Dr. Shivarajkumar Dandagi is a Practice Educator Facilitator at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust – and an FNF Windrush Leadership Programme Alumnus. He reflects here on what leadership actually means, and the importance of belonging – and helping others to belong.
“Leadership Doesn’t Ask for Permission. Neither Did I”
From Belonging to Becoming: Reflections on the Transformative Power of the Windrush Leadership Programme
What if leadership is not about becoming someone else, but about discovering who you already are?
Like thousands of internationally educated nurses, I moved from India to the United Kingdom in 2020, carrying more than luggage. I was a university lecturer. A Head of Department. A researcher. An educator. Someone who had spent years teaching others how to learn, lead and succeed.
Yet beneath the titles was a question I had never fully answered:
Did I truly belong?
"The programme transformed how I lead. I listen differently. I teach differently. I influence differently. I no longer see leadership as standing at the front of the room. I see leadership in every conversation, every act of inclusion and every opportunity to help someone discover their potential."
Dr Shivarajkumar Dandagi –
I carried experience, ambition, sacrifice, uncertainty and the silent pressure to prove myself all over again. I learned new systems. I adapted to new cultures. I worked hard. I achieved. But something was missing. The FNF Windrush Leadership Programme did not teach me how to become a leader. It taught me why I already was one. That realisation changed everything.
The programme challenged me to look beyond leadership frameworks and explore something far more powerful – identity, belonging and influence. For perhaps the first time in my professional life, I stopped asking, “How can I fit in?” and started asking, “How can I help others belong?” That shift changed everything.
The impact of making someone feel seen. The impact of creating opportunity. The impact of speaking up when silence is easier. The impact of opening doors for others.
As the programme progressed, I found myself asking a different question. Not, “How can I progress?” But, “How can I create progress for others?”
That shift became the foundation of my Quality Improvement project, Competence to Confidence: Embedding Cultural Intelligence in Clinical Skills Education.
I wanted to tackle an issue I had witnessed throughout my own journey and in the journeys of many others. Healthcare professionals often arrive with competence. What they lack is confidence. Not because they are incapable. But because they are navigating unfamiliar cultures, expectations and systems while trying to find their place.
I realised that clinical education is not simply about teaching skills. It is about creating environments where people believe they belong. Where difference is recognised as a strength rather than a barrier. Where diversity is not tolerated but valued. Where every learner can thrive.
“As we celebrate Windrush Day, we honour a generation whose legacy continues to shape the NHS every day. Their story reminds us that leadership begins long before a title is awarded.”
Today, I spend more time creating spaces where people can flourish rather than simply delivering information. I ask more questions. I listen more deeply. I actively seek perspectives different from my own. Most importantly, I recognise that every interaction is an opportunity to empower someone else.
The culmination of this journey was an incredible honour and I was privileged to receive a Windrush Leadership Award. But the award is not what I will remember most. I will remember finding my voice. I will remember the conversations that challenged me. I will remember the people who inspired me. I will remember discovering that my background, culture and lived experience were not obstacles to overcome they were strengths to embrace.
The Windrush Leadership Programme did more than develop my leadership skills. It transformed my understanding of leadership itself.
It begins the moment we choose courage over comfort. The moment we choose inclusion over indifference. The moment we use our voice so that others may find theirs.
That is the leadership legacy FNF has given us. And that is the legacy I hope to carry forward.
I arrived in the UK looking for opportunity. I leave this chapter carrying purpose. Purpose has a remarkable way of turning obstacles into outcomes. And when purpose is clear, possibilities become endless.
“If the why is powerful enough, the how becomes easy.”
