This paper was first published in Care: The Journal of Practice and Development 6(1), 1997. Reproduced with the kind permission of Pepar Publications.

Personal Effectiveness: Making Things Count

Neil Thompson

In these cost-conscious times, counting takes on additional significance as the contemporary market focus and contract culture introduce the need to have detailed figures to hand to justify expenditure, to apply for funding and so on. But, my purpose in this paper is not to analyse the significance of figures and calculations within an increasingly financially driven ethos of social and health care. Rather, my aim is to look at how personal efficiency and effectiveness are of equal if not greater importance. That is, ‘making it count’ is not just about making the sums add up so that the books balance - it is also about making sure that the immense personal efforts involved in health care and social welfare work are used to best effect with minimal wastage and maximum effectiveness. Building on the notion that an organisation’s greatest asset is its staff, this paper explores what is involved in ‘personal effectiveness’, making the most of our self-management skills in a social and health care context.

I divide the discussion into six sections, mirroring the structure of Part I of my book, People Skills (Thompson, 1996), although this is not to imply that these are the only areas of relevance or that they are mutually exclusive. The ideas presented here form an introductory overview rather than a comprehensive account. The aim is to stimulate further debate, discussion and skill development, and not to attempt to provide definitive answers or hard and fast rules to follow.

Self-awareness

One of the hallmarks of health and social welfare work is the ‘use of self’. This involves recognising that we use our personality and personal qualities as a tool or resource in identifying, and attempting to meet, people’s health and social care needs. Consequently, the greater our level of self-awareness, the better equipped we should be to practise effectively. If we are not aware of what impact we have on people, or indeed what impact situations have on us and our feelings and responses, we are unlikely to have much insight into the complex dynamics that can play such an important role in resolving the problematic situations we are likely to encounter.

This is not to say that I am advocating lengthy sessions of navel-gazing or self-indulgence, but at lease a basic level of self-awareness should be seen as an essential prerequisite for high-quality professional practice. Without this, our own part in the particular situation we are dealing with at any particular time may prove detrimental - we may make the situation worse if, for example, we are not sensitive to how people perceive us. We may misinterpret their responses to us if we have no insight into how we come across to them. For example, our own tension can make other people feel tense, and so, if we do not realise we are tense, we may not realise the extent to which our own behaviour is influencing the situation.

One particularly significant issue in relation to the question of self-awareness is that of gender. This applies in two ways:

1. Gender dynamics can be particularly significant in terms of interpersonal interactions. An awareness of gender in general and how we manifest our own gender identity in particular are both important elements.

2. Misguided attempts to come across as ‘masculine’ on the part of some men can mean that they do not take self-awareness seriously - such matters may be dismissed as irrelevant or trivial by men who regard self-awareness as incompatible with their stereotypical view of masculinity.

Time management

In some respects, the term ‘time management’ is a misnomer. This is because at least half the battle is about managing levels of energy and motivation rather than simply time. That is, if we are feeling motivated and committed to the tasks we are carrying out, we are far more likely to complete them within the time available. If, by contrast, we are feeling unstimulated, uninterested or demoralised, then tasks can prove very difficult to complete, with procrastination and avoidance behaviours getting in the way of making progress. Time management, then, is closely associated with levels of job satisfaction, morale and confidence. One danger that is often apparent in health and social welfare organisations is that of a vicious circle developing:

1. Job satisfaction is not achieved and so morale and confidence are sapped.

2. Tasks take longer or are not achieved; both quality and quantity of work are adversely affected.

3. Job satisfaction becomes even harder to achieve; morale continues to fall.

4. There is less energy available to carry out the work and so life at work becomes harder and less enjoyable. Tensions may be created, for example between colleagues or between worker and manager.

5. There is even greater difficulty in achieving job satisfaction, and a cycle of stress has been created.

Work in social and health care settings brings its demands and frustrations but also has its rewards and satisfactions. However, we often have to seek out such job satisfaction, as it is rarely, if ever, handed to us ‘on a plate’. That is, we can easily miss opportunities for job satisfaction if we are not careful. Sometimes we can be so busy, or so preoccupied with the negative and demanding sides of our work that we do not take the time to savour the successes and benefit from the positive sides of the work.

Stress management

A certain amount of pressure can be a source of stimulation and motivation but when such pressures get too high, the result can be stress, a set of harmful effects on our health and personal well-being. It is therefore important that we ensure, as far as possible, that we do not allow pressures to get to the point where they overwhelm our abilities to cope. There are a range of techniques and strategies that can be brought to bear to help in this respect (Thompson et al., 1996), although perhaps the most important aspect of stress management is making sure that we have adequate support. If we do not recognise this, we can easily fall into the trap of seeing stress as a matter of personal inadequacy or weakness in the individual, rather than a complex organisational matter where employers have a responsibility to protect their staff from excessive pressures (Thompson et al., 1994).

Support can be informal (friends, family, colleagues and so on) or formal (supervision, training, employment assistance programmes and so on). A first step towards using, and benefiting from, support, is to recognise that we have a right to it, that to ask for help is not a sign of weakness, but rather a realistic recognition of the often immense pressures of human services work and the pressing need for support. One of the dangers associated with stress is that a ‘macho’ or ‘be tough’ attitude can stand in the way of people asking for, or being offered, the support they need (Pottage and Evans, 1992). It is therefore important that we should all contribute to a positive working environment by creating an atmosphere in which it is not only acceptable to acknowledge openly the pressures and pain we encounter in our work, but where such openness is positively valued and encouraged.

Assertiveness

The notion of being assertive is often confused with the idea of being ‘stroppy’ or difficult, but this is a misunderstanding of what the term means or why it is important. Assertiveness is basically the quality of being able to find a constructive balance in our interpersonal interactions between being aggressive and overdemanding on the one hand (although this does not have to be aggressive in the sense of threatening violence), and submissive and too undemanding on the other (Rees and Graham, 1991). The fundamental argument underpinning assertiveness is that:

Our interactions with one another often produce ‘win-lose’ situations where one person pressurises the other into accepting something that is not entirely in their interests (one party ‘wins’ by being aggressive, while the other ‘loses’ by adopting a submissive attitude towards the first person and giving in to what they want).
It is possible (and preferable) to aim for ‘win-win’ situations in which both parties feel reasonably happy with the outcome, a collaborative endeavour in which each party attempts to respect the rights and wishes of the other.

Assertiveness can be developed through a number of techniques that seek to make interactions more constructive, based more on co-operation than conflict and competition. One example of this is that of making sure that we do not say ‘yes’ when we mean ‘no’. That is, if someone is asking us to do something we do not want to do, we should make it clear that we are not happy to do so, but then look at ways of resolving the situation without simply saying ‘no’ and leaving it at that. This would ensure that we are not ‘bullied’ into doing something we would not otherwise want to do, but nor are we failing to respond to the other person’s concerns or needs.

Assertiveness involves a lot of skill and is not something that is developed overnight. However, it is an approach to interpersonal interactions that has much to commend it, and although not without limitations, can be a firm basis on which to build social and health care practice.

Using supervision

The term ‘supervision’ is also one that is often misunderstood. It is not simply a matter of one or more managers ‘watching over’ their staff to make sure work is being carried out to a high-enough standard, although there is an element of this involved. I would refer to this type of supervision as ‘instrumental’ supervision. That is, it is geared towards making sure the job gets done and that adequate levels of quality are maintained. However, as Morrison (1993) emphasises, supervision should also take account of:

i) Staff Development - supporting staff in developing their professional skills and knowledge base so that their practice can be enhanced and enriched, thereby contributing to higher standards of practice and higher levels of job satisfaction.

ii) Staff care - As I argued earlier, organisations have a respons-ibility to support their staff and to protect them from undue pressures or unrealistic workloads. Supervision can play a key role in making sure that staff are adequately supported in responding to the sometimes intense demands of the work.

It should be clear, then, that line managers have a degree of responsibility for both staff development and staff care as well as their managerial responsibilities in relation to accountability for standards of practice. However, I would also want to go a step further to argue that staff too have a responsibility to ensure that supervision occurs and meets its aims. Clearly, the primary responsibility lies with the supervisor, but staff can also play a part by:

requesting supervision if it is not offered or provided as a matter of course;
seeking ‘peer supervision’ where line management supervision is not forthcoming or is not helpful;
preparing for supervision sessions by identifying agenda items and so on;
making supervision a priority so that sessions are not double-booked or missed because of other commitments;
following up on issues discussed in supervision (so that it becomes an ongoing process of development rather than just a ‘talking shop’).

Although supervision is an important matter in its own right, it can also be important in terms of: time management (reviewing work, setting priorities, praise and recognition, job satisfaction and so on); stress management (obtaining support, discussing worrying issues, sharing anxieties and ‘debriefing’ over difficult incidents or issues) and continuous professional development (see below). It is also at times an opportunity to practise assertiveness skills!

Continuous professional development

The demands we face are constantly changing as policies, practices, people’s circumstances and expectations evolve over time. Similarly, developments in theory and research bring new demands and expectations. It is therefore dangerous for us to ‘rest on our laurels’ and not continue to develop our knowledge and skills. We run the risk of reducing our effectiveness by losing sight of important developments and failing to adjust to them.

Clearly, training has an important part to play in all this, as training courses offer opportunities to explore new ideas, share insights and experiences, and practise new skills. However, training is not enough on its own. Ideally, it should be part of a broader strategy of professional development that involves:

regular supervision that goes beyond the ‘instrumental’ approach;
‘reflective practice’ based on a self-reflexive approach in which we consider both the implications of our actions and the lessons that can be learned from them (Schon, 1983);
a work environment in which learning and development are valued and supported, rather than an ethos of cynicism in which they are seen as of little value ‘in the real world’,
clear channels of communication and consultation so that important changes are brought to people’s attention in good time, thus allowing learning opportunities to be maximised;
a clear commitment to challenging discrimination and oppression so that inequalities and disadvantage are not allowed to stand in the way of learning.

Continuous professional development is also another source of job satisfaction and stimulation, and therefore has an invaluable role to play at a number of levels.

Developing personal effectiveness skills is an enterprise that requires a great deal of time, effort and energy, but, as I hope the discussions here have illustrated, it is likely to be a worthwhile investment to make in terms of the benefits to be gained for all concerned. This is not to say that personal effectiveness skills are all that is needed. Indeed, an emphasis on such skills can be used at times to distract attention from wider organisational issues, as in the case of stress mentioned above, where a failure on an organisation’s part to support its staff can be translated conveniently into a failure, weakness or inadequacy on the part of staff members so affected. Similarly, no amount of time management skill will compensate for workloads that are unreasonable even for the most efficient and effective workers.

However, despite the tendency on some people’s part to present organisational problems as if they were simply a question of a ‘skills deficit’ on the part of some staff members, the development of personal effectiveness skills should remain an important challenge for the reasons outlined here. That is, while personal effectiveness skills should certainly not be seen as an alternative to an organisation that adequately supports its staff, they are important enough in their own right to justify the investment of time and energy required to develop them.

References

Morrison, T. (1993) Supervision in Social Care: An Action Learning Approach, Longman, Harlow
Pottage, D. and Evans, M. (1992) Workbased Stress: Prescription is Not the Cure, NISW, London
Rees, S. and Graham, S. (1991) Assertion Training: How to Be Who You Really Are, Routledge, London
Schon, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, Basic Books, New York
Thompson, N. (1996) People Skills: A Guide to Effective Practice in the Human Services, Macmillan, London
Thompson, N., Murphy, M. and Stradling, S. (1994) Dealing with Stress, Macmillan, London
Thompson, N., Murphy, M. and Stradling, S. (1996) Meeting the Stress Challenge, Russell House Publishing, Lyme Regis

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