Simon on the Streets General Manager, Helen Beachell, discusses why we have teamed up with Sonia Mayor, a consultant Clinical Supervisor, to deliver a ‘Leadership through Empathy’ seminar in Leeds Business Week.
Earlier this year we met Sonia Mayor at a training event she was involved in. We hit it off and arranged to meet for coffee with the intention of seeing if there were ways that we could work together.
Wow. What an experience! The alignment between the way that Sonia encourages businesses and organisations to think, and the way we already do things at Simon On The Streets is amazing. It was fantastic to be able to offer Sonia a window into the trials and tribulations of an organisation that already runs this way, and for us to realise that it is being recognised as a forward thinking approach to managing people, and achieving long term business outcomes.
What are we talking about?!
For over 15 years, Simon On The Streets has worked hard to build an ethos of providing support to those who are the most vulnerable and hard to reach, through the use of an empathically focussed approach. Having honed the skills needed to achieve this, we continue to see amazing results. The overall desired outcomes can take time using this approach, but when we get there, they are typically sustainable and the experience of reaching them is a positive one for both us and our service users.
So, how do we do it?
Simples. We listen. We really listen. No, we really, really listen! We teach our staff how to listen and to hear what someone is saying to them. So often, we allow our minds to subconsciously race ahead, we try to work out what someone is likely to say next, where the conversation is going, when it is our turn to speak; we plan what we want to say next. We might be listening to hear only what is relevant to a particular role we play in this person’s life. We’re doing all this while they are still taking to us and consequently we only hear words. We miss connotation and meaning, and we miss the things that are so often unsaid but can tell us so much in their absence. Being able to strip everything else out of our minds and listen with full focus and without agenda is really tough, but it’s a skill that yields amazing results in terms of being able to really understand someone and get to know them. We are constantly seeking understanding of people’s motivators and drivers in our field i.e. what motivates their positive behaviours and attitudes, and what drives their negative ones. Without understanding this, we don’t truly have any idea how to start to work with them towards positive changes.
Can we do this with our staff?
For us, this approach works with the hardest to engage individuals in society, and that got us thinking. Why wouldn’t it work if we managed our staff in the same way? Would we be able to achieve a higher staff retention rate, would we have a more engaged and consistently motivated workforce?
Having set about trying to achieve this approach we quickly realised that it is easier said than done! Just as we learn about each of our service users; what motivates them, what drives them, and take the time to really hear and understand their story, we need to do the same for our staff. The result? A team made up of a group of individuals that share a passion, but who all need managing very differently. Understanding each individual character informs how we manage that individual through their time with us. We work hard to build a supportive culture which enables people to grow and develop professionally, but more than that, we need them to feel able to talk to us about things in their personal lives that might impact on work. The area of work we operate in can be incredibly emotionally challenging and we work really hard to support our staff through monthly formal supervision and debrief sessions, as well as ensuring this is on offer to them informally, whenever they feel the need. However, what we have learned is that in the vast majority of cases when our staff are really struggling emotionally, there are personal issues running alongside the professional challenges that quickly make things seem unmanageable. In creating an open culture, that is as non-hierarchical as possible (everyone has equal access and invitation to approach anyone within the organisation for support, and are encouraged to seek it from whoever they feel is the most comfortable and appropriate person for them to go to) where staff can tell us about anything they feel we need to know, we are able to put mechanisms into place to support their personal circumstances as well as offering professional support around workplace matters.
How do we benefit?
I can tell you with my hand on my heart that my team are not drawn to work for Simon On The Streets for the money. We pay our team as much as we can afford too, but on a national average, it’s low. What I can tell you in all honesty is that since we have worked with the same empathic approach to communication with our staff, we have improved staff retention, motivated workforce, engaged supporters who feel part of what we strive for, empowered staff, created a culture of creativity and enhanced team cohesion.
Reserve your place on our Business through Empathy seminar
http://leedsbizweek.com/events/view/12
Empathy – the ability to step inside someone’s bubble for a moment, with their invitation, to really understand and experience the world through their eyes.
Sonia Mayor is a consultant Clinical Supervisor works with organisations to understand best practice for communication; inside organisations and in their work practice externally. Sonya has worked with large public sector organisations, in the NHS and Education for example, tackling issues around the growing instances of low morale and under performance within these sectors. Sonia’s understanding of professional dialogue is a holistic one that marries her work based practice and experience with her cross-cultural knowledge around listening and well-being. Sonia is now beginning to find demand for her skills within corporations as the theories and techniques she teaches have proven to impact positively on business development and growth