Hey there,
Welcome to my latest edition of the Social Work Survival Newsletter. It has been a while since I have published anything. Things over the summer haven’t been easy and that coupled with changeable routines, it has been hard to carve the time out to sit and write. However, this newsletter is important to me because it is one born of hope within the profession. I will be getting back to publishing on a weekly basis but rather than the Thursday morning slot, I am going to change it to a Monday morning.
Is there a crisis of culture in social work?
This week I want to explore power in the context of culture within our profession. This comes from a discussion last week with a colleague whom I used to work in the same office as. I hadn’t spoken to them for a couple of years but they were adamant that things in the office hadn’t improved.
Over my career I have worked in many Social Work teams, and many different offices. Before the Covid pandemic, the office was the hub of activity. There were Social Workers typing up notes, people visiting for meetings, parents asking at reception for support, supervision sessions taking place(inevitably being interrupted). Offices were busy places.
But they were also spaces where culture was developed.
I think back to some of the team cultures and it isn’t surprising I experienced total burnout eventually. There are so many unwritten rules and expectations in Social Work teams which contributed to toxic cultures.
This is something I realised as a Student when I was applying for my first position post-qualifying. I was walking through the office with one of the Area Managers and we were talking about my application to join one of the teams in their area. It was the end of the day but about half of the office were busy. It didn’t look like they were going to stop anytime soon. The manager said to me “this is what I want, I want Social Workers who will stay until the job is done”. Even as a student, I knew that this wasn’t the sort of manager I wanted to work for.
What is the culture in your team like?
Now, if you have just spent the weekend writing up case notes, conference reports, assessments or just replying to emails, ask yourself why?
There is a difference in working because there is something urgent which needs to be written and there being an expectation that you continue to work over the weekend to keep “up to date” with your workload. Yes, it is important that work is written up and given the scrutiny (rightly so) within our profession, nobody wants to face questions about why wasn’t the work done on time. But, if there is a culture in your team or office that there is an expectation that you will work over the weekend, or late into the evenings, you might be working in a toxic culture.
Toxic cultures are developed over time by the actions of many. They are typically created by people who have influence. Naturally, because of the roles they play, Managers (both junior and senior) will have influence over culture but they aren’t the only people. Anyone can have influence and you don’t have to be a manager to be a leader. Leadership is a quality we all should have as Social Work.
Can you really influence the culture of a Team?
The short answer is, yes. Yes you can influence the culture of your team. How to influence teams is the topic of another newsletter but yes you have the ability within you to influence your teams culture. Now, it might not be easy but believe me, it is possible to change cultures.
Some teams will behave certain ways because it has been instilled in them that there are consequences if the “norm” isn’t followed. This might be the fear of being spotlighted in front of others or publicly shamed/criticised by those in power. Lets not sugar coat this, this type of behaviour is bullying and there should be no place for it in the workplace. But know this, you have the ability to influence whether this should continue.
Standing up for what is right is core to effective Social Work. You use your voice to advocate for those who are being oppressed by systems and organisations every day as a Social Worker. So why do we not do that for ourselves and the teams we work for?
Small steps to a brighter future
You won’t be able to change everything overnight. But you can make a decision right now to be the person and colleague who doesn’t accept the toxic doctrine. You can decide to develop a willingness to highlight when you are being given too much work. You can decide to stand up for someone when unfair comments are made about a colleague. You can become the person who supports others in your team.
Take small steps to position yourself as someone who recognises the importance of self-care and your own boundaries. Eventually, this will create a ripple effect within your team and the culture will start to change.
A small ask….
I want to thank you so much for subscribing to this newsletter. I write it from a place of love for our profession and a belief that we all should be able to be in love with the work we do. Social Work is stressful, and extremely challenging but it is also a vocation. I would love it if you could share this your colleagues or within your network of other Social Workers.
That is all for this edition of the newsletter. As always, please feel free to comment, or reach out on Social Media. And if nobody has told you this recently, you are amazing and you touch the lives of so many people just by doing what you do each and every day.
Thanks you.
Anthony
Hey there! New subscriber here and I'm a social worker from Singapore :)
I really resonated with what you have written because I have been in a workplace with such culture before and it took me a long while before I realised what was wrong and eventually left. It's challenging to see the toxic culture as the organisation is also often seen by outsiders as doing really good work and there's almost as if workers had a reputation to uphold. Looking back, I wished I have had the moral courage to speak up for myself, for my colleagues when we were invalidated or put down. But I think Im learning to also have some self compassion for myself for things that I can no longer change.