This page is designed to answer the following questions:
- 2.3 Evaluate own working relationship with colleagues (Level 4 Diploma in Adult Care, Work in partnership in health and social care or children and young people’s settings)
- 3.5 Evaluate working relationships with colleagues (Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Adult Care, Relationships and partnership working)
NOTE: This page has been quality assured for 2023 as per our Quality Assurance policy.
For this assessment criterion, you will be required to evaluate your own working relationships with colleagues, which will include self-reflection, self-appraisal and obtaining feedback from colleagues. All feedback should be valued and built into your own development plan.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an essential skill and process for all health and care workers because it helps us to improve our practice over time. Our working relationships are an area of our practice that we may wish to improve and so we should gather information from a variety of sources to identify what we could do better.
Obtaining feedback
This could involve requesting feedback from team members about our performance as a leader and manager, including what they perceive to be our strengths and weaknesses. As well as obtaining insights into your own performance, this also helps to build trust, respect and accountability amongst your team. A manager that values feedback and constructive criticism from their team members demonstrates a commitment to professional development and an open and transparent culture. It is also an opportunity to role model how feedback can be received positively, which can lead to positive responses when you provide feedback on a team member’s performance.
Self-reflection
You may also reflect on your own experiences of your working relationships to obtain insights into the things that you do well and the things that you could improve. For example, you may usually operate an open-door policy where colleagues can approach you with any concerns that they have but in recent weeks your workload has increased and so you have not been as ‘available’ as you would like. Maybe you decide to specify set times for which your office door is open or commit to treating all staff concerns as a priority going forward.
Self-appraisal
As a leader and manager, you should have agreed objectives and responsibilities as documented in your organisation’s strategic plan or your job description. You will also have professional development that you have set for yourself. Self-appraisal allows you to take a step back and check that you are performing your role correctly and making progress towards your goals. If you have veered from your planned path, this process can help you to reprioritise and realign.
Valuing feedback
All feedback that you obtain, as well as the insights that you gather from self-reflection and self-appraisal, should be valued and used to inform your own professional development plan.