By eHospice | Posted 18 March, 2015
John Knight, who took up his new role as LOROS hospice chief executive earlier this month, tells us more about what attracted him to LOROS, his initial priorities and what's on his 'bucket list'.
Can you tell us a little about your career to date and how it has led you to this role?
While completing my degree in sports science in Newcastle between 1983 and 1986 I began volunteering for a local children’s charity, helping to take children and young people out in to the surrounding countryside for adventurous outdoor activities – developing their self-esteem, social skills and ability to work in a team environment.
This led to me working for that same charity from 1986 to 1988 as an 'organiser' of activities and coordinating a team of around 60 volunteers to run the programmes.
I then worked briefly for Fairbridge, a UK wide charity that works with disaffected youth, before going travelling for a year.
In 1990 I returned to the UK and established the North East branch of a charity called Mobex, which designs and develops programmes to encourage the personal growth and development of inner city youth, young offenders and young people deemed to be at risk. I was there for nine years, seeing the organisation grow, setting up Mobex initiatives in Northern Ireland, Northumberland, Teeside and Cumbria.
In 2000 I became chief executive at The Children's Centre, an Isle of Man charity. I led a team of childcare professionals in developing this organisation – from an initial base of 56 staff to eventually a team of over 220 when I left and wide growth in services to children, young people and families all living on the Isle of Man.
My career has thus always been in social care organisations, the voluntary sector and increasingly in the strategic management and growth of those organisations – including the ongoing challenge of income generation.
What attracted you to working for a hospice?
The incredibly important role that these organisations play within communities, the caring focus of the organisation, the high-quality of care and the intriguing complexity of the service make up and delivery, especially the holistic approach.
Also, my wife and myself have ties to the area and community that LOROS serves.
What are you most looking forward to in this new role?
Applying skills, knowledge and experience from both my career to date and from a different (but related) part of the sector – for the benefit of LOROS, the patients and the staff team.
To being an integral part of the charity's next phase of development – helping to shape and then take decisions that are important for the future well-being of the organisation and the wider community.
Ensuring LOROS pro-actively responds to – and is fit for – the future.
What are your priorities for your first few months in post?
Listen and learn. Meet as many, if not all people involved – to listen and learn. Understand the priorities of patients, staff, the board, and the community. Absorb where the charity is currently ‘up to’ and what is necessary for the future. Be integral within the formulation of the strategic plan focussing upon service scope, resources for future services, income generation and staff development. Ensure that vision and passion are matched with action.
What do you see as the main challenges and opportunities for yourself, the hospice and the sector?
Building a resilient income generation model. Gaining organisation wide agreement about future service scope. Growing awareness of the charity and its invaluable work. Protecting the charity – risk and reputation. These are 'early' messages that have been forthcoming from initial conversations, I am sure that others will become apparent and develop in time!
How do you relax/spend your time when not at work?
Most sporting activities, with a preference for outdoor activities such as sailing, fell running, biking on roads or hills, and doing adventure racing events and unusual challenges. And spending time with family, eating out and walking dogs.
Quick-fire questions
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
The usual things for a boy – farmer, fireman.
What's on your ‘bucket list’?
Mainly to travel to places that have a mystery about them – Zanzibar, Alaska, Patagonia – places that strike me as wild open spaces with communities that would be really interesting to meet and experience.
I'd also like to run through the Lairig Ghru – a 20 mile glaciated valley in the Cairngorms – and own a yacht big enough to cross an ocean (the Pacific rather than the Atlantic).
What song would you like played at your funeral?
To date I haven't thought about it – most probably a Bruce Springsteen track, 'Thunder Road', or Rolling Stones track, 'Gimme Shelter'.
Have you discussed or written down your own wishes around care at the end of life?
No current thoughts or wishes about care at the end of my life. I have regularly joked with my wife that I’d like to quietly pass away on the deck of my own yacht in a warm place looking out at the view.
