Conflict Management - Sherwood Forest - NHS Trust

Conflict Management - Sherwood Forest - NHS Trust

Conflict Management

Nurses, doctors and NHS managers are well used to looking after those who are ill, juggling beds, schedules and managing their own funding issues.

Dealing with contractors as part of this PFI was new for them and potentially daunting.

Impact Factory created a programme to help the three interlinking teams who are managing this initiative deal more effectively with conflict management, influence where they have no direct leverage and most importantly, boost their confidence in the face of disagreement, conflicting agendas and some quite challenging issues.

With millions of pounds at stake and many people to please, Liz Oke, the Assistant Director, Corporate Development of Sherwood Forest NHS Foundation Trust wanted some help and new ideas to better manage everything that was happening amongst the team members.

Working Under Pressure

We set about helping them rediscover their team feeling, giving space to colleagues to sort out role conflicts and minor niggles amongst themselves - a product of working under pressure and strain.

We also did a load of tips and techniques for standing their ground and handling men in hard hats.

Needless to say certain issues were identified as classic conflict situations brought about by differing perspectives.

Everyone may want the same thing: the building works completed on time and to budget, but getting there was always going to be different for each constituent in this PFI.

One example given was the fact that a patient's breakfast tray not cleared away till lunchtime was anathema to hospital staff whose work ethos is about giving the best possible patient care and attention.

To the contractor it was just a little job not done yet a minor blip.

Each side simply saw the same thing differently and reacted from their own perspective.

That clearly had to change if the project was to get on track.

So a day with 18 delegates gave everyone a chance to play out their worse scenarios with people who looked as though they weren't listening, seemed to deliberately stonewall and appeared to be delaying operations.

Using many of our most effective listening and responding techniques, a bit of our Art of Saying No and Facilitation Skills, the Impact Factory team ran a highly successful and very energetic workshop.

By the end of the day confidence and morale was way up there.

A few weeks later Liz Oke was able to report that our commercial partners don't know what's hit them.

"They are definitely feeling the force.

And people are much happier.

They have smiles on their faces."

 

If you would like to talk to us about our

Conflict Management Programmes

or any of the other

professional personal development work

we do, call us on

+44 (0)20 7226 1877

or e-mail us at

enquiries@impactfactory.com

 

Conflict Management Training