QUIGGERS: Threatening to de-register nurses is bullying on a national scale.

By Press Release Apr 28, 2023

DH is doing so well on his cookery course that he’s moved on to Biscoff cheesecake. The office hasn’t been this excited since he forgot to delete his browsing history.

Another week, another government minister acting in a “less than optimal” manner. To be fair, you might struggle to pick one out, but I mean Dominic Raab. He resigned after a report into his behaviour found he was bullying staff. I don’t think that is much of a surprise; he’s not the first and won’t be the last. What is a surprise is he resigned over this, not his lack of achievement (go on, find something).

We’ve all had a bad boss, one that browbeats and badgers us, thinking that’s how you manage people. They show who’s in charge, question everything we do, micromanage, bang the desk, and refer to our work as woeful. We all know the result. Working harder on keeping them off your back than actually doing the job; nothing improves until we, or they, leave.

Hopefully, we’ve all worked for a good boss. I remember the best boss I ever had, Ken. He

pushed us further and harder than any of us thought possible but in an inclusive and supportive way. Offering praise but also criticism, I received both, and – in all fairness – enjoyed both as I knew he had considered his words. I also remember making him laugh for nearly two whole weeks, but that’s a different story…

So back to Raab, there are a million books about motivating staff to be their best, so there’s no excuse for his behaviour. He’s said to staff, “I’ve told you where the haystack is, what do you mean you can’t find a needle?” misinterpreting his inability to manage as poor performance from them.

Some of this is down to the over-politicisation of everything in the public realm, a choice made by this government. You are either on the right side (theirs) or you are against them. This means it is almost impossible to move things forward, treating every issue like a football game, meaning one side has to lose. That’s no way to manage a department, let alone the country.

Look at Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, his response to nurses’ strikes is to invoke legal action. Threatening to de-register nurses is bullying on a national scale. The consequence of his ‘winning the fight’ would be to deprive individuals of their livelihood and the country of nurses. Perhaps not such a win after all!

At a local level, we see our MP Bob Seely, on TV referring to anyone that disagrees with him as “alt-left activists”. What they really are is concerned Island residents that have had enough of nothing working properly, him opposing the building of homes for Islanders and voting to pump sewage into our sea.

All organisations are better served when they harness the creativity and skill of the people that work within them, rather than belittling them. Raab wasn’t the boss once, and he isn’t again. Something all his colleagues would do well to remember.

As DH is back next week, I have some homework for you dear reader. That is to Google ‘community wealth building’, specifically Preston Council. I asked the leader of the council if she would let me lead a similar project here and she said yes. We are a year in and like all good ideas, it’s simple, not fast, but will mean fundamental positive change for the Island. I’ll badger Ed for a full article on it, but for now, all I need is your commitment to read, even just a little bit, about it.