Workforce wellbeing
Why a happy team means greater productivity and better care
Jim Thomas, head of workforce capacity and transformation at Skills for Care, explains why the wellbeing of your staff should be at the forefront of your mind
When you are tired, on your third long weekend in a row, with half your team off sick with COVID and a myriad of tasks still to be done, focusing on improving the happiness and healthiness of your team might not appear to be the top priority. But happiness and healthiness should be at the top of your list if you want to make sure that the people your team support are getting the best care.
Happiness, healthiness, and a good quality of life are things we all aspire to. The happier and healthier your workforce, the more productive they will be. Linking happiness, healthiness, and productivity might seem odd. Surely productivity is about doing more for less, and maximising every second that your workers are being paid to work? If four staff can run the shift rather than five, or if that support worker can do a 15-minute task in 14 minutes – is that improved productivity? Will those workers be happy and healthy? Will the people they support be happy and healthy? The culture of your team impacts on happiness and healthiness. A team that
cannot be honest with each other, distrusts each other, is made up of a number of cliques, or has some team members who are more plain-speaking than others, are some of the ways in which the culture of the team can have an impact. Enabling your team to understand its culture together and the influence each member of the team has on that culture is important. If team members feel they have to second guess what other members are thinking and can only tell each other what they think they want to hear, this will cause the whole team stress. This can manifest itself in a reluctance to make decisions without the whole team agreeing and a lack of challenge to anything people in the team have to say. A team where the integrity of the team is more important than good decision-making will always be a stressed team.
A healthy team is a happy team To improve the happiness and healthiness of your team’s culture, take time to understand each member of the team’s unique contribution and what their
individual strengths are. For example, one member of the team might be excellent at reflecting on what is happening and giving slow and meaningful feedback, another might be good at getting things done quickly, while another might be at their best sorting out process and procedure. Team culture rests on knowing how you all fit together, valuing each other, and challenging each other respectfully. Leadership impacts on happiness and healthiness for the team and its leaders. A team that is not well-led is more likely to be unsure about what it can and cannot do without referring to its leader/s. This can make team members feel that they have no control over their working day and no autonomy to act. It is not your job title or pay grade that matters if you want a high-functioning, well-adjusted, and healthy team – it is a team where everyone is listened to and valued regardless of who they are. “Do you know who I am?” is a leadership approach that is never healthy. “Do we know who we are, together?” is.
September 2022
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
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