Jewish Care Builds Management Leaders
Management training using real-world examples and case studies from Jewish Care Victoria policies, procedures and templates brought learning to life for 34 staff who recently graduated from the Certificate IV in Frontline Management.
Jewish Care Certificate IV in Frontline Management staff graduates proudly display their certificates.
According to Sammantha Hewitt, Organisational Development Manager at Melbourne’s Jewish Care, it was important that the program was directly relevant to work being performed on a daily basis.
She believed many people actively learning about the work of leadership and management caused all employees to articulate and question the rationale for how “things are done around here” and discuss whether there were better options resulting in better outcomes for residents and clients.
The program was run in partnership with LASA [Leading Age Services Australia] Victoria and funded by the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) through the Aged Care Workforce Vocational Education and Training (ACWVET) Program.
Prior to training commencing, Jewish Care established with LASA Victoria that there must be opportunities for participants to apply learned concepts and principles over a range of different scenarios. It was immediately apparent that the program should be modeled to further the goals of the organisation in developing their leadership through the three E’s, experience, exposure and education.
It was important that participants had the chance to reflect through experience.
A mentor was assigned to each staff member to facilitate the exposure and experience components and LASA Victoria developed a mentor discussion point for each subject area to assist the process of reflection.
The approach was best summed up by graduate Sylvia Drever, who said in her graduation speech: “With the skills and mindset just learned, and a desire to introduce these new tools into our work environment, we are able to use the ethos of Jewish Care and apply it to deliver the very best management services to our fellow staff members, volunteers and most of all to the many clients and residents of all Jewish Care facilities and their families.”
One of the most poignant situations I was made aware is the loneliness endured by residents at Montifiore, 619 St.Kilda Road. I have proposed that office working staff should take a more hands-on approach and occasionally visit elderly residents whenever time permits and encourage them to talk about their often tumultuous past.