendy showed me what a manager who cares looks like."

When it comes to management, Wendy is firm but fair and very understanding. She is described as ‘warm and approachable, encouraging us to use our strengths and recognise our weaknesses, to develop them positively ensuring services are delivered to the highest standard’, yet is still able to be ‘a friend to all’.

The result of this is that our team is hugely successful in retaining staff due to the working atmosphere she creates, and her commitment to lead in a cohesive and supportive team environment.

Wendy encourages the team to be the best we can for the benefit of the authority, but also to enable us to realise our own aspirations. She truly embodies all that an inspiring leader should.

Yolande Dixon

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Adult Social Care and Health

Reason for Nomination:

I would like to nominate Yolande Dixon at The Grange as she is always hard working and thinking of ways to improve the council's service and to make it more safe for clients and colleagues. Myself and other staff have recently gone through the HOP closure and Yolande has been outstanding. She has been very quick on getting information and giving us the support that we needed that we didn't get from other management. She is a good teacher, if you are unsure of something she will always have the time to sit and talk you through things and keep on doing this until you start to retain it better.

She puts others first before herself. She hasn’t had a very good Christmas due to a health scare but remained at work every day and always making her team smile and laugh. She is one of the best managers I have worked for.

Emma Steeples

Nominated by: David Cohen

Department: Childrens Services

Reason for Nomination:

I am nominating Emma Steeples for the inspiring leader award due to the consistent high-quality leadership she displays, not only to the team she manages, but to colleagues council-wide. Emma is responsible for quality assurance across children's services including the management of complaints processes. She has led the implementation of a new quality assurance process (reflective case review) which has received positive feedback from practitioners and has been recognised by Ofsted as being of high quality. This new process encourages reflection from practitioners and operational managers, and also incorporates feedback from children and families, evidencing her commitment to involving colleagues and local people. In the management of complaints, she is resolution focused and provides effective support to complaints investigators, services responding to complaints, and those making complaints. Emma is an inspirational leader to her team, and as her manager, I receive frequent compliments in relation to her leadership from the staff she manages, and colleagues across the department. She manages in an engaging style, with compassion and a focus on continuous improvement, both personally and

for the council as a whole. She deals effectively with complex situations and stakeholders in conflict, and her calm approach helps de-escalate challenging situations and ensures a focus on resolution. Emma proactively seeks feedback in relation to the services she manages and is astute in knowing when to seek advice or a second opinion from others. She has provided stability and innovation to the quality assurance team during children’s services’ improvement journey, and this has had a tangible impact on service improvement. She has an incredibly strong work ethic and is a role model to staff at different levels throughout the council. Her approach embodies the council’s values and her contribution to the department makes a significant difference to children and families in Derbyshire.

Ellenna Bond

Nominated by: Anonymous

Department: Corporate Services and Transformation

Reason for Nomination:

Ellenna is an inspirational leader, who routinely acts in the best interests of all council employees, the councils itself and Derbyshire residents. Ellenna has always encouraged me to be the best I can be, whether it be giving me the confidence to progress with my career or helping with complex problems. Ellenna is very supportive and enables me to make my own decisions whilst considering the bigger picture. Thanks to Ellenna, I am progressing my career with the council, building a good network and knowledge of best practises, broadening my skill set and becoming more confident in my abilities. Ellenna's support is on-going and voluntary given that she has no business reason to help me. She is a massive asset to the council, and a brilliant leader.