Leadership Competencies and Behaviour for Staff Wellbeing

“The thing that is causing people to get ill at work and adversely affect their quality of working life is line managers who are not socially and interpersonally skilled – they don’t have the soft skills that are needed.”

These are the words of Professor Sir Cary Cooper, one of the UK's leading experts on organizational wellbeing and president of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

This is true across all sectors and we know there are challenges for the education sector. High stakes accountability, timetabling of the working day, and the need to continue with your teaching or other operational role, particularly following your appointment into your first leadership position, mean there is often insufficient time available for CPD and personal development.

The good news is that extensive research from Goldsmiths, University of London, funded by Investors in People, the Health and Safety Executive and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has provided an answer.

They have identified 12 competencies that, when demonstrated by line managers, were shown to prevent and reduce staff stress. These have been used to create a self-assessment tool to help you identify your strengths and areas you might want to develop.  These are:
1. Being respectful and honest with employees.
2. Managing Emotions: Behaving consistently and calmly around the team.
3. Considerate Approach: Being thoughtful in managing others and delegating.
4. Proactive Work Management: Monitoring and reviewing existing work, allowing future prioritisation and planning
5. Problem Solving: Dealing with problems promptly, rationally and responsibly
6. Participative / Empowering: Listening to, meeting and consulting with the team, providing direction, autonomy and development
7. Personally Accessible; Available to talk to personally
8. Sociable; Relaxed approach, such as socialising and using appropriate humour
9. Empathetic Engagement: Seeking to understand everyone in the team.
10. Managing Conflict: Dealing with conflicts decisively, promptly and objectively
11. Use of Organisation and External Resources: Seeking advice when necessary from other leaders, experts and specialists
12. Taking Responsibility for Resolving Issues: Having a supportive and responsible approach to issues and incidents in the team
You can self-assess against these competencies by clicking on the boxes below. To help keep the assessment manageable we have split the competencies into four key areas.

After you take each self-assessment, you will be shown your personalised results and next steps.

Your Results

Here are your latest results from the self-assessments you have taken so far.
Key Area Percentage Results
Respectful and Responsible Not Yet Taken
Managing and Communicating Existing and Future Work Not Yet Taken
Managing the Individual Within the Team Not Yet Taken
Reasoning/Managing Difficult Situations Not Yet Taken
You can see your results broken down by key area in the table below
Key area Percentage Result
Respectful and Responsible
Competency 1: Integrity - Being respectful and honest with staff Not Yet Taken
Competency 2: Managing Emotions - Behaving consistently and calmly around your team Not Yet Taken
Competency 3: Considerate Approach - Being thoughtful in managing others and delegating Not Yet Taken
Managing and Communicating Existing and Future Work
Competency 4: Proactive Work Management - Monitoring and reviewing existing work, allowing future prioritisation and planning Not Yet Taken
Competency 5: Problem Solving - Dealing with problems promptly, rationally and responsibly Not Yet Taken
Competency 6: Participative / Empowering- Listening to, meeting and consulting with the team, providing direction, autonomy and development opportunities to individuals. Not Yet Taken
Managing the Individual Within the Team
Competency 7: Personally Accessible — Available to talk to personally Not Yet Taken
Competency 8: Sociable — Having a relaxed approach, including socialising and using appropriate humour. Not Yet Taken
Competency 9: Empathetic Engagement - Seeking to understand everyone in the team in terms of their health and satisfaction, motivation, point of view and life outside work. Not Yet Taken
Reasoning/Managing Difficult Situations
Competency 10: Proactive Work Management - Monitoring and reviewing existing work, allowing future prioritisation and planning Not Yet Taken
Competency 11: Problem Solving - Dealing with problems promptly, rationally and responsibly Not Yet Taken
Competency 12: Participative / Empowering- Listening to, meeting and consulting with the team, providing direction, autonomy and development opportunities to individuals. Not Yet Taken
© Welbee 2023
Privacy Policy
Have a question? Contact us at toolkit @welbee.co.uk
or call us on 01277 554001