MDN News - October 2009
Released on 20/10/2009
Network’s online capacity grows again
The Managers’ Development Network online presence has expanded, with both the South West and
Glasgow, Clyde and Forth Valley regions joining the MDN blogosphere. Their new websites allow Network users to find out about past and forthcoming local events, post comments and suggestions and - using the
Eventbrite technology already familiar to Network users in the North and South East - directly book their places at events with a few clicks of a mouse.
South West Network users should add http:/mdnsouthwest.wordpress.com to their online Favourites, while managers in Glasgow, Clyde and Forth Valley should bookmark http:/mdnglasgow.wordpress.com.
IHM Scotland’s own portal to the entire Network has also been revamped and has a new home at
http:/ihmscotland.wordpress.com (keep using the usual IHM Scotland web address to find out about other Institute-related issues).
EVENTS DIARY
A selection of forthcoming MDN events is below, with full details available from the contact person listed, on attached flyers and at www.ihmscotland.co.uk/mdn/events.php. Meetings are free of charge and open to all Scottish health and care managers.
October
Wed 28 - Borders – Managing Risk & Behaviour through Teamwork, with Captain Hugh Sheils - 12-2pm, Borders General Hospital, Melrose - http://mdnsoutheast.wordpress.com/
Thu 29 - Lothian– Managing Risk & Behaviour through Teamwork, with Captain Hugh Sheils - 12-2pm, The Lister Institute, Edinburgh - http://mdnsoutheast.wordpress.com/
Thu 29 - Fife – Managing Risk & Behaviour through Teamwork, with Captain Hugh Sheils - 12-2pm,
Dunnikier House Hotel, Kirkcaldy - http://mdnsoutheast.wordpress.com/
Thu 29 - Clyde – Overcoming Challenges, with Karen Darke - 8.30-10am, Reid MacEwan Centre, Erskine Hospital - http:/mdnglasgow.wordpress.com
November
Fri 13 - Grampian – Fish!, with Brian Blake - 12-2pm, Woodend Hospital, Aberdeen - http://mandevnet.wordpress.com/forthcoming-events/
Mon 16 - Dumfries & Galloway – Coaching for Effective Performance, with John Armstrong - 12-2pm, Bruce Hotel, Newton Stewart - http:/mdnsouthwest.wordpress.com
Thu 19 - Ayrshire – 7 Levels of Management Excellence, with Allan Mackintosh - 12-2pm, Gailes Lodge Hotel, Irvine - http:/mdnsouthwest.wordpress.com
Mon 23 - Dumfries & Galloway – Coaching for Effective Performance, with John Armstrong - 12-2pm, DGRI Education Centre, Room 2 - http:/mdnsouthwest.wordpress.com
Mon 23 - Borders – Fish!, with Brian Blake - 10-12pm, Borders General Hospital, Melrose - http://mdnsoutheast.wordpress.com/
Tue 24 - Glasgow – Meet the Chief Executive, with Robert Calderwood - 8-10am, Campanile Hotel, Glasgow - http:/mdnglasgow.wordpress.com
Wed 25 - Lothian– First Things First, with Brian Blake - 10-12pm, Apex City Hotel, Edinburgh - http://mdnsoutheast.wordpress.com/
Fri 27 - Tayside – Meet the Chief Operating Officer, with Gerry Marr - 12-2pm, St Johnstone FC, Perth - http://mandevnet.wordpress.com/forthcoming-events/
Conference special: Making the most of your Networks
The recent IHM Scotland annual conference included a very timely workshop, presented by Claire Pullar and Martin Furlong of Managers in Partnership (MiP), entitled ‘What you want and how to get it’. (For
contact details and more information, see www.miphealth.org.uk/mip-region/?id=80).
The workshop focused on helping managers to make the most of the resources freely available to them, at a time when financial resources are scarce. The
biggest free resource open to all managers to use is, not surprisingly, people - in the form of formal and informal Networks. The trick is knowing how to ask for what you want, knowing who can help you and influencing the right people.
A group exercise in networking and influencing
revealed that most people instinctively try to find the most important person in a room, with the result that people at the less obviously powerful end of the scale feel left out and the people at the top given too much power. In this way, hierarchies quickly emerge and the network is damaged.
Instead of looking at people and deciding how
important they are, the rule for making the most of your networks should be: everyone in a network is equal.
There are three types of key people in any network:
· CONNECTORS: they like to introduce people to others with whom they have something in common or who can help them. Connectors have extensive networks of their own and will help you expand yours.
· MAVENS: Mavens are people with stores of knowledge, gatherers of information and new trends as well as historical knowledge. Mavens don’t pass information on just for the sake of it, but to help you personalise it and use it in a way that will help you in your own particular circumstances.
· SALESPEOPLE: not someone who is literally selling something, but an enthusiastic and persuasive sharer of knowledge and ideas.
The crucial thing to remember is that the people who are most useful to you aren’t necessarily those in senior management roles, but those who have the personal skills that can help you get what you need. The workshop showed how
thinking in these terms helps to broaden your
understanding of the help available to you and make your networks work for you – and using your networks effectively costs you nothing!
Although the Managers’ Development Network will be only one of the networks available to you in your professional life, it is an important one, not least because all the hard work of
organisation is done for you. As well as the
specific educational presentation on offer, every MDN event has ample time built in for networking and discussion with colleagues. All you have to do is turn up, identify the connectors, mavens and salespeople in your local MDN (you could well be one of these yourself!) and help make their skills and knowledge work for you, as you can make yours work for others.
