We sat down with Peaches Mandebvu, Clinical Support Nurse/Sister, to discuss how she supports new starters to become knowledgeable, skilled and confident practitioners. Peaches reflects on the importance of finding common ground with everybody in your team, empowering your staff to turn their fears into a positive learning opportunity and how to optimise people’s strengths. This is a worthwhile watch for anyone looking for ways to inspire and support new team members.
3 Quotes to lead by...
1. FIND COMMON GROUND
‘I think the biggest thing is about finding commonalities and common ground with everybody. Even two completely different people will have one thing that they have in common… it’s always about finding things in common and building on those and one really good thing for us is we all have a common goal of aiming to make our patients better and aiming for them to have good days, healthy days and ultimately to go home.’
Q. Think about your team members. What things do they have in common? What can you do to get to know new members of your team better?
2. USE YOUR FEAR AS FUEL
‘Well I always say it’s a good thing to be scared. It means that you’re concerned for the patient, concerned for yourself. I also say that people should use their fear as fuel to find information and once you know how to do something and how to do something well, it takes away that fear. So I think I really major on empowering people to have full knowledge of what they’re doing.’
Q. How can you identify and support new starters to overcome their fears? How can you turn a fear into a positive learning opportunity?
3. IDENTIFY TALENT AND OPTIMISE IT
‘I think ultimately you want to major on people’s strengths. I think one of the things I’ve found I’m really good at is identifying talent and optimising it.’
Q. Take some time to think about each member of your team and what their individual strengths are. How do you ensure that you’re playing to your teams’ strengths?
External Resources
Finding common ground with anyone: A quick and easy guide
Three simple ways to use your fear as fuel – and reach your goals
Optimizing the talents, strengths, and skills of your workforce for the new world of work
