Alex Myers, Jewish Care’s Head of Talent discusses how investing in strong leadership transforms managers into great leaders, empowering staff to deliver exceptional care
At Jewish Care, we believe that good managers become great leaders. We know that strong leadership is essential for delivering exceptional care to older people in our community. By investing in our managers, we empower our teams of over 1,300 dedicated staff to provide the best quality of care and support across nine specialist nursing, dementia, and residential care homes, four retirement living schemes, and a wide variety of community services.
Recognising that engaged and motivated staff thrive under confident and skilled managers, we have developed a range of foundational management training programmes over the past few years.
These courses, designed and delivered by Senior Learning & Development Advisor, Bola Owoade, our in-house training specialist, aim to equip managers with essential skills to enhance team performance. The content of these courses has been derived from feedback given by our managers and key stakeholders. Our employee relations teams offer daily drop ins which provide valuable data for how we can further support our managers.
For colleagues considering management roles, our ‘Interested in Management’ programme helps them to address potential challenges, so they can make informed career decisions. Some front line staff told us they are reluctant to apply for promotions due to lack of confidence and skills. These programmes help build self-esteem and, when promoted, they are better prepared for their new responsibilities.
Newly appointed managers are offered personalised coaching. They are invited to training for those who are ‘New to Management’ to build core techniques including performance management, having challenging conversations, resolving conflict and using motivational strategies. It develops understanding on a range of topics including emotional intelligence, psychological safety and team building.
Our ‘People Management’ programme provides an opportunity for managers to hone their skills further, delving deeper into performance management and how to address absence management and probation processes.
By equipping staff with the skills to give constructive feedback in a supportive way, we are developing our managers to create a positive and psychologically safe learning environment that encourages teams to stay motivated and develop.
Importantly, the programmes give managers flexibility to do the online training at their desk or on their phone, whenever they have a window of opportunity. For each course there is an in-person workshop with a real to life scenario that they can work on together, learning as a group.
We are already seeing that these initiatives are leading to significant improvements, including a notable increase in compliance with mandatory training – now at 94% – as managers effectively motivate their teams. One resource manager told us, “The programme has provided useful templates for managing performance expectations, allowing me to support my team members more effectively and avoid formal processes like disciplinary action.”
Additionally, our HR colleagues have observed that managers are addressing performance issues more proactively and confidently since completing the programme.
In an industry where recruitment remains a challenge, supporting our managers is crucial for staff retention and motivation. When managers are clear about their roles and responsibilities, they emerge as strong leaders who foster a caring, learning environment for their teams. This ultimately drives our shared mission: delivering the highest quality care to those we support.
Discover why we love every day at Jewish Care and explore career opportunities at careers.jewishcare.org
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