A journey of leading a healthcare start-up in India: from the National Health Service to a corporate leadership culture

Background In 2021, Dr Kalra embraced an opportunity for a leadership role at a start-up healthcare organisation in India. This gave him an opportunity to adapt his National Health Service (NHS) leadership experience to the evolving Indian private healthcare landscape. This paper shares his lived experience as a National Medical Director and delves into the experiences and leadership insights he acquired during this.

Method This account draws on Dr Kalra’s reflections and learning from his experiences, including social and professional interactions with individuals and teams, and links these experiences with leadership and management literature.

Results Dr Kalra’s transition from the public NHS to a private healthcare start-up environment in India presented challenges characterised by unfamiliarity, uncertainty and self-doubt. Manoeuvring through these challenges required forming a well-integrated team. By harnessing a mix of democratic, visionary and adaptive leadership styles, Dr Kalra developed an environment that fosters collaboration among healthcare professionals. He learnt to focus on articulating the overarching organisational vision and promoting autonomy, which led to a deeper sense of ownership and purpose among the team. Furthermore, fostering a culture of co-production enriched patients’ experiences and contributed to business growth.

Conclusion Experiencing this leadership transition highlighted and reinforced the importance of a deep understanding of the context, taking an adaptable approach to leadership and recognising and accepting one’s vulnerability and fallibility. Fundamentally, Dr Kalra concluded that empowering teams and cultivating a patient-centred approach are critical for success.