Alumni Leadership Stories
Tom Connell and Paying it Forward
Tom Connell, Chief Medical Officer at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, describes his leadership impact to date as ‘sequential’, working his way up from leading smaller teams to large systems in the area of medical services.
As he continuously aims to improve the environment in his organisation, in order to motivate and bring the best out of his team, he notes that “what drives me is making a positive impact, whether that’s small or large…I constantly question with curiosity, “Why can’t we do things better and what is my role in effecting change that leads to improvement”.
Tom reflects that one thing that really stood out to him during his WCLP year was the diversity of voices in the room in a “beautiful alchemy of different opinion, fundamentally shifting how you engage with, and work through an issue, as it provides perspective of where people are coming from and why they hold the view they have”.
Being a process-driven person in his professional life as a doctor and medical administrator, Tom found resonance with the leadership principles and experimental nature of the WCLP journey. “the biggest change for me was to force myself not to rush through managing an issue, but rather sit with uncertainty, remain in diagnosis and manage my own emotions, prior to taking action after all voices have been heard”.
What drives me is making a positive impact, whether that’s small or large, I constantly question with curiosity, “Why can’t we do things better and what is my role in effecting change that leads to improvement”. Now the Williamson Community Leadership Program continues to live in my work. I’m teaching the principles of it to emerging leaders in allied health, nursing and medical staff at the hospital
Tom has also brought his new tools and perspectives back into his organisation, using the peer case consultation method with his team to diagnose and work through complex workplace challenges. Tom describes how WCLP “lives in my work, I’m teaching the principles of it to emerging leaders in allied health, nursing and medical staff at the hospital”.
He also emphasises the impact of the Your Leadership Edge (O’Malley, 2015) book on how he chooses to lead now. He has even gone one step further by distributing it to his team members, and often revisits it to ask himself and others “how are you going to use these these principles to move your team? What questions are you going to ask? How are you going to show vulnerability?”.
An important aspect of the WCLP journey for Tom was that it is “driven by the participants, you’re part of the story as it evolves. That’s very powerful for people to go on that journey, and you can see the evolution and progress in people as you go through it”. Now, he is committed to remaining an active as an Alum, working with other Williamson fellows to continue collective work, and create impact through supporting and participating in WCLP-23 alum theme days on important topics that resonate. As Tom stresses, “it takes effort to remain active as an alum as we return to the daily grind of our workplaces.” However, with a clear understanding that the leadership journey continues and the opportunity we all have to make lasting and sustained change together, Tom knows this investment is very much worth the effort.
TOM CONNELL
2023 Williamson Fellow
Chief Medical Officer,
Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne