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How to navigate conflict with other people

27 October 2022 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

Interpersonal conflicts are common. They can make us worry and react in regrettable ways that make us feel bad about ourselves. Sometimes, we withdraw from relationships, which is also not good for us.

Conflict with people can lead to lots of bad outcomes: reduced focus and creativity, worse decision making, and unhappy relationships.

None of us is perfect when it comes to relationships. When you are in conflict with someone else, there are several strategies you can use to find a healthy way forward:

Remember your perspective is just one amongst many. Sometimes, we forget that we all have different viewpoints and values and think that our view is correct and all other views are uninformed, irrational or biased. Thus is not always true – not everyone sees things that same way and that’s okay.
Be aware everyone is biased (including you!). We sometimes assume that other people’s behaviour is due to their personality, when it might just be due to their situation. Ask someone you trust to help you reflect on the ways you might be seeing the situation unfairly.
Avoid black and white thinking. Sometimes, when we disagree with others, we start to think that the other person is an opponent or even enemy! Rather than thinking it’s ‘you versus them’, focus on the decision or situation instead and try to make progress on it. Think of yourself and the other person as sitting on opposite sides of a seesaw and work together to find a balance.
Know your goals: Avoid drama and stay focused on your goals, e.g. you want a healthy relationship that will last into the future, and you want to feel less angry/frustrated after interactions. Make a list of your goals and circle the most important ones. You don’t need to be best friends with the other person – focus first on having a functional, respectful relationship.
Don’t gossip or look for drama: It’s perfectly fine to seek help with sorting out your feelings and to check in with others. But choose who you speak with carefully and look for people who are constructive and who will challenge your perspective – people who will help you solve the specific problem.
Experiment: There is no one way to solve interpersonal conflicts. Your strategy will depend on the situation and the people involved. Experiment and see what happens: e.g. decide that for two weeks you will listen to the other person, and not interrupt, and focus on what they are saying (rather than how they say it). Try to summarise what the other person is saying, and check you have understood them. Try to interrupt your conflict patterns of the past.
Stay curious: People are complex! Try to learn more about the other person. Do not approach conversations with aggression or defensiveness, but with creativity and with genuine questions about them. Think about a future when you have overcome the conflict.
Don’t give up: With good faith efforts and hard work, you can resolve most interpersonal conflicts.

Key source: Gallo, A. (2022) How to Navigate Conflict with a Coworker, Harvard Business Review, September/October.

For more on supervision, check out our book “How to supervise speech pathologists properly in private practice“.

This infographic also appears in a recent issue of Banter Booster, our weekly round up of the best speech pathology ideas and practice tips for busy speech pathologists, speech pathology students, and other interested readers.

Difficult professional conversations: tips to help control emotions

23 August 2022 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

Many Speech Language Pathologists in private practice are people pleasers, overworked and under-resourced.

Disagreements about priorities, caseloads, workloads and feedback are inevitable. They can feel threatening and stressful.

When threatened, many of us switch to “fight or flight” mode, making it hard to think rationally and professionally.

We can implement strategies to interrupt this physical response to keep our cool during difficult conversations:

Breathe: Focus on the sensation of air coming in and out of your lungs, or your nostrils. Breath in slowly through your nose for a count of 4 and out for a count of 8 through slightly pursed lips, at least three times.
Anchor: Notice the feeling of your feet on the ground.
Move: If possible, get up and walk around. If this is not possible, do small physical acts like crossing two fingers or slowly touching each finger with your thumb.
Use a mantra: Repeat a phrase to yourself to remind yourself to stay calm, e.g. “Go to neutral”.
Label: Name your emotions and examine them, recognising you are not your thoughts. Put space between your (temporary) emotion and your identity.
Take a break: excuse yourself for a moment to get some water, coffee, or to go to the bathroom. (This can also help give your conversation partner a chance to cool off and reset.)

Source: Gallo, A. (2017). How to Control Your Emotions During a Difficult Conversation. Harvard Business Review, Digital Edition.

For more on supervision of speech pathologists, check out our book “How to supervise speech pathologists properly in private practice“.

This article also appears in a recent issue of Banter Booster, our weekly round up of the best speech pathology ideas and practice tips for busy speech pathologists and speech pathology students.

For speech pathologists in private practice, professionalism has never been more important

16 August 2022 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

For Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) in private practice, professionalism has never been more important. Here’s why:

“Professionalism” is a combination of knowledge, skills, trustworthiness, and altruism found in those who commit themselves to a life of service to others.
Because of our knowledge and expertise, SLPs have social prestige, asymmetrical power over clients and families, and regulatory privileges (e.g. under civil liability laws and Medicare and NDIS rules).
SLPs in private practice must balance our clients’ interests with our desire to create positive social outcomes, our legal, health and financial risks, and our need to make a sustainable living.
Governments bodies and speech pathology associations guide SLPs through this minefield, e.g., by requiring us to adhere to codes of conduct, professional standards, and a code of ethics.
The demand for speech pathology services has never been higher. Many private practice owners are struggling to employ and retain enough staff and most of us are working hard to manage long waitlists.
Despite the high current demand for speech pathology services, the position of the SLP profession is precarious. Challenges include:
- our lack of a protected title under National and state health practitioner regulations;
- the rapid recent growth of the profession and a shortage of experienced and trained supervisors to support early career speech pathologists properly;
- increasing professional compliance costs and requirements, including with respect to ongoing professional accreditation;
- continuing high burnout/turnover rates;
- pressures from clients and insurers to deliver more for less;
- an influx of competitors and substitutes, including from:
  - speech pathology students, assistants and other paraprofessionals;
  - outsourcing and remote SLPs providing telehealth services from lower-cost jurisdictions (though the size of this issue is hard to quantify);
  - the increase in the number of clinics owned and operated by professional investors who are not SLPs or other allied health professionals; and
  - disruptive technologies, including artificial intelligence applications and the digitisation and globalisation of services;
- the proliferation of information sources about our field of knowledge;
- the growing social distrust of experts, credentials, and science, generally;
- valid criticism of our profession’s history, biases, prejudices and lack of diversity;
- stagnant rebates and quasi-price controls over some of our regulated services while wage and business costs are increasing;
- our vulnerability, as practices, to negative public feedback, including from online reviews; and
- high levels of general uncertainty in private practice, including about the future.
SLPs in private practice must not respond to these challenges with a ‘race to the bottom’ or lowered standards. Resource constraints and competition are very real; and we need more innovation, cooperation, and better systems to do more with less and not burn out. For example, we can improve our training and supervision systems for SLPs and assistants, embrace new technologies so we can help more people, and use social media responsibly to advocate for our clients and increase client access to services while maintaining trust.
As professionals, we must invest in the essential elements that make what we do valuable for the clients and communities we serve. This includes:
- expanding our ‘circle’ of functional, core, workflow, and leadership, competencies (knowledge, skill, and experience);
- supporting our colleagues to take calculate risks and to trial innovations, including by becoming more tolerant of SLPs who are trying new things – even when they fail;
- upholding professional ethics and standards especially through hard times;
- articulating common values above and beyond our health ethics foundations, including altruism, good judgment, empathy, discernment, probity, practicality, and clarity; and
- increasing our service quality and value for money, including our:
  - commitments to client and staff safety;
  - willingness to accept and act on feedback;
  - preparedness to work collaboratively with clients, families, other professionals, and the communities we serve; and
  - ability to form trusted, long-term relationships to increase our reach.
For the sake of our profession’s future – and the viability of our practices and careers – we must protect these elements of professionalism at all costs.

Key source: Beaton, G. (2022) Why Professionalism Matters More Than Ever (White Paper), Australian Council of Professions, May 2022.

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Speech pathologists in private practice: How to sleep better

14 February 2021 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

Between 12-15% of Australians meet the criteria for insomnia.

Insomnia is linked to an increased risk of mental health issues and chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Risk factors include having existing health conditions, older age, and being a woman.

Long-lasting stress is another contributor – something often experienced in private practice.

Having a task-oriented mind-set and perfectionistic tendencies – both common traits for speech pathologists – also increase the risk.

Potential solutions include:

prescription sleep medications, but they have side effects and often don’t get at root causes;
herbal remedies like valerian and melatonin, which might slightly improve sleep time and quality (although the evidence to date is not compelling);
consistent bed and wake times, dark, quiet and cool environments;
avoiding screens, alcohol, and caffeine too close to bed;
undertaking cognitive behaviour therapies for insomnia (CBT-I) to reassociate bed with rest, relaxation and sleep, challenge beliefs that you are a “bad sleeper”, learn to be realistic about sleep, and adopt better sleep behaviours to match time in bed with time sleeping; and
using FREE online resources like the “This Way Up” insomnia course, developed by St Vincent’s Hospital and the University of New South Wales.

Speech pathologists in private practice How to sleep better

Principal source: Tufvesson, A. (2021). Losing sleep. LSJ, 74, 52-53.

Key resources:

Child Safe Organisations: Why you need a Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy

7 October 2020 By David Kinnane Leave a Comment

If you work with children as an NDIS provider or a health provider, you need a Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy that is consistent with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations published by the Australian Human Rights Commission (the National Principles).

It is also important that your Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy:

forms part of your Risk Management System; and
is consistent with your:

Why you need a Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy

All NDIS providers and health providers who engage with children (face-to-face, online or both) should adopt the National Principles. Part of this process includes having a Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy. By way of context:

following the 2013 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Australian Human Rights Commission recommended national action, including the development of National Principles for Child Safe Organisations; and
in 2018, the National Principles were endorsed by all Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to provide a consistent approach to embedding child safe cultures within organisations that engage with children.

You can read the National Principles here.

Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy Template

Our 16-page Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy template is designed to help NDIS providers and health providers to respond to, and implement, the National Principles, as a step toward becoming a child safe organisation. The Child Safety Code of Conduct and Policy is drafted to:

form part of your Risk Management System; and
to sit with with your:

Child safety is the most important obligation of NDIS and health providers who work with children. It’s also a key risk area that warrants attention at every level in the organisation. We wrote the template to help NDIS and health providers start the process of being Child Safe Organisations.

You can access lots of material, including the National Principles, free training modules, and other resources developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission here.

GO TO THE CHILD SAFETY CODE OF CONDUCT AND POLICY