SECTOR QUICK LINKS
Developmental Disability
Education
Health Care
Juvenile Justice
Mental Health
HR 4247 Education Bill USA
Bob's Blog
HOW MANDT CAN HELP YOU!
Return on Investment
Increase Workplace Safety
FAQS
Request more information
Event Locations
Trainer Resource Center
Work with Complex
Behavior Testimonial
Complex Behavior
Traumagenic PBS Resources
Presentations and Publications
Print Brochure
Print Info Page
Why > Healthy Workplace Relationships
“Reducing Workplace Violence means Increasing Workplace Safety
through Positive Behavior Supports”
Healthy Workplace Relationships
Violence in schools is a major concern of all stakeholders in the educational environment. In an article appearing in Educational Leadership in 1995, Larry Brendtro and Nicholas Long state that:
“The most powerful restraints on violent behavior are healthy human attachments”
Violence in psychiatric settings is a major concern for all stakeholders. Peter Breggin, MD., is the founder of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. He writes that:
“Relationship is the single most important therapeutic modality for the amelioration of threats of violence, emotional crises, and the need for restraint.”
All human services are provided and received in the context of staff to staff relationships. This is one of the principle tenets of The Mandt System® and why we believe it is so important to focus on these relationships first. Robert L. Katz wrote an article for Harvard Business Review in 1974 in which he said that administrators needed to have three skill sets to be effective leaders – Relational skills, Conceptual skills, and Technical skills.
In our training, we ask if anyone has ever been to a doctor who was disrespectful. In almost every group, 2 or 3 people raise their hands. We then ask “did you fill the prescription?” or “did you go back?” and everyone answers “NO!” They may have had great advice, however, with poor relational skills.
Relational skills will open the door to the conceptual and technical skills offered in human service settings. Relational skills will make the conceptual and technical skills of staff even more effective because they are trusted. Dr. Peter Breggin, quoted above, says “It is easier to de-escalate with someone you know and trust than someone you do not know and cannot trust, or someone you know and do not trust.”
