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.