Stabilising confidence
The University of Salford’s Failure Friday event within their Festival of Research has
further sparked my interest in this area. I started to think about how as a child, there were often mechanisms in place to allow us to fail within a safe environment. A classic example is learning to ride a bike. Initially, stabilisers are used which are at ground level.
As ability and confidence grow, the stabilisers can be raised gradually until they are no longer needed. I am not sure how long my parents kept my stabilisers on for, but I am pretty sure they held onto them for a while just in case of multiple wobbles and falls to help rebuild my confidence if needed. Sticking with the transport theme, when having driving lessons with an instructor, the car often has dual controls so that learners have the experience of driving a car, but the instructor can intervene to prevent a near miss from becoming an accident. Both of these scenarios are appealing because people know they can try to learn something new with support until they are confident.
Have I fallen off my bike as an adult? Yes. Have I been in a car accident? Yes. Even
though I have many years of experience with both forms of transport, accidents still happen.
Cultivating confidence
Both of the examples above describe learning a new skill with the physical support of stabilisers or dual car controls, but as a veterinary graduate, you are not issued with stabilisers or someone to sit next to you with dual controls and the ability to override your actions should things start to go awry. Let’s face it, there is a steep learning curve after graduation and every day is a school day. Although physical safety aids might not be present, is there more that could be done psychologically to provide support in practice?
Making mistakes is a part of the learning process but depending on how near misses and mistakes are dealt with, they can have a detrimental effect on confidence. If individuals are blamed and vilified for accidents, mistakes and even near misses, the chances of reporting such incidents are reduced. However, if locums are working in an environment that invites people to share ‘failures,’ the individual, his/her colleagues and the practice can benefit by learning from the incident. Regularly discussing near misses and incidents can help to normalise this topic of conversation and minimise the worry individuals may have when it comes to speaking up.
“Psychological safety describes perceptions of the consequences of taking
interpersonal risks in a particular context such as a workplace” (Edmondson, 1999)
To be honest, when I first read this, I wasn’t sure what the definition of ‘interpersonal risks’ was but further in the article it stated, “a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject, or punish someone for speaking up.” I think this would apply to a wide range of scenarios from mispronouncing a word (very easy with some of the drug names within veterinary medicine!), sharing new ideas, asking for help and when talking about mistakes. A culture of high psychological safety in veterinary practice allows people to be human.
We don’t get it right all the time but having psychological safety stabilisers will help to encourage people to express concerns and share ideas to further improve veterinary patient safety in practice.
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Confidence is crucial
Confidence allows you to be curious and try new things, provides a platform to obtain feedback and share ideas, and enables you to support your colleagues and demonstrate leadership qualities.
Confidence comes when you work in an environment where you can share your
thoughts, experiences, and mistakes without fear of judgement. This will not make
veterinary practices, locums, team members and hospitals immune to errors,
however it will help individuals learn and share, ultimately improving veterinary
patient outcomes.
Get in touch
At VetLed, we offer in-person and virtual training, as well as bitesize online courses
to improve team performance and wellbeing. Want to hear more about VetLed’s
veterinary team CPD options? Get in touch at info@vetled.co.uk or visit
You can also find support here at MFL! We're supporting locums throughout every step of the journey. Join our platform for FREE and get instant access to nationwide shifts!
Reference:
Edmondson, A. (1999) Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams.
Administrative Science Quarterly. Volume 44, No. 2 pp. 350-383
Written by Stacey Blease on behalf of VetLed
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