Backstage groups for managers Theoretical basis, how-to-do-it and outcome Backstage groups for managers Theoretical basis, how-to-do-it and outcome Frontiers in Leadership Research Christer Sandahl (LGC/MMC/LIME)

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME What is a Backstage group?  Not supervision  Not coaching  Not psychotherapy  Not reflection group  Goffman, I. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Action – reflection – learning (Argyris, Schön, Senge etc) Backstage Reflection & metareflection Reflection & metareflection On stageAction

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Themes of today’s lecture:  Value base  Leadership theory  Learning theory  Group theory  How-to-do-it  Outcome

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME To be an authority - serving the people and the purpose - or an authoritarian - building personal power

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Leadership behaviour and employee ill health  Over-control and correction (autocratic)  No support or feed-back (non attentiveness)  Manipulation, favouritism, power orientation (malevolent)  No action on obvious injustice (low integrity)  Laissez-faire (self- centered)

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Lower risk for Ischemic Heart Disease if… (Nyberg et al. 2008)  My boss gives me the information I need  My boss is good at pushing through and carrying out changes  My boss explains goals and sub-goals for our work so that I understand what they mean for my particular part of the work  I have a clear picture of what my boss expects from me  My boss shows that he/she cares for me and how I feel  I have sufficient power in relation to my responsibilities  My boss takes time to become involved in his/her employees’ professional development  My boss encourages my participation in the scheduling of my work  I receive praise from my boss if I have done something good  I receive criticism from my boss if I have done something that is not so good

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES DAILY BUSINESS PERSONNEL CHANGE CAREBE A MODELINSPIRE SOCIAL COMPETENCE JUDGEMENT MORAL COMPETENCE MOTIVATION REPRESENT BE CLEAR GIVE SUPPORT CONFRONT CONTAIN INSECURITY & PROJECTIONS MAKE DECISIONS SOLVE EVERY- DAY PROBLEMS BALANCED DEMANDS FAIR REWARDS SHOW COURAGE LONG TERM THINKING CLEAR GOALS GIVE STRUCTURE COACH GIVE RESPONSIBILITY SENSE MAKING LEADER MANAGER (Sandahl et al., 2004) ”Dependency & inclusion” ”Counter dependency & fight” ”Structure & trust”

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Backstage groups  Groups of 8 first line managers  Three hours, once monthly  10 occasions  Manual based  ”Lay persons” as group conductors  Group supervision between sessions  Confidentiality  Real problems or dilemmas  Problem solving at the work place

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Structure  Session 1  Introduction  Contract (confidentiality, presence etc)  Session 2-9  Taking turns to update, acute problems (30 mins)  Case introduction  Interview  Reflective teams (understanding the problem/dilemma)  Defining the problem  Generation of hypotheses  Testing hypotheses  Action plan  Reflection on the learning process  Session 10  Summarizing development as leaders and learning about learning

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME  How to deal with an employee who does not function satisfyingly  Role ambiguity  Role conflicts  Non-productive meetings  Problems in cooperation  How to deal with a development project  Stress and worry for ones own work load  A sense of not being in control of own work situation. Examples

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Process 1.Personnel 2.The organisation 3.Own boss 4.Conflicts in relation to other roles (e.g. family) 5.Professional issues

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME The Stockholm Project  Road maintenance, water supply, environmental protection, elderly care, social services, nursery, pre-school and schools  employees  managers  70 % women (also among managers)

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME All managers invited to attend  376 registered ( )  47 groups  31 group conductors  20% (M=1.6/group) drop-out before session 4  Practical reasons  Lack of time  Illness  Did not meet expectations

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME SCALE 1-5: 1=”Disagree completely”   5=”Agree completely” Quality of group work (Items representing phase 3 & 4) SOK

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME My role as leader (index)  Internal inexperienced group leader (M = 4.43, Sd = 1.2) P > 0.05  Internal experienced group leader (M = 4.87, Sd = 1.2)  External consultant (M = 4.76, Sd = 1.2)

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Experience of demands CHEFSENKÄT p <.05

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Evaluation questionnaire INDEX 1 – THE BACKSTAGE GROUP MEAN VALUE: 5,69 INDEX 2 – YOU AND YOUR ROLE AS A LEADER MEAN VALUE: 4,62 INDEX 3 – THE COOPERATION BETWEEN YOU AND THE MANAGEMENT MEAN VALUE: 4,57 VARIATION 1-7

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Did you participate in all 10 meetings? YESNO How many times did you not participate? Mean Value = 2,13 Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Would you recommend a colleague to participate in a Backstage group? YESNOMAYBE Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Would you like to participate in a Backstage group again? YESNOMAYBE Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME...are you satisfied with the group leader? To what extent… M: 6,03INDEX 1 Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME...were you able to bring up matters from your place of work that personally concerned you? To what extent… M: 5,96INDEX 1 Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME …did you think the other participants brought up interesting matters? To what extent… M: 5,94INDEX 1 Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME …did you feel that the other participants were interested in your matters? To what extent… M: 6,05INDEX 1 Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME …did you feel that your experience was valuable to the other participants? To what extent… M: 5,19INDEX 1 Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME …did you get useful advice and help in concrete matters? To what extent… M: 5,38INDEX 1 Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME …was there time to discuss matters thoroughly? To what extent… M: 5,78INDEX 1 Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME...strengthening your self-confidence? To what extent has your participation in the Backstage group made a contribution to… M: 4,68INDEX 2 Evaluation questionnaire

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Why better self confidence? (Interviews with 9 managers) 1. To be able to contribute with ones own knowledge and competence Competence Self-confidence Decisions Behaviour 2. The sense of community and the support from the group - Internalisation of the developing group? (Foulkes) 3. Instrumental problem solving - Action – Reflection - Action

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Focus groups with managers

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Support “One dared to let go of any prestige that you might have in relation to colleagues” “We had a very, very good relationship to each other in the group” “To be able to discuss everyday problems without interruptions - you usually don’t have time for that” “One is able to grow in a non-competitive group. You understand that you are not the only one having problems” ”Our differences were a great source of inspiration” Focus groups with managers

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Learning ”I have learned not to solve a problem immediately, but to analyse it first” “It creates time to think in peace and quiet. That is something that I really miss. It is such a rush all the time” “The support group gives a lot more than traditional management programs. It is more personal and a useful process” “It took a while to learn the methodology” “It is a little bit more demanding” “The best thing was that we made use of everyone’s experience” Focus groups with managers

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME Action and mastery “We focused very much on solving problems with the employees or specific situations” “One received constructive proposals that could be put to the test” ”I suffered from symptoms of stress but with help from the group I learned how to cope with my work situation and could point out what needed to be changed” ”The others made me see clear, things I had not thought about earlier. It was like waking up, suddenly I knew what to do” “You did actually solve problems” Focus groups with managers

3 juni 2015Christer Sandahl, MMC/ LIME What is your advice to the management of the city of Stockholm? “Make the groups part of our ordinary organisation!” Focus groups with managers