relationship management
to senior physician feels their voice is being heard. A fortunate side effect of highly developed interpersonal skills is an increased ability to measure your own reactions and stress appropriately.
While listening and considering other views is crucial, ensure that your own voice doesn’t get lost in the debate and remember that you are more than just a mediator in the process of running the practice. Be assertive and express your views in a way that is neither passive nor aggressive and encourage your peers to do the same. Sometimes it can feel as though you are bringing together disparate aims and agendas and this is where your negotiating skills will become invaluable. When negotiating with colleagues over business matters, try to take a structured approach, clarifying your goals and ensuring that the eventual mutually agreed course of action is established and documented, to avoid ambiguity at a later date.
become empowered and believe they have a choice.” She explains that saying yes can win you brownie points in the short term, but if you take on too much and fail to deliver, it can be a disastrous long-term strategy.
“Have confidence in your ‘no’ when you think it’s the right decision, even though it may not be the most popular one,” she says. “In the long term, your ability to say no will be one of your most valuable attributes.” Although it may sound counterintuitive, one of the biggest problems is identifying with the problems of the people that you deal with, according to stress therapist Helen Wingstedt. On one level it works because the two people are empathising with one another and it makes the other person feel comfortable, but it can also evoke the same feelings of stress in the person doing the empathisisng.” Wingstedt’s approach is all about separating positive and negative stress. Negative stress is driven by baggage, conflict and upset from the past, while
Be assertive and express your views in a way that is neither passive nor aggressive
It’s inevitable in any work place that stressful times will present themselves and it’s the way that people deal with it that define whether problems balloon or are dealt with in a timely, relatively trouble-free manner. In these uncertain times for primary care, practices are particularly susceptible to febrile situations, as inspections and revalidation combined with the problems of adopting additional DESs can lead to an overworked and frustrated team. It’s at this point that it’s important to focus on your own needs as well as those of the group. After all, if you’re rushing around the place like a Tasmanian devil with an overdue tax return, you’re in no fit state to ensure that everyone else stays calm and focused.
REDRESS YOUR STRESS Life coach Suzy Greaves says one of the key skills to managing workplace stress is knowing how to say no. “I’m constantly challenging clients who say they have no choice but to overwork,” she says. “I coach people to
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positive stress is more task-orientated, such as: I need to get to work on time; finish this report; or complete the staff rota. It’s about achievable goals. As she explains: “When someone’s got lots of short-term tasks, it keeps stress down because you can achieve them quicker. Every time you achieve one, you dump a load of stress. As soon as you’ve completed something, your mind dumps the stress because you don’t need it anymore, which makes you feel really good and gives you a natural high.” Remember that however well you think
things are going, it’s important to take time out occasionally to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses. Learn from mistakes, which will inevitably be made, and be open to self-improvement. By keeping your own stress in check and ensuring that everyone in the practice is heard in day-to-day proceedings, it should be possible to bridge the gap between those clinical and clerical voices, resulting in a convivial atmosphere of communication.
management
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