00:00 --> 00:09
We know that investing in our workforce and developing people
00:09 --> 00:13
has always been at the heart of good services in Wales.
00:13 --> 00:15
That's why we worked with the sector to develop
00:15 --> 00:17
the Team Manager Development Programme.
00:17 --> 00:20
The Team Manager Development Programme is an 18 month course,
00:20 --> 00:23
which can help you improve practice quality,
00:23 --> 00:25
manage your team effectively
00:25 --> 00:27
and handle change successfully.
00:27 --> 00:29
TMDP is a very practical course
00:29 --> 00:32
and I think one of the key aspects of it,
00:32 --> 00:34
is it first and foremost gives people the opportunity
00:34 --> 00:35
to network with their peers.
00:35 --> 00:38
Being a manager can be quite lonely place at times
00:38 --> 00:41
and TMDP fosters a real sense of belonging
00:41 --> 00:44
and sort of shared understanding of collective challenges.
00:44 --> 00:47
If you came on the course, you would crucially
00:47 --> 00:49
get the time and space to reflect on your own practice
00:49 --> 00:51
and how you are applying yourself
00:51 --> 00:54
to improve practice quality within your teams.
00:54 --> 00:58
I've found the best bits where the relationships like form
00:58 --> 01:00
with peers from around Wales.
01:00 --> 01:04
Quite often you would meet a similar manager
01:04 --> 01:06
in a similar role, facing the same challenges.
01:06 --> 01:10
And what I had found is they'd come up with solutions
01:10 --> 01:11
that actually I could pinch
01:11 --> 01:14
and I could take that back to my own local authority.
01:14 --> 01:16
So it was very useful listening to other people's ideas.
01:16 --> 01:18
I think the course taught me
01:20 --> 01:25
to understand the sort of the pressures between managing a team
01:25 --> 01:28
of social workers and supportive support and care workers etc
01:28 --> 01:33
versus the pressures and the expectations, if you like
01:33 --> 01:34
of upper management.
01:34 --> 01:37
I suppose, you know, that there's targets to be met.
01:37 --> 01:41
There's budgetary considerations from above.
01:41 --> 01:44
But there's also a team of individuals and human beings
01:44 --> 01:46
that need to be supported appropriately and effectively.
01:46 --> 01:54
The course taught me, I think, to deal with that difficulty better.