- How did you manage to transition from PNA Branch Secretary to Industrial Relations Officer as this is quite a big change?
- It was quite challenging initially, if you look at it in geographical terms, when you are a Branch Secretary or Branch Member you're looking after one branch, so when I came into the organization in 2016 the Healy Report had just come out and the merging of the CHO’s had also just happened, so just overnight I had multiple branches across multiple geographical areas. The key things are even though this was challenging you need to draw on the experience of the headquarter staff. You need to get to know the branches and you need to know how they work. I was blessed that in my areas, I had very strong branches and very good relationships with people within the branches, this made the transition smoother. It does take time to get recognized, going out and meeting the people, establishing those relationships so that if an individual has an issue, they can contact you at any time and feel comfortable doing so. Even in terms of structure it’s important to look at the tiered approach to industrial relations you know that if an individual has an issue, they try to resolve it locally and through their own branch, if it can’t be established there, then it can go through the Officer Board Representatives and then come up to ourselves. So, it was challenging but the big thing is getting support not only from the branches but also from the headquarters staff.
- What learning developments or changes would you suggest could be of benefit for Full Time Officials and Officer Board Members.
- Whenever you’re involved in the IR scene the PNA should probably look at developing a leadership in learning and development framework for both Officer Board OB, Staff and Full Time Officials. Education should be viewed as an investment in staff and a fundamental development in growth. The PNA should look at, but not limited to, issues around Employment Law, Governance, Leadership and just look at those kinds of issues so that it will enable staff to develop themselves and also become more aware of themselves and in self-development and self-awareness because it's such ever evolving situation that you need to tailor your approach to certain situations.
Employment Law Seminars could be worthy of consideration as we deal particularly with industrial relations issues there's a lot of emerging things that have an influence within the way we carry out our business, such as things emanating from the Court System & Workplace Relations Commission WRC, there's lots of things in around a precedent that has been established on certain issues.
You could also look at a Journal Club around WRC decisions to explore these issues. Sometimes I could pick up something someday and think this is worth consideration, then you could share theses idea’s/ thoughts amongst each other.
You could look at the pressure of OB, Staff and Full Time Officials can be under; you could also look at employee support and case supervision because we all think we're really resilient at times, but you could/will get to deal with some stressful cases in terms of very emotive things that are going on for an individual at different times of their lives. So, it’s very important to disconnect and not take it home with you, as things might lie in your mind and you can run them over in your head.
As with every change in the HSE the PNA must look at re-organization we have the whole concept of Slainte Care, Regional Health Authorities and the area of Professional Development in line with the PNA/RCSI collaboration. The PNA might be involved in industrial relations, but it was very prudent of them to take a big leap into the professional development of staff in terms of offering education packages and programs. If you look at it, there is not only an increase in the development of the profession at the current stage, but it also leads to the foundations for people that are coming after them. That specialisms are developed and established in areas, it lays the groundwork and foundation for the development of Mental Health Nursing.
- After 5 Years in the post of an IRO what advice would you give to someone stepping into this role and the big shoes you left for them to fill.
- Firstly, you should enjoy it and grasp the role. I always said it was an honor and a privilege to work in such a role. The exposure and the experience you will get as an IRO in the PNA is second to none. You will get exposure and experience at National Level, at Local Level and at Regional Levels. You will get to form key relationships at all those levels. I will give you a piece of advice that I was given about five years ago that has stood to me today and that advice is:
“When you come into the PNA, unfortunately mistakes will be made and they may be made on a monthly or yearly basis, but it's not always the mistake you need to focus on, it’s what you do with it and how you go about learning from it”
This will help you not only in your decision making, but more importantly in self-development and self-awareness you should take ownership of it and it’s that whole concept of ok something didn't go according to plan, why did it not and how do I improve on it.
You could also look at self-management and switching off, I touched on this briefly earlier, the role all though it has been a real privileged position can overwhelm you at times, particularly when you are dealing with very sensitive and personal issues, I've had experience with this when dealing with cases that are tragic and distressing. The focus really is always on managing the case succinctly and I think sometimes we lose focus of that, in that our job is to manage this case and we want to do this in the best possible way. However, sometimes we forget about ourselves and maybe that sounds selfish, as we feel we need to get this done ASAP. We don't look at the lengths or stresses that we put ourselves under which could lead to burnout.
Another thing to do is to get to know the branches, I presume that's probably one of the first things you will get to do. You will need to get yourself right out there and look at the kind of people that's there, look at the branches and get to know them, get to know how they work, how they deal with things, how they manage cases and establish those relationships
Drawing on the experience of headquarters staff, I can’t emphasize enough the team in headquarters is very well established and very knowledgeable this assistance in the early days is paramount, every organization is built on a strong office, and it would be remiss of me not to mention the roles of Peter, Michael, Aisling, Caroline, Elayne and Paula.
I enjoyed my time there immensely and I miss them terribly it’s a great and rewarding position. I don't think any of the four in terms of Peter Michael Aisling or Caroline wouldn’t mind me mentioning the roles of Elayne and Paula in the office they are extremely helpful at all times, so I would draw on that and always be nice to the staff in the office they are there to support you.
Q. What were the learnings and the highlights over the past five years.
A. All IRO’s have good and bad days but all that is asked of you on any given day is to do your best, so if members can see you working alongside them then that's all that's ever asked of you.
The highlights were probably the 2016 & 2020 disputes how it goes on and how its resolved.
I have mentioned it before, but the PNA/RCSI collaboration was really worthy of emphasis and the huge leaps that the PNA took from industrial relations to staff and personal development of staff, and the development of the profession cannot be emphasized enough. I've always felt it wouldn't be appropriate to draw on any personal highlights with members given up a lot of issues and personal time to answer to the role. I wouldn’t want to emphasize anyone’s success in any personal way, but there have been lots of occasions where people have got very good outcomes.
I have at all times; I hope, represented both members and the PNA with distinguish over the past five years. With the lows and there are lows at times, and it can lead to times when you will reflect on yourself and the situation, and you will look at the situation and examine what went right and what things went wrong, it's also good to do that in every situation. You should see if you could have dealt with it in any other way, could I have done anything differently, that whole thing of pausing and reflecting on things, that's a skill that you need to learn as well and sometimes situations you are dealing with you just need to take a step back and you need to pause and reflect and review that whole helicopter view to get a sight of what is there. If something doesn't go according to plan you need to put your hands up straight away and say, “this didn’t go according to plan” and you take ownership of it, and I suppose that that's kind of the highlights in the journey.
I would like to offer Niall every success in the role, I know Niall nearly 17 years and I know Niall has the key skills and attributes to be a success in the role , as I said before it is a really rewarding role with the PNA and it's a really privileged position to get into, so you should grasp it at all times, just to give your best , that's all that's ever asked of you in any given situation whether that's life work or whatever you do. If you can do your best and you can show the members that you're working towards resolving their issues succinctly and represent them in the best possible way, that’s all that can be asked of you.
Thanks Rory I really appreciate the kind words.
