How would you manage Steven?

The debrief with your team member can be challenging. As a Leader it is critical you remain an advocate for the programme and culture of safety.

There can be misconceptions about the programme and the intent of the ‘Cup of Coffee’ conversation that need to be clarified with the receiver, so it is essential you can respond.

Let’s now listen to Steven’s line manager discuss the ‘Cup of Coffee’ conversation.

Line manager debrief

What challenges did you hear?

“Do I not have a right of reply?”

I understand that it might feel as if an accusation has been made and you don’t have an opportunity to defend yourself. But can I tell you that this program is not like a formal complaints mechanism – there is no allegation or accusation – there’s no requirement for you to feel as if you have to set the record straight even though you may feel that way. There’s also no way of determining who may have logged the observation – its not disclosed.

The PPA program works by providing non judgemental feedback to colleagues to let them know that someone felt that a behaviour or action of theirs may have risked patient safety – and for whatever reason they didn’t mention it at the time. These observations represent an impression that a staff member had at the time that they felt it was worth you knowing about. The feedback that you received in the meeting with the peer messenger is just that – its feedback – not a complaint or an allegation. And because its feedback it doesn’t mean that you have to agree with it -that’s entirely up to you – there’s nothing you are required to do except I perhaps reflect on it.

“This programme is just a way for people to dob in a doctor.”

It is very important that you don’t form this opinion. The PPA program is absolutely not a “dob in” type program. Firstly it extends to all staff, not just doctors. Secondly, and most importantly, the aim of the program is to enhance our safety culture and ensure that the care we deliver to patients is as safe as possible.

Our organisation is making it clear to all staff that behaviours or actions that undermine our culture of safety are not acceptable. The way we are doing this is to provide feedback to staff for them to reflect upon when someone feels that an individual’s behaviour or actions might impact on our culture of safety. This can include breaches of policy, disrespectful behaviour or language and a wide range of other things. This feedback enables us an opportunity to reflect and potentially change things if we need to. It’s a very sincere effort to support all our staff in being able to with delivering the safe care that we all want to be part of and be proud of.

“I’m going to find out who reported me?”

I urge you not to do this. The identity of the reporter is confidential. The peer messenger who spoke with you would have said they don’t know who lodged the observation.

The entire premise of this program is that staff can feel safe and secure in providing observations to be delivered to staff as feedback, and their identity is kept confidential. If staff think that another staff member might then try to find out who they were and approach them , even if it was to apologise, then the whole program won’t work. This will be viewed as retaliatory and can draw a disciplinary response.

Peer Messenger conversation

Peer Messengers are the frontline of the PPA programme intervention model. The Peer Messengers are responsible for delivering what we refer to as the ‘Cup of Coffee’ conversation. As the name suggests, these are informal conversations, conducted between colleagues, that share the same intention as the ‘Awareness’ conversation.

Let’s now watch the same ‘Cup of Coffee’ conversation video. This time, please carefully consider how this intervention compares to the ‘Awareness’ conversation.

Comparing conversations

Please open your Promoting Professional Accountability Workbook to page 18 and answer the following questions.

What common skills are required from the messenger for both a ‘Cup of Coffee’ and an ‘Awareness’ conversation?
List the differences you can identify between a ‘Cup of Coffee’ and an ‘Awareness’ conversation
How would a Leader and Peer Messenger respond differently to the pushback below

“I do more than anyone else in this department. It gets hectic because I don’t have enough support.”

You can check your responses by cross referencing with the information found in the conversation resources found below.

Conversation resources

To support you to recall and consolidate your training a separate webpage contains a range of resources. Access the resources using the link below. Alternatively, use the link found on the PPA Leaders training homepage.

Access Resources

What will happen next?

Congratulations on completing the first stage of the PPA Leaders training.

The next stage of the training is Conversation Coaching. This stage will provide you with an opportunity to revisit and reassess your ability to conduct an ‘Awareness’ conversation.

Initial training

Engage in a combination of live and self-paced events to understand the programme and your role.

Conversation coaching

Reconnect with educators to consolidate your skills when you need it most.

Implementation review

Take part in an organisation-wide webinar review of implementation and plan for future success.

Preparing for Conversation Coaching

In preparation for the event, we strongly encourage you to rehearse the ‘Always late’ case supplied on pages 22 and 23 of the PPA Workbook with a safe partner.

Need help?

Our team are ready to assist

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Peer Messenger