Professionalism & Leadership Unit: Social Inclusion Projects

from analogue to digital

https://padlet.com/wm0009/pp-prevention-community-psychology-resources-uxqlvohl092ewbmr/wish/R7dXad2dRXe0Z6bl

hospital to community

Sussex Recovery College | Mental Health & Recovery Courses

I’m feeling quite nervous about developing my leadership skills on training. Coming from a band 4/5 background, I haven’t had many leadership opportunities and was always in a more supportive role (e.g. helping my supervisor deliver a learning session rather than being the lead). I’ve noticed that I feel a lot more confident to deliver research related training and/or support my colleagues in this area as there is often less ambiguity than sharing a psychological formulation in case discussion. I guess I’d like to work on becoming more comfortable with uncertainty and less fearful of saying the ‘wrong thing’ in MDT discussions.

I know I can also be hesitant to speak up in MDTs, especially when there are more senior staff in the room because I worry about getting it wrong or not being heard. I’d like to get more comfortable sharing my views in group settings, even when I don’t have the perfect answer.

I’ve been talking about this a bit in supervision in preparation and I am starting to notice when I hold back more out of nerves than anything else. I’m hoping that over the course of training I’ll have space to practise this and build my confidence.

1. Add up items for Independent Thinking (IT) and Active Engagement (AE) axes:

2. Rate each axis as low/middling/high

below 20=low; above 40=high; 20-40=middling;

3. link level on each axis to specific followership style, using table in post below

4. review details about your suggested style in document embedded in this post

I definitely feel more comfortable in a Follower than Leader position. Although I feel confident in my skills in leading projects and presenting to groups, I can struggle with feelings of imposter syndrome in situations where I would be speaking on a certain clinical topic or offering advice to colleagues. Similarly to others, I can find speaking up in MDT settings challenging at times through fear of saying something 'wrong'. I think that this can even be challenging in teams / clinical areas I know well, so moving into a service on placement that I don't feel knowledgable about may be challenging for me.

I think the peer support on the course will help with this, as well as naming this in supervision as it is something I would like to work on. As an AP, I found taking on leadership roles with junior colleagues, such as undergraduate placement students, helpful in building my confidence in using practical leadership skills. I think applying this to working with wider teams of differing bandings etc. is an area for me to work on.

I also hope that simply having an awareness of where my discomfort may be coming from, i.e., nerves rather than a lack of understanding, will help. I'm looking forward to this Unit as I think I have lots to learn but I am keen to develop!

Moving forwards, I feel that some elements of being a pragmatic follower may be helpful on training, e.g., maintaining balance and being attuned to change. However, I also hope to see some change in my followership style as I would like to develop my skills and confidence in aligning my goals and behaviours to my core values and purpose.

I am more confident in speaking up and sitting with uncertainty in smaller meetings or supervision. I value constructive feedback and can ask for help when needed. I would like to utilise these skills to help me gain confidence in larger meetings/ MDT settings. My supervisor can help me by encouraging me to seek opportunities out of my comfort zone and providing a safe space for me to voice any worries I may have.

I feel this approach aligns well with where I’m at professionally. In my most recent role as an Assistant Psychologist, I worked within an MDT where patient’s physical and mental health care needs often shifted and involved a number of risks. I found that I was able to stay flexible and adapt to these changes as they arose and I feel that this will be important to continue when starting training.

However, I’ve noticed I can sometimes hold back from taking risks out of fear that my performance might be judged, or that I might do the wrong thing. My work colleagues have said to me in the past that I can be “too hard on myself” and self-critical, which is why sometimes I don’t take these risks. I also had a great professional relationship with my supervisor, but there were times when I felt I was being asked to take on more than what was expected, meaning that I had less time for reflective practice and debriefing about emotionally challenging cases. Even though I completed the work, I found it difficult to speak up when things started to feel overwhelming, and it did sometimes having an impact on me.

Going into training, I hope to challenge myself to take more risks and remind myself that it’s okay to make mistakes or receive constructive feedback as that’s what training is about.

I find that I gravitate towards trusted leaders to anchor myself within new contexts. I tend to look to others to help aid my formation of ideas and understand what goals are a priority, what sort of new ideas are typically championed, and which ethical standards are particularly important to them. I also typically take a back seat at first when entering a new environment. I am consciously aware of team dynamics and hierarchy and prefer to sit in the observer role whilst I assess my surroundings.

This means that, initially, I would be more likely to accept what a leader tells me without much thought and would feel less confident playing the role of devil’s advocate. Additionally, I would likely be more considered when expressing my views and less likely to raise concerns where individual or group ethical standards do not align with my own.

As my knowledge, competence and confidence grow, I believe that I will fall back within that ‘exemplary follower’ zone. Previously, this has occurred when I’ve felt more assured in my independent thought and have a good grasp of others such that I feel able to express my thoughts and ideas in a way which is likely to be listened to and well-perceived.

I hope that my followership style will become more stable throughout my time on the DClin. I believe this will come as I develop a stronger sense of my identity as a practitioner and gain knowledge and perspective so that I feel more aligned with particular viewpoints and ideologies.

That said, I believe the self-assessment report has its limitations. While useful for self-reflection, it does not fully capture external perspectives, such as those provided by 360-degree feedback. Self-awareness can be biased or incomplete, and relying solely on personal reflection may obscure important areas for growth that others can see more clearly ( or not..., depending on their own competency in this area).

Similarly, I consider myself capable of being an exemplary follower. However, it is only under certain conditions and in specific contexts. This limitation, too, seems linked to the same underlying factors identified in the leadership report, and I believe it is rooted in both cultural influences and personality traits.

Looking ahead, I hope that my role as a trainee will offer more opportunities to actively engage with, support, and contribute to the survival and adaptation of the service/ or change and scrap if needed. If such opportunities arise, I see them not only as a chance to contribute meaningfully, but also as a valuable challenge and experience, this may help stretch and develop my leadership capabilities further.

However, in my support worker roles and my previous AP roles, I have not always had that same confidence. I think this stems from how settled I feel in an environment and battling my feelings of whether I belong there or not. I'm aware that on placements we don't get that time to settle in and feel more comfortable, so I hope that I can feel connected to others in my placements and be confident enough to involve myself and be that exemplar follower that this questionnaire has evaluated me as.

Going into this placement, I feel slightly inferior as my input might not be viewed as important or of the same value. This is something that I would like to explore in supervision as this may be stemming from my previous experience of working in a PICU where it was very medicalised and not psychologically informed.

I also hope that I can be a present voice in MDTs so that I can learn from others and vice versa to be able to provide the most effective care for our patients.