It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This Bing Crosby classic is one of my favourite festive songs. 

That single line conjures up images of traditional things like Christmas trees, tinsel, mince pies and log fires. But it’s used a little sarcastically in the Molloy household as well. All harmless and tongue-in-cheek but, when the commercialism and pressure becomes a bit too much during the festive season, we sing it under our breath to lighten the moment. When you have been rammed by yet another trolley battling the bulging Tesco aisles or are arguing over the single cellotape roll wrapping presents, one of the family will strike up singing ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ and you can’t help but giggle. It lightens a stressful moment and helps us cope and keep smiling.

So, whilst it actually is looking a lot like Christmas, we all know of course that this year will be a far cry from what we are used to.

Everyone has been impacted in different ways, but it’s fair to say it’s been a unbelievably tough year for all on some level. Families are facing difficult personal decisions about whether to meet up with their loved ones at Christmas or remain apart. My single son, who is in our bubble, is coming to stay with us for few days and also my brother for a small family get-together, but I know its going to be a tricky juggling act, especially for large or blended families.  And my heart especially goes out to those who have lost loved ones this year. They will be mourning and missing them, but not even able to collectively grieve their absence together over the Christmas break.

People have been especially trying to find meaning this year.

I just loved a story on Facebook about a teacher’s lesson to school children on happiness, caring, and teamwork. She brought balloons to the school, told her pupils to blow them up and write their name on one. After the children tossed their balloons into the hall, the teacher moved through the hall mixing them all up. The kids were given five minutes to find the balloon with their name on it, but though they searched frantically, no one found their own balloon.
 
Then the teacher told them to take the balloon closest to them and give it to the person whose name was on it. In less than two minutes, everyone was holding their own balloon.

The teacher said to the children, “These balloons are like happiness. We won’t find it when we’re only searching for our own. But if we care about someone else’s happiness…it will ultimately help us find our own.”

The last ten months of the pandemic have been full of people caring about someone else’s happiness and going above and beyond to help and care for them. I’ve seen so many examples of this from people who work here, who have been helping others find their ‘balloons’ by the bucket load! And there are lots of touching stories about helping others at Christmas too. It’s wonderful.

There are too many lovely examples to list, but I was so struck by Sheila Bekoe’s story about delivering food and other basic products to struggling BAME families in north Manchester. Sheila’s efforts are marvellous, but so too your generosity in donating items in huge numbers having read her story. I’m also aware some of you have been volunteering at foodbanks, like Shakiel Khan, from our home treatment team in Rochdale. Donations are pouring in from Shekiel’s whole team too for the foodbank.

And we’ve got teams going to great efforts to give patients a special Christmas. Staff at The Meadows in Stockport, for example, have collectively raised over £400 through a raffle to buy festive extras for patients on Rosewood Ward. Our Tameside and Glossop early intervention team has been supporting lots of local causes; collecting clothing, sleeping bags, selection boxes, toys, and food. Then there’s the Healthy Young Minds Oldham team who have set up a reverse advent calendar, so they bring in items for a local foodbank. The list goes on. This is the true spirit of Christmas.

Some say that life will never be the same again, that we’ll forever be haunted by the tragic loss of life, suffering, mental anguish, diminished economic prosperity, and so much more. On the other hand, what’s unfolded as a result of this pandemic is a reawakened sense of life’s meaning and purpose, recognition of our hidden strengths, and willingness to tap into our core goodness and generosity.

But as I have said many times before, to help others, we must look after ourselves. I know many of you are working over the Christmas holiday period, but please all make sure you have some time for yourselves if you can. It’s been a tough year and everyone is tired. So, it’s perfectly OK to veg out on the sofa, slob in pyjamas or gorge on mince pies. Whatever floats your boat. We all need space to relax, recharge, and recuperate.

Thank you again for everything you are and everything you do. Wishing you a lovely break.

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2

Compassionate leadership requires courage

The subject of compassionate leadership has been on my mind this week. Following the Board’s session with Professor Michael West that I talked about in my last blog, we had a follow up discussion to consider how we can best support compassionate leadership and good team working across our organisation.

It’s a myth that you cannot be compassionate and strong. Compassionate leadership requires courage. The courage to listen to tough messages from those we lead. The courage to explore understanding of others challenges and have our own interpretations challenged.

You can be a compassionate leader and still take difficult decisions, manage performance and make radical changes. But a compassionate approach is about consulting, listening and compromising when it’s in the best interests of others. It’s by releasing people’s motivation and creativity through compassionate leadership that we can ensure commitment to purpose and performance.

Professor West talks about compassionate leadership being about paying attention - ‘listening with fascination’, where we are really present and not thinking about what we want to say. It’s about listening to understand, not listening to reply, and it helps us to move forward, progress, alter our behaviour and become more self-aware.  

Compassionate leadership is also about showing empathy and putting ourselves in somebody else’s shoes; and finally it’s about helping – finding a meaningful response or action.

But it can be tough to help others when you yourself are at your limits. We’ve all chosen to work in the public sector, thereby actively choosing to be part of a sector that is there to help and care for people. Our desire to be compassionate is not in question.

But how can leaders help a team with burnout when they themselves are burned out? Staff shortages, ever increasing demands and the current climate can all lead to chronic excessive workload across every layer. Other work difficulties and personal circumstances can also pile the stress on, and the evidence shows that if people are under consistent pressure for a long period of time then this is harmful in so many ways. As the saying goes “You can’t pour from an empty jug”.

In the Board, we talked about three areas of potential focus during our session this week.

Firstly, how we model compassionate leadership for others, as it starts with us. We need to be constantly mindful of our values and display our expected behaviours in our day-to-day conversations and actions. And we need to check how we are doing with you, for example through 360 feedback to see where each of us needs to improve and grow. One of the things we are also introducing is reverse mentoring, so we have an opportunity to hear how it really is for our staff with protected characteristics.

We also talked about how we support our leaders and teams. We need to continue to identify where pressure is greatest and do all we can to reduce chronic excessive workload. This second wave of covid has really taken it out of people, and many staff were already under a lot of stress and strain before the pandemic turned our world upside down. Some services are under-resourced, others are going through complex transformation and corporate services are being redesigned. People are frazzled and worn out.

So, we need to make sure the Niche work, which shows where we need more funding, feeds strongly into the refresh of the Greater Manchester mental health strategy, the supporting investment plan and in our local contract negotiations for next year. And even where it is difficult to solve some of these long standing issues, we need to encourage conversations about chronic excessive workloads.

Managers often feel that if they initiate the conversation they have to do something about it. We might not have a magic wand to solve all of the issues immediately, but we still need to listen and see if we can help. Burnout is never a failure, we are all susceptible to it and our environment can precipitate it. We’re all in this together and even listening and being heard about how hard things are can help.

We are also going to develop a clear leadership strategy across our organisation that makes our aspiration for compassionate leadership explicit and includes the actions we will take to promote this. Every team should experience some form of team development at least once a year and we want to develop what’s on offer to you, from general to bespoke development.

We’re already rolling out a big leadership development training programme as part of our new clinical and operational leadership redesign, and this will include compassionate and effective team leadership and management. We also need to promote the importance of a ‘home team’ approach with shared objectives, regular supervision, time for reflection and mutual support.

And when I talk about ‘teams’, let's not forget student placements within this. I know one of the challenges during covid is sustaining the support and preparation for students, but they are ‘essential workers’ and supporting them to meet their learning outcomes is a vital part of our work.

The final area the Board discussed was about the importance of having time for reflection. It can be really hard to take time out when there is so much to do, with more tasks piling in. But we need to encourage people and teams to have a space for reflection, as well as informal catch-ups. Reflection is about careful thought. It give us a valuable opportunity to pause amidst the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider interpretations and create meaning. This becomes learning.

The communications team was telling me about starting every Friday meeting with a fun ‘how are you feeling’ picture scale. The picture montages range from different animals in wacky poses (last Friday was hamsters) to celebrities in emotional snaps from joy to despair. They said that the picture they choose is sort of irrelevant, it’s a fun catalyst to help everyone open up about how they are feeling and how their week has been. I think I’m going to introduce this into our execs meetings!

Positive leadership is about optimism and humour, as well as compassion. So, we need the fun and the enthusiasm as well as the empathy and kindness.

I loved a recent tweet from Jaco Nel, one of our consultant psychiatrists and chair of our disabled employees network. It said, ‘When you’ve had a difficult week and you feel you have failed. Reflect and remind yourself of all the things you have achieved. We’re human and can’t be perfect all the time. Have a good weekend’.

A wonderful message.

Best wishes

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2

Game changer

Hope is a powerful thing. It’s being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. And it inspires us to do the impossible and carry on during difficult times.

It can come in many different shapes and forms, and this week it has come through the news about the covid vaccine breakthrough.

These are the announcements the world has been waiting for. Scientists are going to help us forge a clear pathway out of this global ordeal.

The pandemic may feel as if it has lasted a lifetime, but a number of companies have done the seemingly impossible in developing vaccines in such an incredibly short time. It is a breakthrough for the history books.

Yes, we know there are immense challenges around manufacturing and delivering the vaccine to many millions of people. But they are a total game changer and the ultimate exit strategy from this awful pandemic.

I’ve been on several national calls over the last week which have really highlighted the phenomenal pace involved in preparing for the covid vaccination programme.  The scale in terms of numbers and logistics is just enormous. But there’s real energy and optimism and a clear plan emerging about how we are going to drive this forwards.

Subject to final approval, the programme is being prepared to start vaccinations as soon as early December. The most vulnerable members of the community and front line health and care staff will be first, with others following very quickly over the following few months. A colossal achievement for the most important public health goal in our lifetimes.

I know this news will be bittersweet for those people who have been personally impacted by the virus and who have lost loved ones. Our hearts go out to them and I know how hard it must be to hold hope when you are grieving. We need to recognise we are all in very different places and our ability to have hope depends on what is happening in our lives. The vaccine is an enormous bright light in the darkness, but it doesn’t take away that darkness for very many people.

For me personally, there have been other chinks of light that have cheered me up alongside the vaccine success story.

It was great to kick off the building of our new male psychiatric intensive care unit at Tameside Hospital last week. Our ‘breaking ground’ event was of course much smaller than originally planned because of covid, but this 12-bedded unit will make a real difference to patient care. Many thanks to everyone who is involved in this significant development. There has been a massive amount of hard work over the last few years to get us to this stage and it’s so good we are finally starting building work.

I also want to give a big shout-out to the rehab and high support staff I chatted to during my visit to Beckett and Hurst Place. They are doing such great work in the directorate, despite all the pressures, and it was really inspiring chatting to them.

Our recent board development session on compassionate leadership led by Professor Michael West was also uplifting. I was so struck by the hard evidence he shared on the direct impact of compassionate leadership on delivering high quality care. For example, the size of effects of compassion are greater than the effects of aspirin in heart attacks and statins in reducing the risk of cardiovascular problems. In other words, being compassionate is one of the biggest things we can do to make a difference to people’s wellbeing and recovery.

And, if we have compassion for ourselves then we are better able to show compassion to others. It means being kind and showing ourselves empathy; accepting that we are not perfect; and understanding that there is potential for learning and growth in every mistake we make.

The work we have done as part of the Civility Saves Lives improvement collaborative has allowed us to reflect on how we see ourselves, as well as how others see us; which can be very different to what we imagine.  Self-compassion brings a greater depth of personal awareness and is a key element to us becoming a more outwardly compassionate organisation. 

We’ve also commissioned an external ‘self-compassion in the workplace programme’ for managers in our new leadership restructure, recognising leaders set the culture for the rest of the organisation.  I’ll hopefully cover more about compassionate leadership in my next blog, as it’s timely with our new leadership structure coming into place.

The driving forces of exceptional leadership are desire, self-awareness and most importantly, compassion. It matters more than ever, especially in a post-pandemic world. It will help us build a better future together.

Best wishes

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2

Clinging onto the small pleasures

I guess like most of you, I heard the news about the second lockdown with an awful sinking feeling. And now that we are a couple of days into it, the feelings of sadness, worry and dread are all still there. 

Even though it was somewhat inevitable and right to do, I am sure a lot of us have heavy hearts at the moment thinking about the next few months.

It reminded me of those slogan T-shirts which say ‘Eat, Sleep, Repeat’.

It’s less about the curtailing of personal freedoms, because we can take four weeks; we can even take twelve weeks as we have shown before. It’s the ever increasing impact on lives and livelihoods, in terms of people’s health, loss of life and the economic destruction. Every day we hear about more job losses and the effect on people’s wellbeing, alongside increasing pressure on already frazzled and tired NHS staff.

And, I know I’ve said it before, but we don’t even have the warm sun to lift our spirits as we did the first time round. At least then, we could finish work and still get outside in daylight for a walk, jog or socially-distanced catch-up in the park. 

I know many suffer from a bit of seasonal affective disorder at the best of times and there’s no sugar coating this time round as we’re no longer wide eyed at the newness of the situation. There seems to be a lot less enthusiasm for Joe Wicks squats, zoom quizzes, Netflix binges and baking bread.

However, it is a double edged sword and, although a lot of our emotions are because we know what to expect, knowing what to expect also puts us in a better position to deal with it. It is not new, or uncharted. We better understand what we are facing now - and the first wave proved that we can cope.

As I said in my email on Wednesday, I wish I had a “magic wand” to make this all go away or at least make it easier for us all to deal with, as I know how exhausted and fed up you are. But I think getting through the next few months is as much about being open and honest about how we are feeling and not approaching it with a false sense of gung-ho when this isn’t how we are feeling.

Our world as we know it is delayed, not derailed.

And as the Persian adage ‘et haec abibunt’ says “This too will pass”.

I was listening to the radio a few days ago and heard a psychologist talking about the importance of hope and trying to retain a sense of optimism and positivity in the face of adversity. This is difficult at the moment when we can’t plan things to look forward to; holidays, time with family and friends or even shopping trips. So we have to find different ways of finding joy in the things around us.

I groaned when the psychologist was followed on the radio by the song “Reasons to be Cheerful” by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, not just because it seemed a cheesy link, but also I’ve never been a fan. However, I found myself listening to the lyrics and starting to smile.

Although the song starts off with the refrain, ‘Why don’t you get back into bed’ (which I am sure is a very normal feeling at the moment!). It is then followed by verses all about the small and sometimes silly things that we can take pleasure from.

He sings about, “The juice of a carrot, the smile of the parrot, a little drop of claret, anything that rocks” and I really smiled at the line, “Something nice to study, phoning up a buddy, being in the nuddy”.

In the absence of the things that normally help get us through the mundane and the stressful, how do we find some smaller things in our everyday life to be happy about?

There’s a few things that have happened over the last week which have given me ‘reasons to be cheerful’.

We had a great board session with our care hubs and I found it really uplifting to hear the progress they have made. They have been working so positively with partners during the pandemic and are really moving service developments forwards.

I loved looking at all your tweets which shared Halloween decorations, costumes and activities in service areas.

And reading all the fabulous stories for Black History Month, and also occupational therapy week which is running this week, have perked up the days.

In terms of the small pleasures at home, these include reading in the bath, watching something good on telly in my pyjamas, feeling the fresh air on my face stomping up a hill with my ‘outdoors smile’ on, clean sheets and my lovely fluffy pillows. And every Thursday my heart almost bursts when my two year old granddaughter goes to her dressing up box in my house to put on her pirate outfit, and then goes in search of a chocolate coin in the bag of treasure (which we hide every week).

I shouldn’t get political, but there might also be a much bigger reason for cheer when Donald Trump finally leaves the White House! (apologies to anyone who likes his style, but I have been baffled and terrified in equal measures during his term of office and will be find it hard not to cheer if he goes).

So let’s cling onto the small pleasures. Let’s keep on finding the small things to appreciate, to celebrate, to be optimistic about. Let’s savour those little moments of joy. As small as they may be, they will hopefully make life better.

Best wishes,

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2 

The good, the bad and the funny

The old adage, it’ll end in ‘tiers’ has never been truer!

Claire (top) and 
Lisa Ryder (bottom)

Like a lot of you, I listened to the announcements about the national ‘tiered’ system of restrictions with a sinking heart. Although we know we are going to have to take further measures to stem the increasing number of covid cases, it feels as if it’s another period of time with life being put on hold.

There is a great deal of discussion about whether Greater Manchester will shortly tip into tier three and, after some of the toughest six months any of us have ever faced, the idea of going back to the restrictions of the Spring is really challenging.

It also feels different now to how we felt at the start of lockdown in March. Yes, it was very frightening then, but there was also a sense of togetherness about everybody wanting to do their bit to reduce the spread of the virus. We came together as a nation. There was camaraderie, creativity, clapping and community spirit.

But as the days get shorter, darker and the temperature drops, realising that our lives are going to be very restricted for many more months to come is now very tough. It definitely feels as if many people are finding this bit harder than the first full lockdown.

 

I listened to a bar owner in Liverpool being interviewed on the news after the tier three announcement, and she said it no longer felt as if “we were all in this together” as a nation.

 

There is clearly a sense of tiredness and frustration when you listen to people talking at the moment.  Many NHS staff are already feeling exhausted. Everyone has put such a lot into the last six months, it’s hard to think about another six months of the same.

I have been reflecting a lot on this big challenge of how we come together again and promote a shared sense of belonging and focus, when all the measures being put in place are about trying to reduce connectedness.

And also, how do we get through this next surge with enough energy?

I certainly don’t have all of the answers, but have been thinking about how we can help each other. I’ve talked a lot about looking after ourselves as individuals, from taking annual leave to doing creative and enjoyable things out of work. Being kind to ourselves.

But I want to talk about what we can do as a team in this blog. Because in a world where being together is so difficult, and with so much social isolation, it’s essential to stay united as teams.

I think one of the most important things is keeping that sense of shared purpose in the forefront of our minds.

We’ve rightly spent so much time focussing on what we need to do about covid. But, it’s important that we also protect our big ambitions. We mustn’t drop everything to run towards covid, as we had to the first time, when we put a lot of work on hold.

We need to keep progressing our digital agenda, quality improvements such as single gender accommodation, and service transformation around community mental health and learning disability services. We need to hold our nerve and keep these on track.

And fostering ‘belonging’ and shared identity is also an essential part of staying engaged and keeping spirits up. If you feel distant from things and as if your contribution doesn’t matter then it is harder to stay energised.

So, we need to check in with each other on a regular basis. We need to weave in time and opportunities to chat, reflect and learn from each other. Everything that is happening is so serious, but we also need to have some fun, and laugh together.

In times of widespread fear and uncertainty it’s perhaps more crucial than ever to recognise and hold on to the lighter side of life. Humour is a powerful tool, especially in a crisis, that can help us feel less worried, less alone, and more in control. It helps teams to make meaning of their own experiences collaboratively; bringing and bonding us more together.

I know a lot of the team humour and fun happens spontaneously when everyone is working or sitting together. But I’ve heard about some creative and fabulous things that different teams (in and out of our Trust) are doing virtually together; such as live yoga classes, quizzes, ‘virtual cake time’ on their Friday team meeting, or even virtual team drinks after work on a Friday. Some are just cheering up the rest of their team with hilarious zoom backgrounds, and other daily surprises, as well as sharing pictures, memes, and videos.

These small gestures can keep camaraderie alive online. 

I’m trying to find a way for our exec team to have some time out, so we can think about the next phase. We have spent such a lot of time together over the last six months, but as most of this is done through MS Teams it has mostly been focussed on work. With limited ability to just drop in on each other and have a natter, our sense of togetherness has been more professional but less personal and human.

So, I want to spend some time as a team thinking through how we find ways of informally connecting as a team. It’s not ideal having to do this by MS Teams or Zoom or socially distanced in a room with masks on, but I would encourage all our teams to do the same. It’s about creating the space to share how everyone is feeling and craft a way forwards together.

We also need to keep on celebrating achievements and successes. I think we did it through the first phase really well and, like a lot of you, I loved reading the ‘Together We Can’ daily communication. It’s really important going forwards that we keep finding ways of doing this at both a team and organisational level.

Our AGM last week was one way to celebrate your tremendous successes. The review of the year video, and some of the presentations, really highlighted the impressive achievements over 2019/20 year. It sometimes feels that covid has wiped out the past, with no other ‘show in town’, but the AGM allowed us to have that moment of reflection and see how much real progress has been made in so many areas.

Feeling tired after the last six months is entirely normal, but a collective sense of fatigue can occasionally have unintended consequences. When we are tired we are more likely to make mistakes. So, please remember that success also relies on speaking up when we or others don’t get it right. Its national speak up month and Lisa Ryder, our freedom to speak up guardian has written a personal and powerful guest blog which I urge you to read.

So, let’s keep together. Let’s keep talking. About the good, bad and the funny. We need to celebrate success, we need to keep the humour, and we need to find ways of maintaining our energy and resilience. The people we serve depend on it.

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Speaking up, listening up and following up - Lisa Ryder, freedom to speak up guardian:

As a young student nurse, I spoke up about a consultant’s treatment of a patient and the bullying behaviours of a sister towards a colleague. 

I was promptly summoned to a meeting with my tutor who told me “If you want a career in nursing Lisa, you need to know when to keep your mouth shut”. 

The experience didn’t stop me speaking up, but it did have a profound impact and I left nursing.  I remained in the NHS working in public health and safeguarding until taking up the post of freedom to speak up (FTSU) guardian in 2017. 

The FTSU guardian role followed the public enquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.  Appalling treatment and high mortality rates were exposed at the hospital. The reasons given were understaffing, a poor skill mix ratio, a bullying culture, and senior managers in denial about the extent of the problems. Staff attempted to speak up but theirs and patient concerns were repeatedly ignored.  

One of the staff who tried to speak up about the treatment of patients was Helene Donnelly (pictured). Helene was a nurse and after one particular fraught shift where she had been sworn at by one of the sisters, she made a statement setting out her concerns. She was ostracised by her colleagues, bullied and harassed.  She left the trust but continued to speak up about what was happening.  Helene is now one of my FTSU guardian colleagues working across England.

The guardian role is an independent and objective post that has direct access to senior leadership, and therefore can ensure people like Helene have their voices heard at the top of the organisation and beyond.

Staff can speak up about anything at any time. Obviously patient safety is paramount, but the wellbeing of our colleagues is crucial and, as our own Civility Saves Lives campaign has shown us, incivility and bullying behaviours all impact on patient safety and the quality of care we provide.  

My experience as a student nurse was a long time ago, but up and down the country similar stories are being told today.  While we have come a long way in the past three years we still have some way to go before freedom to speak up is business as usual. 

The guardian role is one small element of the FTSU process, all of our FTSU successes so far are routed in our leadership and the Board’s commitment to embedding a culture of openness, honesty and transparency; where everyone is valued for speaking up, listened to and their concerns followed up.

We cannot afford to take the risk of thinking “that would never happen here”.  I am one of 30 national FTSU trainers and we all spend time discussing the importance of critical thinking, professional curiosity and contemplating the unthinkable.   

The future is bright; FTSU continues to extend its reach within and outside the NHS. Movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo have forced us to acknowledge the systemic oppression and discrimination within our society, institutions and organisations and given us a chance to change so that we no longer tolerate discrimination in any form.

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Best wishes

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2

Breaking our 'Groundhog Day' loop

Bill Murray celebrated his 70th birthday on Monday, with fans across the world sending birthday wishes to the actor dubbed “the funniest man on the planet”.

There's no shortage of films to choose from when thinking of Murray's most memorable roles, from Ghostbusters to Scrooge. But his best ever performance surely has to be in Groundhog Day, when he finds himself inexplicably living the same day over and over again.

I can’t believe this classic comedy is 27 years old, and just like any great comedy, it also has a serious message. His weatherman character, Phil Connors, goes through every emotion during his time in the loop: changing from an arrogant, self-absorbed cynic to an optimist who embraces life and helps others.

In the end, after exhausting the options that hurt himself and others, he finally chooses to use his life to love himself and those around him. At this point, he is mysteriously freed from the endless time loop. 

We talked about that sense of ‘Groundhog Day’ frustration and sadness at our board diversity workshop last week, as we met with the chairs from our BAME, LGBT and disability staff networks. We all have a strong commitment to addressing inequalities and removing the systemic barriers that create inequalities. But despite the commitment, and lots of national and local discussion about this, we still see awful examples of discrimination and inequality.

Why is this? Why, if there is an intent for something different, have we been unable to really change things?  

We have to break our own very real ‘Groundhog’ loop. We can’t go back and start a new beginning, but we can start from today and ensure we achieve a better ending.

At our diversity workshop, Tara Hewitt, inclusion and engagement manager at the Northern Care Alliance, talked about the work they were doing on equality, diversity and inclusion, which was excellent. And it was good to hear from our staff networks about the experience of our staff and have a discussion about the work we need to do together to improve things.

The workshop closed with a strong sense of hope and I felt that we got to a positive place, with the future feeling brighter. But we do need to ensure we translate good intentions into behaviour change and concrete actions for improvement. And we’ve agreed some important actions from this workshop which we’ll share when we have detailed them all.

What really struck me from the workshop was how much positive change in this important area depends on us understanding ourselves and making personal change, as well as understanding others and our impact on them.

Bill Murray in the film is gradually, over time, forced to explore his own personality and his impact and place within the community. And as he does so, he starts to develop a different perspective on life; and begins to behave differently and treat people more kindly and compassionately. So, we all need to be up for understanding ourselves and being prepared to explore our own biases and the impact they have on individuals.  

My experience is personal and unique to me. I recognise my privilege and, whilst I may share some experiences with others, I can never walk exactly in their shoes. It is only through listening to others experiences and really taking the time to understand them alongside an appreciation of whether my own experience brings unintentional and unconscious bias in my actions.

Bias is normal - it is a product of our own upbringing and life experiences. But countless studies have shown that unconscious bias and the translation of these into systemic barriers is one of the main reasons why, despite equalities being enshrined in law, things are still so unfair. 

Our biases are woven through culture like a silver cord woven through cloth. In some lights, it’s brightly visible. In others, it’s hard to distinguish. And our position relative to that glinting thread determines whether we see it at all.

If we work hard to be aware of our biases, if we work hard not to act on our biases, and if we try to understand others, then we stand a chance of ensuring our behaviour does not impact negatively on others.

Hearing about your experiences extends beyond our staff networks of course. And it was really helpful to listen to people’s experiences during our first corporate services Q&A session this week. As well as see so many faces on screen of course, which makes you feel more connected to colleagues.

We want and need to know about the things you are anxious about: whether it’s about keeping safe, especially if you or loved ones are shielding; the corporate services redesign; working at home or the office; or this dreaded second wave. So, I appreciated people sharing their perspectives and welcomed the opportunity to share information about key areas of development.

Through the chat function on teams, Alicia in the communications team did a sterling job of theming the questions, but I especially loved seeing colleagues answering each other’s questions!

One of the main downsides for those of us who are able to work from home is the relative isolation of not bumping into our colleagues. We all miss the camaraderie that you feel when you see each other every day. So, from my perspective it was great to see so many people and get a sense of connectedness and being ‘in it together’.

Best wishes

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2

Acknowledgement, appreciation and awareness

Claire (top) and 
Matt Walsh (bottom)

I talked about the importance of saying ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’ in my last blog, but just want to say a bit more about recognition and gratitude as our Great Big Thank You week kicks off next Monday.

I know there have been many ‘thank yous’ since lockdown, however the week allows us to shout it out loud to each and every one of you and shine a spotlight on your tremendous work over the last six months. This is about acknowledgment and appreciation. And it’s for each and every one of you, as we felt that this is not the year to have teams compete and be singled out in the usual ‘staff awards’ style.

It’s a thank you for those working on the front-line, at home, in offices and behind the scenes. Every single one of you has played an integral part in helping people, and you should be mighty proud.

It makes me think of the fable of the two bricklayers. A man walked by two bricklayers. He asked the first man what he was doing, and he answered “I’m laying bricks.” The man took a few more steps and asked the same question to the second bricklayer, who replied, and without hesitation, “I’m building a cathedral.”

You all matter and your work matters. It makes a difference to the people we care for and support, and this thank-you is sincere, personal and heartfelt.

BBC Radio 4 has a weekly ‘thank you’ slot where listeners send in a story, in which they thank a stranger for helping them. Sometimes, the act of kindness that the listener wants to say thanks for happened as many as forty years earlier. Despite the fact that it’s unlikely the person they’re thanking will happen to be listening when their thank you is broadcast, they still feel compelled to do it. They’re saying thank you because they feel it’s important, regardless of the outcome.

You are of course not strangers, but our board feels compelled to do this. A healthy organisation can’t develop without authentic appreciation. It’s a core component and driving force for a vibrant workplace to grow and prosper.

Many of you know the reason I reduced my working hours last year was to support my daughter who is suffering with post-natal depression. It’s been an incredibly tough year for her and the family, with lockdown causing even more anxiety and stress.

We’ve done all we can to help, but as any of you who are supporting someone with mental ill health will know, it never feels enough. You just want to be able to wave a magic wand and make the person better.

So when we got a WhatsApp message from our daughter recently thanking us for all the little things we do, like stocking up her fridge when we notice it’s getting empty, taking their washing and ironing home to do, as well as looking after the little one, it felt really special. We don't do it for the thank yous, but it was so lovely to know that these small acts of love and care are making a difference.

As well as The Great Big Thank You next week, we also have the World Suicide Prevention Day next Thursday. Every year, organisations and communities around the world come together on this day to raise awareness of how we can create a world where fewer people die by suicide. There’s already too much suffering in the world. So, Matt Walsh, our patient safety lead, has kindly done a powerful guest blog about the suicide of his close friend Dave and suicide awareness.

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Matt Walsh, Patient Safety Lead:

Suicide can affect us all as family members, as friends and colleagues, and as members of our workforce.

Over 800,000 people die by suicide annually, representing one person every 40 seconds. Suicide is the leading cause of death in people aged 15-24 in many European countries and self-harm largely occurs among older adolescents, and globally is the 2nd leading cause of death for older adolescent girls. At least 135 people are affected by each suicide death which equates to 108 million people bereaved by suicide every year.

As the patient safety lead and, in the course of my role, I have worked with many families and staff affected by the deaths of relatives and patients by suicide on a regular basis. One of the ways in which I relax is to spend time with family, but also my mates who I’ve had a close bond with for over 20 years. We would regularly do the usual stuff like watching sports and going for a beer or two.

In 2017 one of the lads didn’t turn up on a Friday for a pint, so we rang him but no reply.

As an aircraft-fitter he sometimes worked away from home and we thought he may have been on a job. Over the weekend, his ex-partner contacted one of us to say that he’d not turned up to meet his son and was he with us?

Naturally, we went to his house to see if he was in, knocked etc. and rang his phone but to no avail. Dave was the recipient of two organ donations and previously had trouble with poorly controlled diabetes and so this may have been a factor. We therefore got a ladder to his bedroom window and sadly could see him deceased in bed.

Dave (waving in the photo) had two children and one grandchild and he always seemed happy and gregarious in life. In the note he left behind, he spoke about his deep-rooted feelings of depression and low self-esteem and how he hid these feelings from everyone. Unknown to us, he’d lost his job as a fitter and his car had broken down; these cumulative stressors were possibly too much for Dave. 

After his death, as a group of mates we were left angry, confused, upset and incredibly sad that he didn’t have the ability or opportunity to reach out and speak to one of us and that we didn’t ask about his mental health either.

At his funeral, we undertook to continue to raise awareness of the importance of men speaking about mental health and a commitment to talk to each other about life’s problems, when they are seemingly unsurmountable.

This year for World Suicide Prevention Day, one of the themes is to reach out and connect with each other – this is even more important during a global health pandemic, where the disadvantaged and those living with poverty or oppression may be experiencing multiple layers of stress and worry.

Please take time with family, friends and colleagues to reach out and share the laughter and joy that life brings, but also when we’re low in mood and not so joyful, taking a moment to share those feelings is the right thing to do.

There are a number of initiatives happening across Greater Manchester including Andy’s Man Club and the Lions Barber Initiatives which are opportunities for men to talk.

Another way in which we are promoting awareness of suicide is through the International Suicide Prevention Alliance’s annual ‘cycling around the globe’ challenge; whereby collectively we add all of our cycled, walked or other form of exercise between 10 September and 10 October. Please look out for extra communications about this.

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Best wishes

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2

Small words, mighty impact

Sorry. Thank you.

Small words that, when genuine, can have a mighty impact.

As we witness the fall-out from the exam grades debacle, and the inevitable blame-game, I’ve been thinking a lot about people’s responses when things go wrong.

Elton John put it simply in 1976 when he sang, ‘Sorry seems to be the hardest word to say’. And it still seems to be true in many cases today

The education secretary has said he is ‘incredibly sorry for the distress’ that has been caused, but he hasn’t apologised for having caused it. I’m not making any political points here, as we can all appreciate how challenging it is at the moment and mistakes are things we’re all likely to make. But I do struggle to understand why people find it so hard, having messed up, to not immediately apologise and admit they got it wrong.

Saying sorry is about taking responsibility and showing that you appreciate the impact your actions have had, but it is also about saying ‘What can I do to make things right?’

Our board had a session this week on the feedback from our ‘appreciative enquiry’. The enquiry was about identifying what has worked well for you during the pandemic, as well as what we could have done differently, so we can build on the strengths, possibilities, and successes.

There was a lot of feedback about things that worked, but also about areas we can improve which we will totally take on board. One of the key things you fed back was that there should have been much more executive director visibility, especially at the profoundly difficult height of the pandemic in April, and this is clearly an area where we need to say ‘sorry, we got it wrong.’

It’s difficult to hear criticism, but so important to see it as constructive feedback and not be defensive. If we’re tempted to explain, justify or defend our actions, then it’s not really an apology at all. A defence is often an abdication of responsibility, and some would say that ‘non-apology apologies’ are worse than no apology at all. Even if we talk about reasons, we must still own our failure.

Some leaders think of apologising as a sign of weakness or, worse, indecisiveness or a lack of confidence or courage. We all have to get over ourselves. Not admitting a mistake is a bigger mistake.

The best way to apologise is by letting go of our egos, speaking as soon as the time is right and holding ourselves accountable. We need to do solid post mortems on tough situations so we can figure out what happened, what we could have done to avoid things that didn’t work, and then figure out how to not let it happen again. But I like the language of the ‘appreciative enquiry’. It is about asking tough and direct questions, but in a way that is kind and non-judgemental, and from a place of curiosity and appreciation.

What we find may be personally hard to hear, but when we own a situation and apologise for our role in it, being as specific as we can, then our apology means more and makes us much more effective as leaders moving forward. No one has ever choked by swallowing their pride and admitting they were wrong!

So, quite simply, our learning from our initial response to the pandemic is that myself and the exec director team should have done more service visits through this time. Not for assurance checking, but to show we were ‘with you’. The same goes for being in Trust HQ, to show colleagues who were still working there that we were also with them and supporting them in a very obvious way.

We have heard you and we hope we are now taking more of the right actions to support you. Apologies aren’t meant to change the past, they are meant to change the future.

We also want to show our gratitude, which is where the second powerful and positive word comes in; thank you.

Some people might think thank you “goes without saying” or that a pay check is the thank you. It’s simply not the case. There’s never a downside to expressing gratitude when it’s been earned with good work or kindness. You need to hear it; you need to feel it.

I know there have been countless thank yous from countless corners throughout this time, but we hope our ‘Great Big Thank You’ week provides an opportunity for our board to stand up and shout it from the rooftops. To explicitly say thank you to every single one of you.

If we are committed to an open culture, saying ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’ needs to be part of the daily fabric of our relationships. 

Best wishes,

Claire

You can follow me on social media @ClaireMolloy2

Turning complaints into 'gifts'

I missed my last blog as I was on annual leave - practising what I preach and pushing the pause button - with Henry, our medical director, stepping in with a fabulous guest blog. Perfect timing as it was also an opportunity for him to say goodbye before he retires. 

I thought I’d come back from holiday to more information about the refresh of national mental health framework and financial framework, so I could then update you on our own business plan in this blog.  But this national steer, which we need to guide and refresh our own plans, is still delayed.

So although we’ve got a sense of what’s going to be in it, we still don’t know what money we will have to focus on our priorities going forwards. Once we get clarity we’ll let you know, so please bear with us and watch this space as they say.

Anyway, the weather was rubbish on my week off, so I binge-watched a drama mini-series called Safe. Created by crime author Harlan Coben, a lot of it was filmed in Manchester and, after his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, it’s about a father uncovering a web of secrets as he frantically searches for her.

The central theme of this drama is about the devastating impact of keeping secrets. They’re like a cancer in the soul, eating away and leaving destruction behind. The drama highlights that hiding them causes so much more damage than their disclosure. 

And so, when I came back to work to hear about our results from the national Freedom to Speak Up index, the negative consequences of not bringing things into the light was strongly on my mind. This index is based on a number of questions in the annual staff survey that show how well trusts are encouraging and supporting people to raise concerns and speak up about poor practice.

Don’t get me wrong, our overall results aren’t bad, in that we’re just above the national average for NHS Trusts. They show that nearly all of you know how to report poor care (95%) and a significant majority feel that we encourage you to report errors, near misses and incidents (85%).  We also have a fairly reasonable majority who feel able to raise concerns (nearly 72%). What worries me is that less than 60% of you feel we treat staff fairly when a concern is raised or an error is made.

So, basically we’ve got a mismatch between you feeling you can raise a concern, and then how we manage it.

Our Freedom to Speak up Guardian always says it’s not just about supporting people to speak up, but really listening with curiosity and an open mind to what they have to say. 

Compassionate leadership is about showing empathy, but without positive and supportive action it simply isn’t enough. So we need to put a lot more effort into handling and concluding things, as it must be frustrating when people have spoken up and feel it’s not been satisfactorily concluded or that they have not been treated fairly. We’ve got a couple of cases, for example, which have already had multiple reviews, so we do need to focus on improving this. 

People want to feel that they have been listened to and understood, and that their concerns have been taken seriously, and very importantly, people need to feel that they don’t suffer as a result of speaking up and highlighting poor care and practices. It’s about responsiveness, fairness and timeliness.

We’re still progressing our Just Culture work, but there’s lots more to do. The pandemic forced us to cancel our second Just Culture conference a few months ago and so we’re now looking at how we can set it back up. We need to push forward on building an open culture that learns and grows from mistakes, not brushes them under the carpet.

If we don’t listen then we’ll eventually be surrounded by people with nothing to say.

There is a popular philosophy in business that says complaints are a ‘gift’ because they offer an opportunity to improve. When we are open to criticism, what we get is good information and advice about how to change things for the better.

I know that dealing with concerns and complaints can be challenging, emotionally demanding and at times frustrating. It is hard not to take things personally. But we want all our leaders to see them as valuable insight into what is not working as well as it might be, and as an opportunity to put things right and improve practice. There are often common themes which are of wider relevance and an awareness of these themes can inform approaches and help prevent issues arising in the first place.

On the subject of leaders, it’s positive that we’re strengthening the clinical and professional voice in our new leadership structure. All the evidence shows that clinicians from the different professional backgrounds have so much to offer as leaders. You will have seen the recent announcements about posts appointed to, and we are hoping to appoint to all posts in tier 2 by early September.

And talking of good leaders, we say goodbye to two of our executive directors, Dr Henry Ticehurst and Suzanne Robinson next week. As you know, Henry is retiring after ten years as medical director and many more as a consultant, and Suzanne is joining Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust as their new finance director. Suzanne has been our whirlwind romance, sweeping us off our feet for a short period of time as she wowed us with her energy, ideas and sparkle. And Henry has been the long-term relationship that has totally enriched and changed our lives.

Henry leaves a legacy of his unique style and impact. He has a superb perspective on life, which is worth its weight in gold in the difficult moments. He’s been a great support to me, as well as to the medics and many others, and we appreciated him staying on during the covid crisis. We will really miss his fantastic sense of humour and fun and his great warmth.

Thank you Henry and Suzanne. We’ll be cheering you on all the way.

Best wishes

Claire

You can follow me on social media @ClaireMolloy2

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A few weeks ago it was wonderful to have Muhammad Khan, a resident at one of our rehabilitation units, contribute to my guest blog.

I’m delighted to see he now has his own blog, which you can read here: http://inmywords.co.uk/

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