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7. All the Best Teams Are Psychologically Safe: the experience of a social work manager

Updated: Oct 1, 2022

By Maggie Bagley (@Maggiebagley1)





Introduction:


In this spin off episode, Maggie Bagley has kindly shared her experience of fostering psychological safety as a social work manager, and also sharing her experiences of what fostered a psychologically safe workplace when she was a practicing social worker.


Maggie’s reflections of facilitating psychological safety from a managers perspective offers a unique insight that the series has not yet captured. Due to the last six episodes of Psychological Safety for Neurodivergent Social Workers reflecting of psychological safety from my perspective as a front line children and families neurodivergent social worker.


A quick review of what we have learned:


In episode one we set the scene of why psychological safety needs to be discussed in social work and by social work employers.


In episode two we explored what psychological safety looks like using Dr. Timothy Clark’s 4 step model.


In episode three we identified why psychologically safe workplaces can generally help front line social workers.


In episode four we identified why psychologically safe workplaces can specifically support neurodivergent social workers.


In episode five we reflected on how to identify present and missing practices that facilitate psychological safety.


Finally, in episode six we discussed how to facilitate a psychologically safe work place for neurodivrgent social workers.



Psychological safety is not just nice … it is essential


Psychological safety is not just nice to have, it is essential in health and social care environments. Social workers advocate for others daily, observe anti oppressive practices, uphold the values of the profession, and are bound by Social Work England’s professional standards. A social worker’s objectives are to help people and have a positive impact on families and their communities. To do this they need to know that they have the backing of their managers to try new things and possibly make risky choices.


I have worked in social care for many years, starting as a care assistant and latterly as a care home manager. I am a qualified social worker and maintain my registration with Social Work England. I have managed teams of staff in different organisations and areas of the country and have learned a lot about leadership from others and by making my own mistakes. The most important thing I have learned is to take care of the staffing team and ensure they feel psychologically safe at work.


Amy Edmondson described psychological safety as


The belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking (Edmondson 1999)


Working in fast paced environments for organisations that focus on profit and targets instead of people and purpose often means that leaders feel torn, on the one hand they want their service to look good and perform well financially which is only natural, however in the pursuit of the allocated objectives, managers are actively encouraged to distant themselves from the rest of the staff, told to be more professional. However, getting to know someone, sharing information about yourself that you might have in common helps to construct a relationship.



Fostering psychological safety as a social work manager:


As a manager I have found that there are several things you can do to build relationships and foster psychological safety including:


1. Showing vulnerability and admitting when you have done things wrong, demonstrating that it is okay to make mistakes and discuss how we can learn from them


2. Understanding each person’s job role, including their preferences and personal skills. Once a manager understands what each member of the team does well, they can allocate tasks to the right person.


3. Saying thank you and doing small things that show you care, which might include small notes left on someone’s desk telling them they are doing a great job or remembering their birthday and sending a handwritten card telling them you appreciate their hard work.


4. Not sharing confidential information, such as why someone is off sick, or the contents of a private meeting.


5. Always correct a person’s mistakes in private, not in front of their colleagues.



Ending


My belief is that psychological safety is the most important factor for a team’s success. When you work with a group of people who are happy, kind to each other and supportive when things go wrong, it is a pleasure and a joy to go to work each day. Subsequently that same team of staff will be more productive, their enthusiasm and effervescence will be infectious to the people around them and who doesn’t want to work somewhere like that?


Thank you Maggie Bagley for sharing your tips and experience of fostering psychological safety as a social work manager.


If you ahd read this series - or any past series - and would like contribute, please contact me via the chat box, send an email to Thesocialworkworld@gmail.com or find me on twitter at @flossysworld

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