a safe workplace

a Safeguardian Interview by Samjhana KC

Safe Organizations believes it is essential that every person working on behalf of an organization is empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to the work and is encouraged to contribute to a healthy and safe culture. Without a trusting and safe environment, no one can blossom inside a workplace. In our first Safeguardian column we sat down with our first guest, Sheri Gardner, who has more than 27 years of expertise in protection in United States (US). This interview is filled with insights as Sheri shares her experiences with abuses of power and power sharing.

Irrespective of field of your work – and especially if you are managing a team, we hope you will find this interview to reflect ways that you contribute to and sustain a safe workplace. And for those of you who may feel a little lost, our guest has also shared her personal mantras to stay motivated in this high burnout field.

The Beauty of Safeguarding and Protection Work

In this first section of this interview, we discussed the beauty of the work, challenges Sheri has faced, and her personal tips on overcoming them.  Sheri shared, “I love when there are positive outcomes to the stories. That’s the most rewarding aspect of protecting, helping, and assisting people whether it be children or adults or families. I want to see positive outcomes.” She also highlighted that the field of protection and safeguarding could be tough because it is a field where there are high burnout rates.

Sheri shared some of her personal practices that she uses to keep herself motivated and prevent burnout:

Most of the time, challenges in the workplace can help to keep us grounded and grow in our experience. But there may be times when challenges are more harmful than useful. Sheri shared that the wisdom is in understanding diversity at workplace. And one of the best ways to engage diverse team members is through open, transparent communication. According to Sheri, one of the big challenges she faced in her career was when team members weren’t open to discuss and resolve issues. Additionally, some reactions (e.g., angry emails, emotional retorts, or other unproductive behaviors) can be destructive – both for the work environment and the working relationship. Because the field of protection demands a lot of decision making, Sheri acknowledges that, at times, balancing personal and professional life is difficult, and emphasized the need for strong communication, especially when engaged in decision-making or navigating divergent views. She highlighted, “We can all agree to disagree but keeping the doors of communication open is important.”

There were few times in her career where her manager didn’t agree with her decisions. Rather than making it an issue, she requested further discussion with multiple senior leaders and colleagues so that consensus could reached to ensure the best interest of children and families is served. As a manager herself, she also keeps an open-door policy at work by encouraging her team to approach her. She has done this by removing the barrier of her position and inviting diverse perspectives, even when they may be different than hers. She reflected, “If we cannot have those difficult conversations with ourselves as a team, how are we going to have those conversations with the people who we are trying to help or serve or keep safe?”

Abuse of Power and Power Sharing

In the second section, we explored the topic of abuses of power and power sharing. Of the few examples Sheri shared, this one sets the context for understanding this topic. Many years ago, Sheri and her team were working closely with a family who was experiencing myriad intrafamilial dynamics, leading to protective concerns and significant safety concerns for the children. Staff working directly with the family assessed that there were still many protective capacities – or things working well to protect the children at home. When the risk factors were discussed with upper management, a unilateral decision was made to remove the children from the home without listening to the team working closest to the family. Instead of focusing on the wellbeing and best interests of the children (and also their families), management prioritized insulating their reputations from harsh critics – both within the agency and the broader public, including news outlets. The team working with the children and their family found the decision to be rash and unnecessary at the time. Sheri expressed concern understanding that children in such scenarios often end up being separated from one another, bouncing from foster home to foster home, and experiencing multi-levels of trauma.

Sheri states that as a manager, one must understand that it’s not possible to function without a team. In her opinion, one harmful form of an abuse of power involves the partial or complete exclusion of the team and/or not considering the team’s feedback. An abuse of power may arise from multiple factors like personalities, self-centered motives, or at times dysfunctional or unhealthy organizational cultures. One of Sheri’s most challenging encounters in her years of experiences was facing a management team rife with arrogant and inflexible personalities. She states, “When you have a management team full of [self-centered] personalities, that in my opinion, could be destructive more than constructive.” When organizations fail to act in the best interests of children, their families, or other adults the organization is intending to serve and instead focus on the reputations, needs, and subjective opinions of management, this is an abuse of power – maybe one of the least acknowledged and most often occurring. Sheri also acknowledges that sometimes issues like lack of funding, lack of skilled staff, insufficient resources, and the threat of media coverage can lead to rash decisions without thoroughly considering best interests, trauma-informed practice, and the most reasonable strategy to apply.

Sheri shares the simple mantra to neutralize an abuse of power, “One must acknowledge diversity [within the] workplace and respect different ideas and different beliefs at work. The goal must be to complement each other rather than to dig in your heels and disagree with one another all the time.”

Some of the tips that Sheri shared to encourage power sharing in workplace are:

1.     Work as a team: Managers are not in the communities or working directly with children, families, and adults. Listening and respecting the input and feedback of the team – either positive, critical, or constructive – is very important. It’s important to understand that none of us can function without a team.

2.     Maintain a good morale: When employees feel good, it reflects in their work and how they treat others. Creating a healthy and safe workplace where employees can be their authentic selves will motivate and promote good work. It is important that managers avoid micromanaging, and give team members autonomy but support as needed. (As a friendly reminder, micromanaging not only creates stressed and nervous employees, but it is also a form of bullying!)

3.     Communication or willingness to listen by people in positions of (titled) power: Be open to feedback and share it with the team. Sheri shares, “When a manager is open to hearing feedback, to work together with their team, that is such a better team – better morale, better production, better quality of work.”

4.     Create diverse avenues when communication is not possible: While reporting is one-way concerns or feedback can be shared, staff should also have access to senior managers when there is question involving the best interests of the client – whether a child, a family, or an adult.

Sheri added that “as humans we make mistakes.” She cautions fellow safeguarding and protection practitioners, “If you make a mistake, acknowledge it, and move on. Grow from it. That's a positive thing.” Addressing an issue at work without finger-pointing can be complicated. To avoid this, she offered her own example. Sheri admits her mistakes with her team to encourage her team to acknowledge their own mistakes. She said, “I'm not resistant to feedback, and I understand that I'm human, too.”

Motivation

Wrapping up in our last section, we discussed how to keep oneself motivated professionally. Sheri mentioned, “If I am burnt out, I’m really no good for anybody, [including] myself.” So, taking care of oneself and learning to know when to disconnect from work is very important. She recommends developing respectful and trustworthy relationships at work. This provides a support system within the job and among people who understand you.

For new practitioners entering the field of protection and safeguarding, she shared, “When I started years ago, I never had that someone to talk to about the job. I loved it at first, but then as time goes on you realize, ‘Wow it’s really a tough job!’ and we don’t get the credit we deserve. But I would suggest anyone getting into this field to really reach out to people who have been in the field for many, many years because helping people and safeguarding or protecting people is awesome, but it is hard work. It is very hard work. You need to separate work and home. And you have to be skilled in doing that. And it’s a challenge.”