Kia ora, I’m Katie
An experienced healthcare leader now coach and facilitator for those leading and working in healthcare.
I believe working and leading in healthcare can and should be joyful. Yes, it’s challenging, demanding and ever-changing. It is also purposeful, fulfilling, and full of joy.
My experience with healthcare began way before my working life. Childhood heart surgery sparked my healthcare adventure and now it’s three decades of working in health, including 20 years in people leadership, my path has been diverse and enriching. When I first walked onto a hospital ward as a health care assistant working with a diverse team of people and caring for a range of patients, I knew I had found the place where I could do good work.
I was part of the Global Women Breakthrough Leaders in 2020 - yes that year! Adaptive leadership, leading through disruption and the power of a solid foundation and supportive network were central and are all core for a leader in healthcare today.
This is what I’ve learned
Through experimentation and embracing the power of small, consistent steps, I've discovered that change can seamlessly integrate into busy schedules. Having navigated through the unexpected, like a shipwreck at age 17, my awareness of mental well-being became a pivotal aspect of my leadership philosophy.
Learn by doing
Having volunteered for projects, gone first, and learned from mistakes, I bring an edge and insight to leadership development. My journey includes stepping up, trying new things and engaging teams in the work they are doing. In the process creating cohesive units that celebrate individual strengths and are able to see the bigger picture.
The magic happens in teams
As a nurse practitioner with a whole-of-team approach, I've experienced firsthand the importance of collaborative efforts in achieving healthcare goals. Whether building teams from scratch, revitalizing demotivated groups, nurturing broken teams or fostering strong bonds within diverse teams, I've been there, learning, leading, and adapting.
This is about you and the future of healthcare.
As a coach and facilitator, my focus is on you—your leadership aspirations, your brilliance, your team, the challenges you face, and the unique strengths, skills and perspectives you bring.
Frances Clayton
Katie, You are O for awesome! You bring this special kind of fairy dust and mix it with such a huge depth of curiosity, experience, open-mindedness, open-heartedness and plain and simple doses of what it is to be messy humans. I'm so grateful to have been able to learn from you from afar (conversation series) and more closely recently. You make a difference in health in Aotearoa. Thank you!
I’m a Star Wars fan [I am no Jedi, but I know the force]. It was the first film I saw at the cinema and I met Darth Vader as a very scared 10-year-old.
I played the recorder, and the saxophone and was in the handbell group, I can spot when something is out of tune, but can’t carry a song and you won’t get me on a karaoke night.
Disneyland Paris is one of my happy places, I went the first year it opened and it was where I went for my honeymoon (30 years later). I met my husband as a student nurse - we’ve been together all that time and got married in 2022.
My first holiday alone was to Tunisia in the middle of winter, aged 20. I was adopted by a group of British retirees who wouldn’t let me go out alone. I love travelling, one of my favourite holidays was in Jordan.
I learn the rules, then I bend them, and technically they are more guidelines than rules. Adapt, reframe, and perspective are all superpowers.
Coffee and tea, though not at the same time and always with a slice of cake or a biscuit - or even better a homemade muffin.
