This website places cookies on your device to help us improve our service to you. To find out more, see our Privacy and Cookies statement.

Meaningful Conversations

One of the 2020 Workforce Vision priorities for action 2015-16 is to ensure "that everyone has a meaningful conversation about their performance, their development and career aspirations."

Having meaningful or 'good' conversations is a vital part of engaging with your staff to identify what their learning needs are, setting objectives and agreeing a personal development plan. The conversation is important in working with the individual to identify what is important to them or what they want to achieve, and then working backwards to identify to how to get there. Often, being listened to and having the chance to think about their development from a different point of view can already make a difference to people.

Meaningful conversations are ones that encourage the sharing of thoughts, feelings and opinions, and where everyone has a voice and is listened to and are central to being able to develop, value, share and act on knowledge about the patient, family member or staff as a person.

  • Further Reading

    Developing Others NES resource for those who support other practitioners to review and develop their own communication and relationship skills and behaviours.

    Communication Skills Overview of skills on NHS Scotland Good Practice Toolkit (updated January 2016) 

    Framework for caring conversations

    An Introduction to Caring Conversations with Belinda Dewar

    Caring Conversations are Leadership Conversations

    Making Communication Even Better

    Making Communication Even Better is a learning resource for health, education, social work and voluntary sector staff who want to know and understand how to improve their own communication and make their service more accessible for people with communication support needs.

    About Communication

    NES resource which includes principles of good communication and factors impacting on good communication.

    Developing Self

    NES resource for practitioners: Do you really know how good your communication and relationship skills and behaviours are? Have you ever had feedback about how you communicate and relate to other people?

    My Home Life

    A range of resources including references to the Senses Framework and Appreciative Inquiry.

    NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde: Self-management in Podiatry - Improving our conversations with patients

    Staff used Effective Practitioner as a starting point to get an understanding of how good communication can impact on the outcomes in self-management. As a result they have now compiled a workshop that can be delivered to podiatry staff across the Board in their clinical support group. They have also created a facilitator pack and short PowerPoint presentation to support the workshop which has been included in the service learning and development plan.

    An additional output to the project is a patient resource leaflet/shared goal tool. This leaflet signposts to self-management tools, provides foot health information while also encouraging the patient to take an active part in their own treatment. The pilot has been successful and the plan is to implement across the service.

    Click here to view a presentation from the Effective Practitioner National Conference, June 2014.