Leading with compassion, empathy and understanding

Rob has recently returned to Guernsey after 19 years living and working in Wales. He has a gracious personal style, a deep love for people and a heart for community that is inspiring. Rob was appointed CEO of Les Bourgs Hospice in October 2023, an organisation with 130 volunteers and 66 staff. Phil Eyre, the founder of Leaders, took a few moments to speak with Rob.  

PE: What drew you back to Guernsey and Les Bourgs Hospice?  

RJ: Guernsey is a wonderful place that I care deeply about. The opportunity to serve the community is both inspiring and humbling. We all have challenges ahead and I am keen to step into those challenges and help lead the hospice forward. 

Covid changed all of us. I was leading a hospice in Wales when the pandemic hit. I needed to change my role to care for my daughter who was shielding throughout. I began working in a government role which proved very helpful in gaining policy development experience with government and governance, alongside my experiences in a caring setting.  

PE: Did you always have hospice or charitable work in mind? 

RJ: I have harboured a strong desire to volunteer, having helped to nurse my father through cancer when I was in my mid-twenties. This experience was saddening and prompted much reflection, becoming a catalyst to decide to commit to volunteering in hospice care from thereon. I didn’t expect at that point for volunteering to become a different, full-time role. As time progressed, it became increasingly important to me to help bring care, compassion and love to people. It strikes me that we need this most at the start and end of our lives.  

PE: Rob, that’s really moving. You clearly have a vision for the role of hospices in the community.  

RJ: The hospice movement gained traction around 30 years ago with a deliberate holistic ethos. We care deeply about providing excellent clinical care but this is not all. We provide emotional care, social care - supporting the whole family - and spiritual care for which there is no single definition. None of us exists in a vacuum, we are connected together in our community. 

Leading a hospice requires a long-term commitment. It needs an investment in a long-term strategy to understand the direction of travel and the future needs of the community. This suits my hopes well and I am keen to serve in this way.   

PE: What are the hallmark qualities of a hospice CEO? Are these different to those required in a commercial or government setting?  

RJ: Compassion, openness and a desire to serve the whole society. Any hospice exists to reflect and serve the needs of the community. It’s important to be receptive to those needs and to listen openly and deeply. Hospice care must be developed to meet those needs rather than impose a service or approach onto the community. It’s important to do things for the right reasons with morals and ethics in priority above all else. Every decision, initiative and conversation must be founded in goodness.  

Excellence is extremely important for any hospice. Providing a high-quality of care is at the heart of everything that we do. Values such as compassion, empathy and understanding are our guiding light, the basis for our choices, actions and attitudes. When we immerse ourselves in such qualities, we will make good and sensible decisions.  

PE: What are the greatest challenges ahead for Les Bourgs Hospice? 

RJ: The first and major challenge is for us to keep pace with the community's needs, providing care and excellence in a challenging cost-of-living environment.  

The island’s demographic is the second and related challenge. Our population is ageing and whilst medical care generally is improving, the community’s need for us will only expand. This is not yet something that the hospice movement has had to deal with since emerging over the last 30 years.  

All the best challenges are worth doing and are part of what makes the role interesting.  

We have some fantastic assets to help meet this challenge - our volunteers and team! I am so impressed and humbled by the commitment and level of support given to us by our volunteers. They enable the work of our nurses and are vital to our ability to serve the community. 

PE: What will be needed to help ensure that you and Les Bourgs can meet these challenges?

RJ: A number of things are needed to meet these challenges, such as a continuing willingness to work well together. Good team dynamics are essential and ensure that we can cooperate across the various needs of the organisation. An open, trusting environment ensures that fewer things go wrong. Being able to respectfully challenge and be open to feedback helps us to avoid unnecessary risk. We need everyone to understand our direction of travel. Being together in that keeps us focused. People being empowered in their roles fosters a more fulfilling work environment for all our workers, whether paid or voluntary. Good relationships are therefore important, spending time supporting and encouraging each other helps propel us to be at our best for our community. It is our culture of care, compassion and openness that will see us through. 

PE: Have you benefitted from good mentors in your life? 

RJ: Yes, I have benefitted from two excellent mentors. The late Trevor Blatchford set me a great example. He lived and led with integrity. He also had a knack for really great timing. Another fantastic mentor is Jo Boyd MBE who served as Hospice Director at Les Bourgs for 17 years and retired at the end of last year. She exudes compassion and humility. She has a wonderful understanding of people and cares deeply for them. She is open and honest with good humour. She can help clarify a situation with appropriate stories. I respect her immensely.

Image courtesy of the Guernsey Press.