What Makes A Good Manager
- 1. What makes a good manager? Managers in Partnership Master Class 24th November, 2009 Professor Derek Mowbray. ©Derek Mowbray derek.mowbray@orghealth.co.uk derek.mowbray@psychologistsdirect.org www.orghealth.co.uk www.derekmowbray.co.uk ‘If you feel well you will work better than if you feel ill’ •78% with poor mental health find it difficult to concentrate at work •57% say it takes longer to do work •46% say they are less patient with customers or clients •41% say poor mental health interferes with their decision making •26% say their mental health is moderate to very poor •56% of these state the reasons are both home and work related •CIPD Employee Outlook Survey 2009 Wellbeing and Performance The definitions of wellbeing and performance follow two models shown below. Wellbeing is a personal sense of wellness. You can feel well and energised whilst being diagnoses with illness; equally you can feel unwell without any illness for example a hangover. If you feel well you will be able to concentrate better on your work that when you are thinking of
- 2. something else, like your illness or the sensations of feeling unwell. The feeling of feeling unwell includes psychological distress where your concentration is diverted by the cause of your distress – often the behaviour of other people towards you, in particular your manager. The ‘Just a Minute Performance Model’ illustrates the need for concentration. In addition to being able to conduct your work without deviation, hesitation of repetition, the performance model includes clarity of purpose and ensuring your work achieves its aims. Wellbeing and Performance Just a Minute Performance Model Wellbeing Performance feeling well clear aims being well and feeling well appropriate aims being ill but feeling well clear timetable being alert efficacious action concentrating no deviation motivated effective action engaged no repetition having energy efficient actions no hesitation Quality of Care The essential feature of high standards and quality of care is the point of delivery which is essentially chaotic. This means the ability to respond to events that unfold in front of you and being sharp enough to react appropriately to the situation. Events may be entirely random, which suggests that with the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience, combined with the correct intervention for the task, based on appropriateness, efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency, you should be a position to respond the chaotic events successfully. Much depends on your ability to concentrate at the time the chaotic event occurs.
- 3. Quality of health care Appropriate K N S O Efficacy K W I L Effective L E L D Efficient G E chaos/dynamic/change/action experience What is stress?
- 4. Stress is at the wrong end of a continuum that starts with pressure, moves to strain and ends with stress. Pressure is energising, and heightens one’s concentration and produces higher levels of performance. However, we can only tolerate pressure for periods of time dependent on our levels of resilience. If we cannot see an end to the pressure we can move into a state of strain where our concentration becomes diverted because of a sense of feeling unwell, which may be similar to a sense of anxiety and slight panic. If this continues and we feel out of control of the sensations we move to a state of stress, which can be very serious. Pressure – Strain - Stress Stimulant (pressure) Diversion (strain) Impairment (stress)
- 5. What are the characteristics of stress in individuals? Irritation Glucose intolerance Anxiety Hypertension Insomnia Coronary heart disease Fatigue Diabetes Smoking stroke Over eating Heart attack Headaches Cancer Physical inactivity Excessive drinking The are are many signs of the impact of stress. Overtly, levels of stress cause about half the reasons for people going off sick, and more than half the reasons why people leave their jobs for another somewhere else. Leaving jobs is a method of coping with stress. In the following slide, taken from the survey of the Top 100 Companies to Work For the turnover of staff in ‘successful’ organisations is higher than truly successful organisations that are in the range of 1-6% staff turnover annually. In this slide it is seen that about 46% of the apparently good organisations have staff turnover of greater than 16% the costs of this to the organisations and individuals is massive.
- 6. 40 Turnover of staff 2006, 2007 and 2008 31 30 ‘Top 100 Companies to Work For’ 30 Source: Sunday Times March 2007, 2008 and 2009 25 23 22 2006 Number 20 of 17 2007 companies 15 15 14 14 13 2008 11 11 10 9 8 7 7 56 5 4 4 1 22 0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 Over 35 Percentage of all staff turnover pa The impact is, also, on compliance with HSE Management Standards, the costs of insurance premiums for staff medical insurance, the costs of manager time and costs of tribunals and litigation, as well as the haemorrhaging costs to the organisation. The impact of stress at work The Law Individual and misery Tribunals HSE Management Insurance Standards premiums Sickness absence staff turnover money. Complexities of the NHS The NHS is a complex organisation largely because of the multi-professionals delivering its prime product, but, also, because of the extensive background services that are largely in support of the foreground activities, and in a recent observation, the same size as the foreground
- 7. operations. There are different cultural foundations relating to foreground and background activities – the foreground is highly influenced by professional cultures based on individual responsibility towards the patient or client. The background cultural foundations are based on bureaucratic principles of targets, procedures, processes and political accountability. These cultures can clash at the delivery level of the NHS where there is an existing conflict between the professional and the bureaucracy – where the professional focuses on the needs of the individual whilst the bureaucracy focuses on the needs of all individuals. This tension needs to be managed effectively for both aims to be satisfied together. Healthcare organisation Threats to quality foreground background
- 8. Professionals and bureaucracy Threats to quality professionals bureaucracy Typologies of organisations that reflect wellbeing and performance, and, therefore, quality. The following slide shows some generalised examples of organisational characteristics that link wellbeing, performance and output/outcome. Look at your own organisation to see if parts of it relate in any way to any of the typologies.
- 9. High personal wellbeing Average personal wellbeing Good business performance Poor business performance Characteristics: Characteristics: Clear purpose Ambiguous purpose Commitment, Trust, Engagement Poor recruitment practices Effective recruitment practices Average terms and conditions Good terms and conditions Mismatched skills to jobs Team working; staff involvement Laissez-faire management practices Adaptive leadership and management Few company wellbeing programmes Customer and staff focus Average company benefits Low sickness absence Average sickness absence Low staff turnover High staff turnover Low costs/high profits High costs/ low profits Poor personal wellbeing Poor personal wellbeing Average business performance Poor business performance Characteristics: Characteristics: Clear purpose Ambiguous purpose Average terms and conditions Poor terms and conditions Limited alternative employment Lack of Commitment, Trust, Engagement Transactional management Coercive, competitive and bullying culture Incentive and bonus schemes High level of presenteeism High levels of sickness absence High numbers of tribunals High number of tribunals High levels of sickness absence Limited wellbeing programmes High staff turnover Average staff turnover High costs/Low profits Very high costs/Minimal profits The iceberg effect or presenteeism Many people remain in work whilst feeling unwell and lacking in focus and concentration. They feel lethargic and unenthusiastic about their work, and essentially go through the motions without being identified as unfit for work. Such people may under-perform and may be counter- productive. The overall cost of the iceberg effect and presenteeism is far greater than the costs of sickness absence and staff turnover.
- 10. Costs of the ‘Iceberg Effect’ as a percentage of total costs of psychological distress at work 32% 58% sickness absence staff turnover ‘Iceberg effect’ reduced productivity at work 10% Tackling these problems The first step is to listen to your staff. There are many ways of achieving this – open space discussions, learning sets, workshops and staff surveys. The best approach is for managers to listen to their staff, and to help with this there are a number of tools that can be used. The one I
- 11. would like you to complete now is below. It will take you less than a minute and provide you with a good idea of how people are feeling at work. Health and wellbeing at work questionnaire We want to find out if you are feeling good about your work, and about your working situation. To help us find out we would like you to complete this questionnaire. It focuses on how you feel now and over the recent past (say a couple of weeks). Please try and complete all the questions. Thank you very much for your co-operation. Have you recently: Been unclear about what you are supposed to do at work? Not at all No more Rather more Much more than usual than usual than usual Found that others have been taking decisions that prevent you Not at all No more Rather more Much more from performing at your peak? than usual than usual than usual Not at all No more Rather more Much more Become irritated by the behaviour of your manager? than usual than usual than usual Not at all No more Rather more Much more Found yourself idling the time away? than usual than usual than usual Been spoken to by someone you thought Not at all No more Rather more Much more than usual than usual than usual was being rude, unhelpful and thoughtless? Found it difficult to get involved in your work? Not at all No more Rather more Much more than usual than usual than usual Felt under pressure at work? Not at all No more Rather more Much more than usual than usual than usual Spent longer than your normal time at work? Not at all No more Rather more Much more than usual than usual than usual Experienced sexual innuendo or verbal abuse at work? Not at all No more Rather more Much more than usual than usual than usual Felt you have been unfairly treated? Not at all No more Rather more Much more than usual than usual than usual Been feeling energized at work? Not at all No more Rather more Much more than usual than usual than usual Taken a decision that has been acknowledged as a major step forward at work? Not at all No more Rather more Much more than usual than usual than usual
- 12. If you circle either of the two right hand answers for the first ten questions or the left two column for the last two questions you are experiencing something that may amount to strain, and you need to tackle the causes. Next, you need to establish a framework as a strategic outline for your overall approach to reducing and eliminating psychological distress at work. The following includes five strategic purposes: Prevention – to prevent psychological distress from happening in the first place. Prevent deterioration – once someone is identified as under strain the purpose here is to stop that situation from deteriorating further. This requires interventions of various kinds, the most effective of which is good man management. However, often managers abdicate their responsibilities and expect HR, Employee Assistance Programmes or Occupational Health to solve this problem for them. Restoration – once someone is off work due to psychological distress the purpose here is to restore the person back to their normal level of independent life and beyond. This requires sophisticated arrangements for rehabilitating people back into the environment that causes the problems in the first place. Palliation – once someone is off sick for 6 weeks or longer it is more difficult to restore them back to their normal level of independent life. The purpose here is to use sophisticated skills to bring people into any form of work, voluntary or paid, as this is known to improve their wellbeing. The next generation – once you have developed a culture that prevents psychological distress from occurring the purpose here is to maintain that culture whilst staff change and managers move elsewhere.
- 13. Strategic purposes Prevent Prevention deterioration Next generation Palliation Restoration Next: take a look at the influences on wellbeing and implement programmes that address these. This talk cannot go into these in any detail other than the headlines. Components of wellbeing Spiritual Mental Emotional Physical Social Environmental
- 14. Next: is taking the strategic framework above and identifying the kinds of programmes that help to populate the framework. The following slide provides some ideas, but again, time prevents any exploration of these in any detail. Wellbeing and Performance strategy Positive Working Culture Derek Mowbray 2009 Getting down to the nitty gritty We are all actors We all act. We act according to our understanding of the situation we are in, and respond with the behaviours we believe to be correct under the circumstances. We are not very good at this in a culture that is hostile, and where the cultural foundations are not based on virtuous intent towards wellbeing and performance of staff.
- 15. We behave according to the meaning we place on specific situations Threats to wellbeing and performance There are three levels of threat. The most significant is our behaviour and the behaviour of people towards each other. Organisations are controlled communities, and the people who control the communities are normally called managers. A prime threat to wellbeing and performance is often the behaviour of controllers. The second level threat are life events that each of us can expect to experience at least once. These can be, therefore, predicted and managed. They are foreseeable and common. Much depends on our personalities and levels of personal resilience as to how we cope with these events. For example, the difference between J’s and P’s on MBTI proves insight into why some people find change difficult compared to others. J’s like events to be well planned and any alterations causes anxiety, whilst P’s are more flexible and can adapt to change very quickly. Other personality influences include ‘conscientiousness’ and ‘extraversion’ which help in resilience. The third level threat are most familiar as they are the describable effect of failed interaction at level 1 threat with events from level 2 and are packaged in HR policy terms and can be presented for arguments in court or tribunal.
- 16. Threats to wellbeing and performance Coping, resilience and prevention I want to briefly touch on three types of activities that help to tackle the problems of psychological distress. Coping strategies: Coping with your own stress laugh
- 17. The most effective coping strategy is laughing. Other strategies include self cognitive behaviour therapy, shouting at yourself in the mirror with positive thoughts and determination to overcome the misery you are experiencing. You’ll feel great after doing this each morning! It’s more complicated than this sometimes, but doing this will raise your adrenalin and get you going in the morning. Others include: Imagery with deep breathing Self hypnosis Meditation All of which will calm you down and provide th thinking space you need to regain personal control in stressful situations. Resilience strategies: There are eight resilience strategies to adopt. Time prevents me from any detail but there are exercises to be undertaken within each of these headlines that will strengthen your personal resilience.
- 18. Building resilience Controlling oneself Self- assurance Personal Active vision Wellbeing Flexible Socially connected and and adaptable Performance Interaction Organised effect Problem solving Prevention The third activity I wish to introduce is prevention. As part of my efforts to introduce prevention programmes to the NHS I have been involved, and initiated, the new Code of Conduct for Healthcare Management that is receiving support from MiP, IHM, HSE, BPS, RCN, BMA, DoH, Health Foundation. RCGPs, and Welsh Assembly Government. Code of Conduct for Healthcare Management Wellbeing and performance The context within which managers are expected to behave The behaviours they are expected to exhibit The actions they are expected to take Download draft copy from MiP web site
- 19. This is about creating a Positive Work Culture based on wellbeing and performance. The overall aim is to build organisations with the following characteristics: Our benchmark for organisations Psychologically healthy organisations have: •a clear, unambiguous purpose, expressed as a simple ‘big idea’, an idea which all the staff relate to closely, and are proud to discuss with friends and colleagues. •an atmosphere of confidence, where all the staff are interested in each other, support each other, and project this confidence towards clients and customers. •staff who behave respectfully towards each other, value each other’s views and opinions, work in teams which are places of mutual support, where anything is debated without a hint of humiliation, where the critique of individual and team work is welcomed, discussed and where lessons are learnt and implemented. •staff who ‘go the extra mile’ by providing unsolicited ideas, thoughts, stimulus to each other, and where their interest in their customers offers something more than is expected, beyond courtesy, and beyond service, offering attentiveness and personal interest. •challenges for their staff, that provide opportunities for personal development through new experiences, and which treat everyone with fairness and understanding. •staff who are personally driven towards organisation and personal success - intellectually, financially, socially and emotionally. Contact: E: info@orghealth.co.uk T: 0845 833 1597 W: www.orghealth.co.uk I refer you back to the typographies of organisations and these characteristics are found in the top right hand typography. We start by having an Organisation Development framework: This includes organisation purpose, architecture, rules and how to play the game (behaviour). Remember that organisations are two or more people acting together to achieve a common purpose, so this framework applies to each department, team as well as the larger organisation or envelope for everyone else.
- 20. Organisation Development Organisation purpose Organisation Organisation Organisation architecture ‘rules’ ‘how to play the game’ Organisation development Derek Mowbray 1994 In order to make progress we have to have an overall cultural aim, which is virtuous intent based on wellbeing and performance. To achieve this, the organisation, its design , rules and behaviours need to aim to build commitment, trust and engagement. There are specific activities that achieve this and they are headlined below: Factors that influence trust and commitment Purpose The ‘Big idea’ Manager – employee Architecture relationship Employee attitude Structure Manager discretion Employee discretion Attentiveness Rules of the game Management encouragement Job Leadership ability Recruitment Performance appraisal Pay Teamwork Challenge Involvement Secure Openness Communication Work life balance Career opportunity Responsiveness Citizenship How to play Training and Behaviour Procedures the game development Policies
- 21. Under the new Code we move on to the behaviours managers are expected to show. For the purposes of this presentation I am focusing on ethical leadership that headlines the behaviours. The 4S model of ethical leadership Status– the profile of an ethical person that shines through into leadership and convinces followers of his or her common sense, wisdom and effectiveness as a leader. Staff – the behaviours and decisions of leaders that lead to the engagement, trust and commitment of the workforce in their work and their organisation. Service – the behaviours and decisions of leaders that produce the highest quality and standard of service. Society – the behaviours and decisions of leaders that demonstrate a concern to prevent harm to, and promote wellbeing in, society at large. The attributes and behaviours needed to conduct ethical leadership are shown in the following slide. I can train everyone in both the attributes and behaviours – remember, everyone acts, therefore we have to train everyone in acting out a different script, and the script is one that aims to achieve wellbeing and performance by building commitment, trust and engagement. Personal attributes and Behaviours behaviours Attentiveness Politeness Personal attributes Courtesy Personal communication Attentiveness Body language Trustworthiness Addressing needs Empathetic Engagement People Demonstrate wisdom Intellectual flexibility Commitment Leaders Assertive Emotional intelligence Trust Managers Intelligence with humour Negotiation Resilience Passion Sharing Tolerance Direction with committed ambition Reliability Address individual needs Honesty Nurture Clarity Fairness Humility Conflict resolution Encourage contribution
- 22. Under the new Code the behaviours are grouped under headlines as follows: Attentiveness Intellectual Encouragement flexibility Behaviours that inspire commitment, trust and engagement in others Resolve Reliability conflicts If you take nothing else away from this session take away the behaviour of attentiveness. If I am attentive to you, you will be attentive back. This is the starting point of a successful interaction. If you are not genuinely attentive to others they will break off any sense of commitment to you. What we don’t want is:
- 23. What we do want is: Followers of Strictly Come Dancing will know that as the weeks go by the remaining contestants grow in confidence, and strengthen their trust and commitment in each other so much that their quality of dancing improves, but, also, they try more complex and difficult dance steps. This is a
- 24. useful metaphor for managerial behaviour. The ‘rules’ include the basic dance steps, but the interpretation relies on discretion – managerial discretion that allows freedom of choice within limits of the rules is what we are after. If we can achieve this we have a map that is different to the iceberg effect: Management actions The final aspect of the new Code is management actions. The slide below sets out the categories:
- 25. Actions managers are expected to take Appropriate Co- Efficacy ordination Effective Direction Efficient Control Strategy Administrative Executive Return on investment Building a Positive Work Culture produces real success on a number of dimensions. For a relatively modest investment the following benefits can be achieved: Return on Investment Costs Performance Engagement Inspiration and Innovation Trust Commitment Quality Thank you