How to Deal with the Pressured Work Place

The number of NHS organisations being rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission is on the rise. Is the problem with the leadership or the tight budgets that organisation have to operate with.

In my personal opinion, sometimes it is easier to put the blame on the leadership without really tackling the source of the problem early enough. The struggles with budgets are real; performance and morale are constantly affected. Disgruntled staff will leave and the cost of recruitment and retraining is also very high in most cases and ultimately performance is affected.

The leaders do have a role to play though; one of the issues faced by the Executive having a reactive approach to financial performance and not having a clear financial and sustainability strategy.

I have seen a number of aspirational targets set by the executives at times due to external pressures, when it comes to achievement, they fall short. Some programmes end up being shelved prematurely.

So how can the Leaders take a proactive approach to dealing with the above issues?

The following five key areas can help mitigate the problem (the list is not conclusive):

• Honest view of ‘as is state’ or ‘current’ of the organisation - Being honest and realistic about what is achievable.
• Cost Improvement Programme (CIP) – Developing clear CIP will ensure there is a clear differentiation between savings and cost pressures.
• Early’ Turnaround Strategy - The overall goal of a turnaround strategy is to return an underperforming or distressed company to normal in terms of acceptable levels of profitability and solvency. Early Turnaround Strategy and plan will endure that the organisation does not reach the distressed state.
• Investing in skilled workforce – Skilled workforce is the major factor in maintaining the health of the organisation. It goes without saying that the best performing organisation are those that continuously invest in training opportunities for their staff.
• Knowing when to say no to unachievable demands and offering alternative achievable plans. This one is not an easy one as it sometimes means being steadfast and facing high levels of opposition. It can be done though. I have experienced success in situations where managers have been able to say no to a demand and come up with a different plan which proved more achievable in the end

The list above is a start of a turn for what can be done proactively. I would like to hear your views on this subject. Feel free to comment here or send me a message.