By Charlotte Tybjerg Sørensen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photo: Colourbox

Elderly care is in the midst of a paradigm shift. With the elderly care reform and the welfare agreements between municipalities and the government on exemption from legislation in the area of elderly care, managers no longer only have to ensure operations, they must facilitate learning and development.

This requires a new approach to management, according to researchers at Aalborg University.

The new approach is management of learning.

"Management of learning is not a recipe with fixed steps. It is an approach that makes it possible to meet complex problems with reflection and joint exploration," says Anja Overgaard Thomassen, Associate Professor, Aalborg University.

Along with her colleague, Birgitte Rohwedder, Assistant Professor she examined how managers working in elderly care practice and think about management.

The results comprise the book Læringsledelse i fremtidens ældrepleje [Management of Learning in the Future of Elderly Care], published on 17 November. In the book, the two researchers explore how managers in elderly care can navigate complex changes.

Managers must be prepared for change
Management of learning involves, among other things, daring to show your own professional development and also daring to take the risks that come with being a learner. A manager puts it this way in the book:
"If you are not prepared for change as a manager, then you cannot expect your staff to be either. It starts with you, and I keep saying that."

Management must support a culture of safety, openness and opportunities for learning
"Management of learning is about supporting a culture of safety, openness and opportunities for learning – not about following a manual," says Anne-Birgitte Rohwedder.

The book is based on the well-known American researcher, philosopher and educator John Dewey's pragmatic learning theory (known for, among other things, "learning by doing") and on conversations with four managers from both practitioner-directed care homes and municipal home care.

The book describes how management can create conditions for professional development and well-being, in the midst of organizational changes.

"We do not provide ready-made solutions, but thinking tools for managers to use for understanding and action in their practice. It's about learning how to learn, and about being able to adapt to the complex and the unpredictable," says Anja Overgaard Thomassen.

As one manager puts it in the book: "It really takes a lot to reflect on what you do, why you do it, and why you choose something else. And then I just think, culturally speaking, in our profession, we’ve thought a lot about operations, a lot about how tasks should be solved, and not so much about what we would like, and then afterwards thought about the solutions proposed. So it has definitely been something we have to train and must continue to train."

Courage is one of the most important things
With the introduction of the Elderly Care Reform, employees must, among other things, ensure holistic care in permanent teams and facilitate professional autonomy. This places new demands on both managers and staff.

"We need to rethink management in elderly care, and it requires courage to ask questions rather than give answers, to give staff space to reflect on their work and to let staff work in self-managing teams" says Anja Overgaard Thomassen.

Læringsledelse i fremtidens ældrepleje [Management of Learning in the Future of Elderly Care] by Anja Overgaard Thomassen and Anne-Birgitte Rohwedder. Published on 17 November by Dafolo Publishers.

Management of learning
An inquiring and learning-supportive management approach: The manager also asks questions instead of just giving answers. A management task is also to create a time, a place and space where staff can safely share thoughts, concerns and wishes, and thus support social interactions contributing positively to task solution.

Having co-managing teams: Responsibility and participation have become an integral part of employees' everyday lives. Everyone focuses on the task: the citizen at the centre, and then it is clearer that all areas of expertise are equally important to the success of the task.

Learning from their experiences: Staff must have the opportunity to reflect on their own practice. Just like they did during their education. This provides an opportunity to learn from your mistakes, and use the experience from what went well.

Contact

Anja Overgaard Thomassen Associate Professor, Department of Culture and Learning
Tel: +45 9940 7469, aot@ikl.aau.dk

Read more about Anja Overgaard Thomsen's research on AAU's research portal https://vbn.aau.dk/da/persons/aot/

Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs