At Callaway Care and Support we support individuals whose lives are shaped by autism, learning disabilities, forensic histories, and behaviours that challenge.
The decisions our managers make each day carry weight.
They don’t just organise care, they influence outcomes, set the tone for their teams, and create the emotional climate in which support is either effective or unsustainable.
So we asked ourselves an honest question: Are we giving our leaders the tools to lead with clarity, compassion, and confidence?
A growing body of research confirms what many of us in the care sector already know intuitively: Leaders set the culture.
According to a 2023 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, teams led by managers who display positive emotional behaviours (optimism, calmness, fairness, and empathy) report significantly higher engagement, lower burnout, and better retention.
Conversely, leaders who demonstrate negative traits (unpredictability, harshness, or withdrawal) contribute to higher stress, absenteeism, and increased turnover.
In social care, where teams often face emotionally complex and high-pressure situations, this impact is amplified.
A manager’s attitude, communication style, and emotional presence ripple through the entire service, affecting everything from staff morale to safeguarding.
That’s why, at Callaway, we’ve taken a pro-active step to strengthen how we support our leaders.
This year, we invited our managers to take part in a leadership evaluation process that goes beyond technical competence.
With the support of Rob Charlton, a chartered occupational psychologist at Collinson Grant, and using the trusted Wave tools by Saville Assessment, our leadership team completed:
This wasn’t a performance review. It was a development opportunity, a chance to understand who our managers are, how they lead under pressure, and what kind of culture they naturally create around them.
The results offered clear, practical insight.
Some managers were natural collaborators. Others led with vision and strategy.
Some were strong on structure, but wanted to build more emotional flexibility.
These aren’t weaknesses; they are growth areas.
The most-powerful part?
These insights didn’t just land in a folder. They sparked meaningful one-to-one conversations, reflective practice, and better-targeted support.
They gave our managers language for how they lead and confidence in how they can continue to develop.
“It helped me understand myself in a way no training course ever has,” said one person.
“I wasn’t being judged, I was being supported to grow.
“Now I know what kind of leader I am, and what kind of leader I want to become.”
In care, we often expect managers to ‘just know’ how to lead, to learn through trial, error, and resilience alone.
But, the truth is, that approach is risky.
When managers are unsupported or unaware of their leadership style, it can lead to inconsistency, communication breakdowns, and a culture where good staff quietly burn out.
We’ve all seen services where the culture feels tense, where blame outweighs support, and where the emotional load of the role becomes unsustainable.
In many cases, the root cause isn’t poor intent, it’s poor insight.
At Callaway, we believe good leadership isn’t just nice to have, it’s a safeguard.
A skilled, reflective manager creates psychological safety, models calmness, and holds teams steady through change and challenge.
We are not sharing this to say we’ve got it all figured out. We’re sharing it because we believe this process has helped us move forward with more clarity, more alignment, and a stronger commitment to supporting our leaders.
If you’re working in care and wondering how to improve team culture, start by investing in the people who set it.
A leadership assessment process like this doesn’t need to be a box-ticking exercise.
Done well, it’s a professional, respectful way to say: we see you; we value you, and we want to help you grow.
For more information about leadership assessment and development, contact Nick Wilsher at Collinson Grant: nwilsher@collinsongrant.com
At Callaway Care, we don’t believe leadership is about hierarchy, it’s about influence, awareness, and integrity.
We’re proud of the culture we’re building, and even more proud of the leaders shaping it.
Every care provider should have this kind of conversation with their managers.
Because when we invest in our leaders, we create the conditions for better care, not just for today, but for the future.