The vital role of line managers in preventing and reducing stress at work by Emma Donaldson Feilder
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Transcript of The vital role of line managers in preventing and reducing stress at work by Emma Donaldson Feilder
The vital role of line managers in preventing and reducing stress at
work
Emma Donaldson-FeilderAffinity Health at Work
Session outline
• Why focus on line managers and competencies?
• Which manager behaviours are most important?
• How can you integrate management competencies for managing stress into practice?
Why focus on line managers?
• Managers’ behaviour is vital:– Direct impact: potential source of
stress/well-being for their staff
– ‘Gate-keeper’ role: influence their staff’s exposure to sources of stress
• Managers play key role in identifying and tackling stress in their staff
• Managers are key to achieving the HSE Management Standards
Why identify key manager behaviours/competencies
• Understand what manager behaviours are important for preventing and reducing stress
• Translate stress management into accessible language and people management terminology: – Provide managers with clear guidance on
behaviours to adopt– Enable integration of stress management
into employers’ selection, appraisal and training processes
Rigorousresearchprocess
1. Interviews with nearly 400 managers and employees + workshops with HR/OH/H&S
Produced framework with 19 behavioural themes
2. Questionnaire survey with over 800 managers and employees + further workshops
Refined framework to 4 broad themes, with 12 sub-themes
3. Testing whether we can help managers use and develop the behaviours identified
Can help managers change behaviour
Management competencies for preventing and reducing stress
Competency Sub-Competency
Respectful and responsible: Managing emotions and having integrity
Integrity
Managing emotions
Considerate approach
Managing and communicating existing and future work
Proactive work management
Problem solving
Participative/empowering
Managing the individual within the team
Personally accessible
Sociable
Empathetic engagement
Reasoning/Managing difficult situations
Managing conflict
Use of organisational resources
Taking responsibility for resolving issues
Management competencies for preventing & reducing stress vs
general people management
Management competencies for preventing & reducing stress
General management
competencies
Overlap with management/ leadership models
Competency Sub-competency TLQ (Pub)
TLQ (Priv)
MLQ 5X
LBDQ
Great 8
Respectful and Responsible: Managing emotions and having integrity
Integrity
Managing Emotions
Considerate Approach
Managing and Communicating existing and future work
Proactive work management
Problem Solving
Participative/empowering
Reasoning/ Managing difficult situations
Managing Conflict
Use of organisational resources
Taking responsibility for resolving issues
Managing the individual within the team
Personally accessible
Sociable
Empathetic engagement
Management competencies for preventing & reducing stress vs
general people management
General management
competencies
Management competencies for preventing & reducing stress
Intervention research findings
• Provision of upward feedback + workshop can help managers change behaviour
• Most helpful for those with development needs (‘ineffective’)
• Organisations need to:– Provide upward feedback– Provide additional support– Help managers overcome barriers– Integrate with organisational practices– Achieve buy-in
Integrating the findings: into HR/mgt development
• In management/leadership development and appraisal processes, framework can be used to:– Dovetail into existing management development and
develop new training programmes– Integrate into manager induction programmes – Provide guiding structure/checklist for other skills
training (eg communication, delegation)
• Indicator tool questionnaire can provide insight via feedback – NB with support/coaching/ development, not stand-alone
Integrating the findings: into stress mgt activity
• Use the competency framework to:– Review and develop stress management
(and other relevant) policies– Inform the development of action plans
• Use the indicator tool questionnaire to:– Provide individual diagnostic/information at
the local level (next stage after stress risk assessment survey/help ‘tie-in’ managers)
– Tackle specific situations or scenarios e.g. ‘hot spots’ or particular stressors
Implications of the research for line managers
• Effective stress management not a separate activity: day-to-day basis behaviour
• Not single behaviour: complementary set of behaviours (depend on situation/ individual)
• Some things may do already, others may need to add to management approach: upward feedback helps understand which
• Can change behaviour, but there may be barriers to overcome
• Seek support from others
Outputs so far and in future
Published so far• Research reports for phases 1, 2 and 3• Guides for HR and line managers• Online self-report questionnaire
Future outputs• Online materials for managers and professionals• Phase 4: case studies of integration• Manager competency approach for managing
return to work
Session summary
• Why focus on line managers and competencies?– Managers’ behaviour can cause/prevent stress
and is vital for local level stress management• Which manager behaviours are most
important? – 4 behavioural themes identified
• How can you integrate management competencies for managing stress into practice?– Use framework and questionnaire in
management development and stress management
Link festGuidance leaflets for managers and HR: www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/health/stress/_lnstrswrk.htm?IsSrchRes=1Research reports : www.cipd.co/researchinsights http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr633.htm http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr553.htm Self-report questionnaire :http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/mcit.htm
Thank-you for listening
For further information, please contact:- Emma Donaldson-Feilder [email protected]