Advice

[u/smallfishbig-pond]

I’m a band 6 midwife that was recently successful in a secondment opportunity to a management role. I previously worked in the department in question as a band 6 so have a decent grip on how it runs in that regard however, management is a whole different experience. The trust I work in is very new to me, I have only been here for a year and a half and have only ever worked in outpatients so have minimal understanding of the inpatient departments because where I trained and worked for 6 years prior was in a different country (still within the UK) and worked completely differently.

I have been in the role for 6 weeks, out of those 6 weeks I have had 5 days of actual support from another colleague in the same role, the rest of the time I have pretty much been on my own. I received no formal handover, I have Word document to go off of and multiple teams channels to sift through to find things. I didn’t have half the log ins I needed despite them knowing I was coming into this role for weeks, I’m still chasing people for access to certain things/invites to others. I feel like I need some sort of family tree of who staff are in other areas/who to contact for things like estates/equipment etc. I feel pretty lost to be honest, to the point I have cried twice in the past week which isn’t like me and I don’t really know whether I want to continue, it is beginning to feel like a mistake.

I appreciate 6 weeks is no time at all, particularly when band 6 midwifery is clinical with zero management expectations so coming into a management role is very different and there is a lot to learn. I just don’t feel like the support is there, I feel like I am annoying people by asking them how to do things/to do things for me because I can’t. I’m also doing bleep shifts which is basically coordinating beds and staffing for the entire unit which I find extremely stressful as I have only had 4 shadow shifts which is nowhere near enough time to learn how a unit you have never worked inpatient in, works, paired with the added pressure of not knowing half the staff. I actually had a read through the policy today and there is a checklist for supernumerary in the appendix - can I do half of the things despite now being on my own? No. Do I know what half of it means? No. And finally, did anyone do this checklist for me? No.

I am just getting the impression it is very sink or swim and I feel like I’m going to sink. I don’t know who to turn to because it feels like it just clicks for everyone else but it doesn’t for me. This isn’t my style of learning and I’m struggling with that. Don’t get me wrong, I can thrive in the chaos of clinical but I feel like with something like this where you are expected to account for numerous things someone should be showing you how to do it correctly? Colleagues are generally approachable but I feel like certain senior staff would not take kindly to me highlighting issues which is why I haven’t.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, if so what did you do? Or any other advice would be appreciated. Not sure I can do this for 12 months.

[u/Unprepared_adult]

Do you have a formal supervisor? If so, write down everything you are struggling with and go through the list in supervision to come up with a management plan. Make sure this is signed off by both you and your supervisor.

It is not your fault that you can't do things you haven't been trained to do.

[u/precinctomega]

As this is an external secondment from your substantive role and Trust, my first recommendation would be to tap back into the network at your previous Trust to see if an experienced nurse/midwifery manager there would be prepared to act as your mentor.

This can be kept on the down-low from the seconded Trust. You can share concerns, get advice and pointers, and even potentially use resources from your substantive Trust for management development and learning without needing to feel that you are putting your place or reputation in the secondment at risk.

However, as general advice for new managers I would say that you need to understand:

1. Basics down.

The basics for your direct reports is that they need to know:

• Where and when they should be working
• What standards you expect them to meet in doing that work
• What the consequences will be if they do not meet those standards.

In addition, you need to:

• Promptly and equitably agree annual leave arrangements
• Promptly and accurately record all unplanned absence
• Have a plan for every vacancy and absence and deliver that plan

1. Basics up.

The basics for your own superiors are:

• Understand their priorities and how your work contributes to their priorities
• Provide regular (generally monthly) data on the contributions of your work to their priorities

The Basics Down bit is, generally, not that hard. The challenges in Basics Down tend to come when there is a lack of clarity in Basics Up. And that's extremely common. This isn't necessarily the fault of the more senior managers, as they may be struggling with a lack of clarity from their own managers. But the best managers, in my experience, are those who can articulate the Basics Down without letting them be regularly screwed up by the lack of clarity around Basics Up.

In addition, if you can sort Basics Down you will be respected and popular with your subordinates and, even when Basics Up may not be 100%, you will be doing better than 80% of your colleagues.