Fatta Thapa, Owner/Director, Home Instead Greenwich & Bexley and Lewisham & Southwark
There has possibly never been a more challenging time to be involved in the social care sector. A rapidly ageing population, problems within the NHS – both amplified by the shortage or care workers. But with challenge comes opportunity that can only be acted upon if you have a strong team – and that comes from having the right leadership in place.
If I had to put a label on my management style I’d say it’s ‘hands off’ – but not in the sense that I’m not interested or involved. It’s very much the opposite. For me, leadership is about empowering your team to get on with the job in hand and for them to feel at ease doing it their way.
Yes, I set the guide rules, along with my wife Sonia with whom I run our two Home Instead offices, but I’m not in to micromanagement!
All of this starts with having the right people around you as that makes the whole leadership thing run much more smoothly. In fact, if the people aren’t right then having a cohesive team to lead is a non-starter.
As a mission-led business, our purpose is to expand the world’s capacity to care so that’s our starting point when looking for people to join our team. Do they share our passion for making a difference, are they empathetic and are they ‘people’ people? If the answer is yes, then we are on to a good thing.
So we recruit based on attitude and then we make sure that we give everyone the tools they need to do the job. And ongoing support is part of this. Our leadership team has access to external coaching so that they are continually developing their business skills.
All our staff have personal development plans which are reviewed regularly with their line managers.
We also run team building sessions during the year. We have looked at identifying and challenging current ways of working to develop a strong culture to aid growth. This has included changing mindset and behaviours, building confidence and working with key team members to build individual accountability and responsibility in order to deliver results.
We have had a real focus on recruitment & retention; the biggest challenge we are facing in the industry. We are advocating and raising awareness of health and social care careers as part of our strategy to attract new talent.
Our employees’ feedback is incredibly important to us, so we carry out an independent survey through WorkBuzz annually. In our recent survey we scored 95% of engagement score and awarded with a prestigious ‘5 Star Employer’ award 2022.
Giving back
I have volunteered for most of my adult life as I love to help people who are in need. Sonia and I even have our own charity, Skills & Care. The charity’s focus is to promote social inclusion and support vulnerable and isolated older people in our community.
I am very interested in supporting the veteran Ghurkha community. During the pandemic I organised and sent 300,000 face masks and other PPE to my native Nepal for distribution by the local government. I was recognised by the ambassador to Nepal for my outstanding contribution towards fighting Covid-19.
Dementia is another area of interest. I run various community awareness events and am an Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Ambassador. This role sees me running dementia friends sessions in the community, helping families to learn more about the condition. I also run memory cafes.
I’ve been lucky to receive some lovely awards for my volunteer work – I was named a Platinum Champion as part of the late Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and won a Civic Award from Mayor of Bexley for outstanding achievements in supporting older people.
I don’t do this work for the accolades, nice as they are, I just like helping people – it’s the thread that runs through my business and personal life.
