Knowing your KPIs is one thing. Knowing which ones to talk about, why they matter to the panel, and how to connect them to your own work is something else entirely. Many candidates arrive at a medical consultant interview with a short list of generic metrics and hope for the best. In this episode, Tessa and Becky explain why that approach falls short, and what to do instead.

They also dissect a well-intentioned MDT example that would impress as a registrar answer but falls short at the consultant level, break down the psychological safety question that is starting to appear at interviews, and tackle the persistent myth that sounding like a consultant is about using the right buzzwords.

Check Out the Full Episode:

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/episode/2uCpOAdzbWKSp6m34YIp4B?si=NqYcqVxWTMaxnD8LF5M8oA

Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/why-generic-kpis-arent-enough-and-how-to-talk-metrics/id1833792151?i=1000746769180

YouTube – https://youtu.be/DCMS_mwIUXk?si=_4ywGO_pIYMUrJhG

Finding the Right KPIs for Your Specialty

Becky: The question of the week is from a student who is struggling to find KPIs for their specialty beyond generic ones like referral to clinic appointment, emergency admissions, and readmission rates. They want to know where to look.

Tessa: Before we answer that, it is worth explaining what KPIs actually are, because the term can feel more intimidating than it needs to be. Key performance indicators are simply any metrics your service uses to measure how effective it is. They can be anything. As a trainee, you already know them; you just may not have labelled them as KPIs. Any time you have done an audit, looked at a service improvement, or noticed something frustrating about patient flow, there are almost certainly metrics embedded in that work.

Becky: And the ones this candidate has listed actually sound reasonable. Referral to clinic time and readmission rates are legitimate. So I think they are on the right track. The question is how to go deeper and how to make the metrics feel genuinely personal rather than lifted from a textbook.

Tessa: For finding specialty-specific KPIs, start with your Royal College guidelines. Most colleges publish guidance around metrics relevant to your patient population, and those will immediately feel more grounded than generic national targets. Your trust’s governance reports are another good source because they often contain specialty-specific data your service is actively tracking. And do not overlook your senior nursing team and service managers. They know exactly what the service is working towards, including local targets that never appear in national guidance.

Becky: The goal is not to memorise the longest possible list. It is to identify the metrics that are most relevant to the Trust you are applying to and, ideally, that you have direct experience with. If you have done a quality improvement project on reattendance rates or time to analgesia, that is the metric to choose. You can then say clearly: I know this is something your service is working on, and here is what I found when I looked at it in my own department. That is genuinely powerful.

Tessa: Exactly. You are trying to demonstrate two things: that you understand what the panel is working towards, and that you are the person who can help them deliver it. Even if a direct KPIs question does not come up, questions about flow, service improvement, and quality of care all connect to this. Knowing your metrics and being able to drop them naturally into those answers is what makes you sound like someone who already thinks at consultant level.

Upgrading a Registrar-Level MDT Example

Tessa: The golden example this week is a candidate using an MDT story for the question about working well within a multidisciplinary team. I will read it out. They managed a complex child with a life-limiting condition. The parents wanted a particular intervention. They referred to a tertiary centre, the case was discussed, and the intervention was deemed inappropriate. They coordinated an MDT approach involving the tertiary team, a local nurse specialist, and the palliative care team. They led sensitive discussions with the family, ensured the parents’ wishes were heard, agreed on the limits of resuscitation and a ceiling of care, and after the child’s death, linked the family with bereavement services.

Becky: This candidate clearly did work well as part of a multidisciplinary team, and I have no doubt they gave this child and family excellent care. My challenge with the example is not the content. It is the level. This is something you could have done as a registrar. What it does not show is that you can think and act like a consultant. At consultant level, we want to see system knowledge, service-level change, and the kind of thinking that goes beyond one patient and one case.

Tessa: The fix is to bring in a USP and reframe the example around a quality improvement project or a systemic change rather than a single clinical episode. Almost everyone preparing for a consultant interview has at least one USP that involves strong MDT working. The question is to draw out why it worked well and what you personally contributed at a structural level. For example, I led a quality improvement project on improving palliative care pathways, and within that work, I want to highlight three aspects of effective MDT working. We established regular two-monthly meetings with clear shared goals, made sure every team member’s expertise was actively drawn on, and agreed on a shared plan of action across the team.

Becky: That way you can reference the same people, the nurse specialist, the tertiary colleagues, the palliative care team, but the story is about improving care for an entire patient population rather than one case. That is the shift panels are listening for.

Tessa: The clinical example is not wrong. It shows good values and genuine care. But when you compare it to a service-level USP example that demonstrates the same things at scale, the difference in impact is clear. If you are stress-testing your own MDT examples, ask yourself honestly: could a strong registrar have done this? If the answer is yes, look for an example that shows you thinking and acting one level up.

“What Does Psychological Safety Mean to You?”

Becky: This is a question I genuinely enjoy because it gives candidates a real opportunity. Psychological safety is not just a definition question. What the panel is really asking is: what does psychological safety mean to you, and how do you actively create it in your team and in your day-to-day work?

Tessa: Do you think it comes up often in this exact form?

Becky: Not frequently in this precise phrasing, but the concept comes up constantly through related questions, things like how do you support your team, how do you create a good learning environment, how do you motivate people. So even if the words “psychological safety” never appear, the underlying ideas are relevant to leadership, culture, and teamwork questions across the board.

Tessa: So what would a strong answer look like?

Becky: I would break it into three areas and be specific about each one. First, how you create a culture where people feel safe to speak up, whether in an emergency, in a ward round, or in a meeting. Second, how you create an environment where it is safe to make mistakes and learn from them, which gives you an obvious opportunity to talk about no-blame culture, PSIRF (the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework), and debrief practice. Third, how you build psychological safety in teaching and supervision, so that learners feel genuinely supported rather than judged.

Tessa: And all of this connects to trust values questions as well. Most Trust values frameworks include things like compassion, inclusivity, and collaboration, and psychological safety sits naturally within all of those. So preparing a clear, structured answer to this question gives you material you can draw on across multiple question types. It is not a niche topic. It is a genuinely useful lens for talking about leadership and culture at consultant level.

Sounding Like a Consultant Is Not About Buzzwords

Tessa: The tip and trick this week is about something we get asked regularly: what are the buzzwords you need to use to sound like a consultant? And I want to address this directly because I think it points in the wrong direction.

Becky: Completely agree.

Tessa: If you load your answers with management-sounding terms without the thinking behind them, you will sound like you have read a management consultancy textbook, not like someone who is ready to lead a department. The panel is not listening for specific words. They are listening for evidence of a particular way of thinking.

The difference becomes clear when you compare two versions of the same idea. Saying “I value stakeholder engagement” tells the panel nothing. Saying “In my QI project, I met monthly with nursing leads and service managers to agree measurable targets and review progress” shows them exactly the same value in action. Concrete always lands better than conceptual.

Becky: And what does that thinking look like?

Tessa: As a registrar, your job is to deliver excellent care to the patients you are seeing right now. The patients on your shift, on your round, in your clinic. That is where your attention is, and rightly so. As a consultant, you carry that same commitment, but you also hold a broader responsibility: how do we deliver great care to everyone? That includes budget, patient flow, complaints, safety culture, staff wellbeing, and long-term service development. It is a genuinely different perspective, and it needs to come through in the way you frame every answer, not through a single well-chosen word.

Becky: It is also about showing that you understand the buck now stops with you. Not in an intimidating way, but in a grounded, confident way. You recognise that you are part of a senior team that is responsible for the whole system, not just your own clinical work. You celebrate the strengths of the people around you. You think about the patient’s body as a whole, and the staff who care for them, not just the individual in front of you.

Tessa: That is the difference. Not one term or phrase, but a consistent way of thinking that runs through every answer you give. Get that right, and you will not need to worry about buzzwords.

Key Takeaways

• KPIs are everywhere once you start looking: Audits, service improvements, and patient flow frustrations all contain metrics. Your college guidelines, trust governance reports, and service managers are all good sources.
• Choose metrics you have experience with: The strongest KPI answers connect national or local targets to your own projects. Knowing a metric and having worked on it is interview gold.
• Clinical MDT examples show a great registrar: To sound consultant-ready, shift from one-patient stories to service-level examples that demonstrate system thinking, USPs, and quality improvement.
• Stress-test your examples: Ask whether a strong registrar could have done this. If the answer is yes, look for an example that sits at the level above.
• Psychological safety is a gift of a question: Structure your answer around three areas: speaking up, safe-to-fail culture, and safety in teaching. Use it wherever leadership and culture questions arise, even if the phrase itself is not used.
• Buzzwords are not the point: Panels are listening for consultant-level thinking, not consultant-level vocabulary. Show you understand the broader responsibility of the role through how you frame your answers, not through the terms you choose to include.