Growing together: Cultivating shared values

Our Future Focus sets out what we want to achieve by 2026, with one objective being to improve our effectiveness as an organisation and strengthen the Healthwatch movement. Our culture, values and behaviours are crucial to achieving this objective, which defines, inspires and drives us. 

We’re about to start the process of developing our shared values. We want you to help us agree our core values, the behaviours the public expects from everyone who is part of Healthwatch, and the actions we need to take to embed them in our everyday practice.

To get you thinking, should they be equity, collaboration and/or integrity? There’s much to consider and you will help us to get this right.

The values and behaviours that underpin Healthwatch culture are the glue that binds us together, as independent organisations working on a shared mission. They provide the basis for us to earn the trust of the public, including people who have experienced discrimination and inequality, and the respect of health and care decision-makers who we are encouraging to act on our insight and recommendations.

All too easily, values can be glib and inauthentic words on paper. What’s important is how we put them into practice whether we are a lead officer, staff member, volunteer or Board member. As organisations delivering public functions, it is right that we support each other and hold ourselves to account for how we act and behave.

The process of how we arrive at our shared values is important and worth taking time over. Just like the work we started on equality, diversity and inclusion, it’s an ongoing conversation that’s needed, rather than an item that needs ticking off from the to-do list. We’ve put on both face-to -ace events and online webinars, as the former can elicit rich conversations while the latter ensures there are opportunities for everyone to participate. If the online events are oversubscribed, we’ll add more sessions to the calendar.

How you can get involved

There is one in-person workshop being held in London and two online webinars scheduled where you’ll:

• Help define our shared values and behaviours.
• Identify how we might best use the values and behaviours, including to help motivate our Healthwatch teams.
• Identify how we’ll measure their effectiveness.
• Identify opportunities to continue the conversation, such as through peer networks.

In organising the events, we’ll be considering how to balance making sure people can talk openly in a safe space that’s also enjoyable, worthwhile and inclusive. Our National Committee and staff will also participate in the workshops, so this is a collaborative process.

We firmly believe that developing shared values is not only right for a stronger Healthwatch movement, but also important in our ambition to deliver improvements for the public and secure a sustainable future.