In this episode of The Business of Healthcare Podcast, Tara explores the importance of understanding the context in which we work, and why context shapes how people think, act, and respond to change.

Drawing on personal experience in leadership and consultancy, Tara reflects on why taking time to understand different perspectives has been central to her work for over a decade. She explains how policy, system-level decisions, organisational pressures, and personal experiences all influence behaviour, and why ignoring this context can make collaboration harder than it needs to be.

This episode encourages listeners to approach their work with curiosity rather than judgement, to listen more deeply to opposing views, and to recognise that effective leadership is rooted in understanding people's realities, not just strategy or policy.

Key Takeaways

• Why understanding context is critical to leadership and collaboration

• Why the same policy or programme lands differently in different places

• The importance of curiosity over judgement when working with others

• How understanding opposing views strengthens, rather than weakens, your own position

• Why context affects how people receive messages, priorities, and change agendas

• The risks of leading with fear rather than relevance

• How in-person relationships can deepen trust and understanding

• Questions to ask yourself as you move into 2026 about your own context and perspective

What's coming next

Tara introduces the upcoming podcast and YouTube series - How It Got Commissioned, featuring conversations with health and care leaders who successfully got services commissioned by doing things differently, often outside traditional procurement routes.

The series explores:

• How services were commissioned within specific contexts

• What challenges leaders faced

• What lessons can be applied elsewhere, even when contexts differ