Being a reflective leader

Using serious success reviews

Introducing Schwartz Rounds

Learning from critical incidents

Enhancing support through peer coaching

Doing things differently

Managing uncertainty

Using action learning sets to enhance group learning

To be resilient, an organisation must ensure that learning and development is at the heart of everything that they do. A learning organisation is one in which:


<p>What steps will you take to ensure that learning and development is at the heart of everything you do as an organisation? Developing a learning organisation is the third Key Foundational Principle <span style="font-weight: 400;">(KFP).</span></p>



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<p>As a leader, you must also ensure that you have reflective space for yourself. Leadership can be isolating, so it is crucial to create opportunities for support that meets your needs.&nbsp;</p>



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<p>Creating your own Personal Board of Directors (PBOD) can help – this is a group of individuals (from in and outside the workplace) who can act as a sounding board and help you when you face a dilemma, when you need affirmation, or to challenge you.</p>



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<p>Your PBOD will typically need to include people with one or more of the following qualities:</p>



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<li>Someone who is a major support for you personally and professionally</li>
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<li>Someone who can help you be creative</li>
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<li>Someone who is good at coming up with practical solutions</li>
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<li>Someone who has years of experience and accumulated wisdom</li>
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<li>Someone who you can accept criticism from</li>
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<li>Someone who knows you better than you know yourself</li>
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<li>Someone with relevant skills and expertise&nbsp;</li>
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<li>Someone who is a role model for you.</li>
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<p>Remember this is an honorary, unpaid role, so you may need to find ways of reciprocating or showing thanks to the members of your PBOD.</p>



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 Creating your personal A-Team


<p><strong>Working with strengths</strong></p>



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<p>When trying to resolve problems, we often focus on our weaknesses and think of ways to address them, which can be stressful and draining. A learning organisation will be aware of the strengths of individual practitioners and how they can best be used. </p>



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<p>As health and social care professionals, we know that working with strengths identifies the things people do well, that energise them, and that they find enjoyable. Nonetheless, we do not always apply these ideas to ourselves, focusing instead on areas for improvement rather than the assets we have at our disposal.</p>



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<p>Strengths are often confused with skills that people can perform well, but skills are learned behaviours that can become ingrained and automatic over time. It is easy to mistake skills for strengths, but they do not energise or engage people in the same way. Strengths are not static: a person can build, grow, adapt and develop their strengths to help themselves in different situations. People who use their strengths are more likely to achieve their goals, experience less stress, and have more self-esteem and confidence; they also tend to be happier and more resilient.</p>



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<p>When developing organisational resilience, it is crucial to work with strengths. As role models, leaders should be aware of their own strengths and those of other people. The strategies below provide some techniques to raise awareness of personal strengths in the self and in others. As well as role-modelling ‘strengths-spotting’, share these exercises widely in your organisation. They can be used in various settings such as meetings and supervision.</p>



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<p class="has-text-align-center"><strong><em>Spotting your personal strengths</em></strong></p>



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<p>Ask yourself the following questions:</p>



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<li>Deep roots: What do you still do now that you did as a child?</li>
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<li>Motivation<em>:</em> What activities do you do just because you love doing them?</li>
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<li>Voice: When does the tone of your voice indicate enjoyment and energy?</li>
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<li>Energy: What activities do you do that give you energy?</li>
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<li>Rapid learning: What things do you pick up effortlessly and quickly?</li>
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<li>Authenticity: When do you feel like ‘the real me’?</li>
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<li>Attention: Where do you naturally pay attention?</li>
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<li>Ease: What activities come easily to you?</li>
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<p><strong><em>Spotting the strengths of others</em></strong></p>



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<li>Build a language of character strengths: Develop an understanding of the range of personal strengths to improve your ability to spot them in others; see the list of character strengths <a href="https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</li>
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<li>Develop your observation and listening skills:<em> </em>Enhance your awareness of what strengths look like in action based on: a) verbal cues (listen for a more assertive voice, improved vocabulary and clarity of speech, and use of specific strengths words); and b) nonverbal cues (look for improved posture and eye contact, smiling and laughing, and greater use of gestures signifying excitement and passion).</li>
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<li>Label and explain character strength behaviours: Show people that you notice when they show their strengths by a) identifying the specific strength demonstrated; b) explaining how you spotted it; c) showing that this strength is appreciated.</li>
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<li>Make strengths-spotting a habit:<em> </em>Build your skills by practising observing character strengths in people in different situations.</li>
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<p><strong><em>Spotting character strengths in meetings</em></strong></p>



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<li>Go into meetings wearing your ‘strengths goggles’: i.e. a mindset that identifies strengths as they occur. After you spot strengths in people, point out what you observed, tell them the reason for your observation and show your appreciation.</li>
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<p>The <strong>MORE model </strong>developed by <span tooltiptext="The Strengths-focused Guide to Leadership: Identify your Talents and Get the Most from your Team. Pearson UK" class="has-tooltip">Roarty and Toogood (2014) </span> provides a strength focused approach to leadership that provides strategies to identify and develop your own strengths and those of the people in your organisation.</p>



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<p><strong>More involves:</strong></p>



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<li><strong>M</strong>yself:  Identifying personal strengths managing weaknesses and aligning goals and objectives with strength.</li>
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<li><strong>O</strong>ther’s strengths: Introducing a strengths focus to others, identifying and developing their strengths and supporting them to manage their weaknesses.</li>
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<li><strong>R</strong>egular Conversations: Applying a strengths focus to everyday conversations, during meetings and providing strengths-focused coaching (see <a href="https://staging.isort-frontend.pages.dev/toolkit/learning/peer-coaching" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">peer coaching</a> in KFP Wellbeing).</li>
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<li><strong>E</strong>mployee processes: Implementing strengths focused recruitment processes, performance appraisals and development discussions.</li>
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Spotting strengths in yourself and others


<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Seven-minute briefings: Communicating key information clearly and concisely</strong></h3>



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<p>Leaders are often required to impart complex information in ways that set out important issues but are quick and easy to read and digest.&nbsp; </p>



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<p>Research suggests that seven minutes is the optimum time span to hold our attention, enabling us to concentrate and learn. Seven-minute briefings are based on a technique used by the FBI, but they can be a particularly helpful tool to enable managers to deliver a short briefing to practitioners on key issues. They can also form the basis for reflective discussions.&nbsp;</p>



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<p><strong>Seven-minute briefings can have a flexible format, but usually have seven points that might include the following:</strong></p>



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<p>1. Background information</p>



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<p>2. Why the issue matters</p>



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<p>3 – 5.&nbsp; Key points of information</p>



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<p>6. Things to note and remember</p>



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<p>7.&nbsp; What to do</p>



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<p>Why not send out a seven-minute briefing next time you have a new strategy to share? People are likely to find it more engaging than a dry and boring email. More information about the use of seven minute briefings can be found<a href="https://www.manchestersafeguardingpartnership.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-04-07-MSB-7min-briefing1-_what-are-7MB.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> here</a> and an example of how they can be used to promote professional curiosity is<a href="https://kingstonandrichmondsafeguardingchildrenpartnership.org.uk/media/bl1plfps/professional_curiosity_seven_minute_briefing.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> here</a>.</p>


Using seven minute briefings

Make improvements that are visible, no or low cost to implement and contribute to organisational, team or individual resilience quickly.

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