Management of Health Care Organizations: Assignment Week 4
Chapter 10: Developing Self and Others
Objectives
• Understand the relationship between workplace performance and individual physiology, personality, emotional and social intelligence, and competencies.
• Identify four ways to pursue self-development. • Understand the importance of developing other
employees. • Be able to describe three ways managers can
develop employees. • Identify characteristic features of organizations
that encourage employee development.
Outline
• Understanding Self
• Developing Self
• Developing Others
• Organizational Strategies for Employee Development
Understanding Physiological Self
• At a core physiological level, scientists are beginning to learn more about how chemical and neural responses both reflect and influence behavior.
• Managers who are proficient at reading physiological responses are better able to resist their own personal tendencies towards reactive behavior and convey feelings of psychological safety to others.
• A threat response is activated by feelings such as uncertainty, reduced autonomy distrust, and inequity.
Understanding Personality
• At the core of human beings are personality traits that guide their individual reactions to everyday events.
• “Big Five” personality dimensions include: – Neuroticism
– Extraversion
– Openness
– Agreeableness
– Conscientiousness
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• A commonly-used instrument for both self- understanding and understanding others is the Myers- Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)®, which summarizes an individual’s preferences for taking in information and then making decisions.
• Individuals are classified into one of 16 personality types based on scores related to the four dimensions.
– Introversion ↔ Extraversion
– Sensing ↔ Intuition
– Thinking ↔ Feeling
– Judging ↔ Perceiving
Emotional and Social Intelligence
• Refers to how people behave in both private and public situations.
• Composed of two competencies: (1) personal competence for self-awareness, self- regulation, and motivation and (2) social competence for empathy and social skills.
• Self-aware individuals accurately see themselves.
Competencies
• A competency is an effective application of available knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values in complex situations.
• Many self-assessments used in the workplace are based on competencies.
• Competency for collaboration is an area of self- assessment that is important in health organization work.
• Diversity management skills are useful to assess and develop in the health workplace.
Soliciting Feedback
• Understanding one’s self requires soliciting feedback about one’s strengths and weaknesses as a manager.
• Identifying weaknesses requires commitment, energy, and focus.
• Identifying weaknesses requires soliciting feedback about personal behavior and performance.
• Feedback from 360 degrees means gathering information from the full circle of work relationships as well as feedback from customers and clients.
Developing Self
• After acquiring an understanding of self, address gaps in performance of key competencies.
• Developing and promoting one’s strengths is highly recommended.
• Strength is the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance.
• Understanding the requirements of one’s workplace makes it easier to focus on developing the skills that will be rewarded.
Developing Self Through Evidence-Based Management
• Personal development includes keeping up with the growth in the knowledge base of one’s discipline.
• In the future, managers are more likely to be required to defend their practices based on scientific evidence.
• Managers should try not to rely on rationales like, “That’s the way we’ve always done it here.”
• Join and participate in professional organizations.
Developing Others
• Managers are responsible for helping employees understand and develop themselves.
• One way to do this is to sponsor, role model, and encourage sharing of self-assessments in discussion group forums.
• This is particularly useful for employees who work together closely in interdependent teams, because it facilitates cross-training and understanding.
Develop Others Through Responsibilities
• Give employees successively more challenging growth experiences on the job.
• This can happen through designing new tasks or delegating existing tasks.
• Delegation is underused and often avoided.
• A delegated assignment should be clear, and its importance should be clearly conveyed in a face-to-face meeting.
Develop Others Through Feedback
• Make an appointment or ask whether the present is a convenient time to provide such information.
• Deliver feedback in a private place.
• Describe perceptions of the other person’s behavior using specific examples that have been personally observed.
• After giving feedback, give the recipient time to respond.
• Develop a joint action plan.
Make Feedback Direct
• Some managers can be too blunt and others can be too sensitive.
• Both the employee and the organization are better served by clear and open communication.
• Direct statements are usually appreciated.
• Don’t avoid important issues.
• Helping underperforming employees to improve or move on to better-fitting positions is an important organizational responsibility.
Organizational Strategies for Employee Development
• Employee development is a critically important organizational activity.
• It is easy to identify organizations that put a priority on employee development. – Managers are trained in employee development
and are assessed on the development of their employees.
– Everyone in the organization has an individualized development plan.
– There are programs focused on leadership. – Coaching and mentoring are widely used.
Individualized Development Plans
• Performance review systems with individualized development plans are integral to widespread employee development.
• Plans typically set goals for 90 days, six months, or one year.
• Managers set goals jointly with employees. • Progress is monitored at 30-day or other
appropriate intervals. • Similar strategies can be used to focus on the
development of a team.
Management and Leadership Education Programs
• Many large organizations have internal development institutes that offer courses for employees.
• In organizations committed to employee development, budgets for training are the last to be cut.
• Top-level executives should participate in teaching and taking courses.
Coaching and Mentoring
• Coaching is one-on-one advising from a professional coach.
• Coaching advises about interpersonal skills and strategic priorities.
• Mentoring involves a long-term relationship with a more experienced person.
• Mentors share knowledge and insights.
• Large organizations often have formal programs for coaching and mentoring.